Frizen/Pan Fit

[Not English]

I just finished fitting the frizen to the pan on a Davis Tulle lock. To get a tight fit, it's taken a slight tilt backwards. Do others tightly fit the frizen to the pan, or is it just me? I first learned to do this from Bruce Lepage in a class he taught.

[rich pierce]

It’s a tough job for a perfectionist. If there is the tiniest bit of play around the frizzen screw, the fit you had before drilling the holes for that screw is no longer perfect. Because now, instead of the pan and frizzen cover being clamped together, the frizzen toe is bring levered upward. That’s the only force pressing the pan cover down on the pan.

[Stophel]

Yep, it will torque up when you put spring pressure on it.  You can drive yourself crazy worrying about something that simply does not matter.  I can't have any huge gaps or screwy angles, but there's a point where good enough is good enough. 

[Eric Krewson]

I have chased pan fit endlessly on some locks, now if it doesn't leak 4F I am good with it.

I have an old Gustomsky lock that has the frizzen screw hole drilled wrong and an arm that won't allow repositioning of the hole. I finally gave up on getting this frizzen to seal the pan.

The above pan fit is so bad 4F drains out of it like water, this cost me a turkey one time. I walked in and set up over my decoys, I had instant gobbling to my call and forgot about my leaky pan, I had primed when I left the truck. 5 jakes came running in, as I had not killed a turkey with a flintlock I was't choosy. I drew a bead on the largest one and dropped the hammer, nothing happened, the click of the hammer caused a panic in the flock. I re-cocked and tried again, nothing, I flipped open the frizzen and found the tiniest pit of prime left in the pan. By now the turkeys had taken wing, I tried a 15 yard wing shot on the last one, the gun hang fired but did go off, I shot the air behind the turkey. 

[rich pierce]

I’ve seen old locks so eroded that powder would leak out the bottom of the pan at the bolster.

A period repair for a bad situation would be to build up the pan edges with braze. Flux it, lay a U shaped piece of sheet brass on the pan edge, and get it hot till it just starts to flow.

Dug locks from Seneca sites show amazing repairs by brazing. It seems to have been the frontier repair method of choice.

[Jim Kibler]

I agree with what has been said.  An absolute tight fit that doesn't let light pass through is nice, but certainly not necessary or even adventageous.  This is one of those things for people to easily check and feel like they are making a good decision when purchasing a lock.  Consider that even if the gap is as little as .001-.002" light will pass through and look like a terrible fit.  Will water wick through .001-.002"?  I don't think so.  How about when the lock wears, is the fit going to stay perfect?  We try to fit the frizzens / pans such that no light passes, but as long as a .002" feeler stock gets pinched when it's closed, that is acceptable to us.

As an aside, don't try to fit the frizzen / pan without the frizzen spring in place.  This avoids the problems mentioned above.

[Not English]

Thanks All for the opinions. I think I will start doing something that's a combination of all your advice.

[jerrywh]

 I agree with Jim Kibler. A perfect fit is possible but not necessarily all that good. In order to obtain a perfect fit I think it will slow the lock speed down and it won't stay that way anyway. There are other ways to solve  the water problem. But then those very late English locks won't look well on Long rifles.