Making a Siler lock more authentic

[cshirsch]

Here's something I came up with to make a Siler large lock more authentic.  I make molds from original locks and other parts and have the parts cast at a local foundry.  The things that bother me about the Siler flintlocks are the cock and especially the frizzen spring.  I was lucky enough to be able to make molds from a wonderful lock from a George Shroyer rifle.  I decided to modify the castings to make them work on a Siler large flintlock with minimal fitting.  All that needs to be done on the frizzen spring is, use a 6X32 screw with countersunk style head and countersink the threaded screw hole on the inside of the plate.  The old frizzen spring can be remounted at anytime, but you won't want to.  For the cock, I used the bottom half of the Siler cock and welded on the upper from the Shroyer lock and made my mold from it.  Here's what I came up with.  What do you think?  The last photo is the original Shroyer lock.


Thomas Carew







poems by Emily Holmes Coleman

[Eric Kettenburg]

I like it a lot, excellent work.  Two things I would do personally - I find you can take maybe a 1/16" off the top of the plate to the rear of the pan and re-taper (I find Silers to look a little too 'squat') and also with a LOT of careful filing, you can re-taper the lower angular flats of the pan to a sharper angle toward the bottom flat which will look more like the Shroyer lock pictured.  That takes a lot of work with small triangular files and then you have the carry the frizzen support arm back into the pan a bit more, which also is tedious.

Also I'd ditch that little protrusion into the bevel right below the frizzen spring mounting screw.  I've never liked that.

[oldtravler61]

  Chris me thinks of you make those parts to sell. Your going to be busy.   Oldtravler

[cshirsch]

I have the parts in stock.

[Ron Scott]

Are the springs tempered?

[cshirsch]

Are the springs tempered?

I can temper them but they need to be drilled and tapped first.  I fit the one in the photo to an older Siler lock.  I presume the Chambers made Silers are the same.

[Clowdis]

I don't quite understand what I'm seeing with the frizzen spring screw?

[cshirsch]

I don't quite understand what I'm seeing with the frizzen spring screw?

The frizzen spring on the original American made 'Germanic' locks were held on by a screw that passed through the inside of the lock plate.  Siler designed his lock to have the screw coming front the outside of the lock.

[Elnathan]

Have you tried fitting your new frizzen spring to one of the deluxe Silers or the Chamber's Golden Age? Those already have an internal screw, and I imagine that it would fit right in, unless the distance from the from the pin to the screw is different (i haven't measured but I would bet a considerable sum that they are the same). What is the throw of the cock?


As a more general observation to you, Jim and Barbie, and whoever else might be interested:  A set of aftermarket parts for the Siler that are specifically made to be easily customized - a frizzen like this but with the finale left blank and oversized, a cock left a bit big below the neck and with an oversized crest (that bit behind the jaws, I don't know what else to call it), perhaps a pan with the bridle arm left a bit large and unshaped - would be really nice to have around and would complement the Gunmaker's locks very nicely. I don't know it would be economically feasible, but Track of the Wolf is no longer carrying the reconversion castings they used to sell, and I know folks used to use those to customize new locks, so perhaps there is a niche there.