Datum for flintlock design

[Not English]

Agreed, although I don't own any of his guns. I have had the chance too shoot a few.

Dave

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

When I first became interested in building flintlock guns, my wife bought me the two volume set called, "Art of the Gunmaker".  These books describe in detail what makes good flintlocks and why. 

[jerrywh]

Shooting Deer in the woods is not the same as shooting snipe on the fly or being in a duel. The English of the early 1800's looked at it from the snipe and duel side of things. Too fast is never a bad thing when it comes to flintlock ignition. Too slow is never good even for silhouettes. Holding through is hard for old men and the less time you have to hold through the better. On the other side, nobody here can tell the difference between .002 seconds and .004 seconds lag time. That includes me and Mike Brooks by the way.

[Clint]

Richar,
  If you are machining from a bar, the top of the pan is a good reference line. Be aware that the back of the lock plate or the top edge is often 1/8 " or so higher than the pan and the fence on the later locks may be 1/4 " higher. Clamping the plate for machining can be tricky, so you may want to rough out the thickness of the plate, with the plate in the vise upside down. Mill both sides of the plate to get the thickness while leaving the pan body and bolster down in the vise. Once you get the bottom of the pan and bolster established you can clamp the plate flat and trim to a rough size and then clamp the plate, right side up to cut the pan top and fence. I forge all of my parts because thats what I'm good at, but I use that machining procedure to get everything flat and at to right angles.

  libra emoticons
This is a brand new lock for a southern rifle made from forged parts   CW

[flatsguide]

Clint, thank you for your thoughts. A lot of time on parts that a awkward or difficult to hold I’ll soft solder the part to a piece of metal that is easy to hold in the vice. Forging a lock like the one you made takes a lot of skill almost a black art. I’ll watch guys forge on YouTube (check out Kyle Royers work) and amazed at what can be done by forging.
Cheers Richard