Militia Gun Lock Help

[silky]

Good morning,

I'm planning my next build, a New England militia gun based upon/inspired by the Connecticut COS musket #19 described and shown on pages 52/54 of Lindsay's "The New England Gun."  I really dig the butt stock profile on this one.

I'm still learning the intricacies and details of different locks and want to pick one that 1) fits on a New England gun during the Revolution, and 2) is a good match for what is on that particular musket. Lindsay describes it as appearing "entirely American except for some of the furniture which is British."

So, any recommendations on the right lock to use?  It will be married up with a O/R barrel that is 1-1/8" at the breech.

The one pictured appears to have a bit of a banana shape, and the following locks look similar to my untrained (but learning!) eyes...

Barker-Whatley Lock -- https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/720/1/LOCK-BARKER-F-RH

Davis Colonial American Lock -- https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/720/1/LOCK-COLONIAL-F-1

Siler Lock or Chambers Dale Johnson Lock?  I know that is a Germanic style, but to my eyes it looks fairly similar, though maybe a bit undersized.

Chambers Gunmakers Lock?

Moderators, I hope it's okay that I've included photos of that page in the book; if not, I'll remove them.

I appreciate your help!

- Tom

[rich pierce]

The Davis Colonial is big enough for such a gun.

[Bob Roller]

Davis Colonial looks like a good candidate.

Bob Roller

[alex e.]

Davis colonial.

[Clark Badgett]

For a NE militia musket, look for something remarkably French looking. That Davis Colonial does look the part.

[James Wilson Everett]

Tom,

I would put a full size musket lock, British would be OK, French would be better.  I have both a Brown Bess second model lock and a Charleville lock in my stash. Let me know if you would like to have one of these for your COS musket.

Jim

[silky]

Thanks for the help, all.  The Davis Colonial and that Barker Whatley do look the part... honestly, the latter looks closer to my eye, and the specs say they're almost the same size (Colonial is only .5" longer and they're essentially the same height).  Am I missing something?  I'm always down for an education from the experts among you.

I feel like shortening the nose of the lock plate of the Barker Whatley would make it look even more like the lock pictured.

Thoughts and information are more than welcome -- thank you!

- Tom

[rich pierce]

On builds like this there are 2 broad approaches when it comes to parts like locks. The most intuitive is to pick an available lock that looks like the one on the original. I’m guessing you don’t have measurements. The second approach is to assume the gunsmith did not have 2 dozen identical locks at his disposal and in that period of his career, that’s all he used. If we look at Oerter’s signed guns we see a wide variety of locks used. The key being using parts “right” for the period.

Without measurements, shape only gets you so close. A lock half an inch longer can be much larger. MUCH larger.

Bottom: Siler
Middle: Davis Colonial
Top: musket lock from castings.

[silky]

That helps a lot.  Thanks for the explanation and pictures, Rich.

[Hungry Horse]

If you can find one of the Japanese replica 1763 Charlesville musket locks they are correct, and after some tuning really reliable. They can easily be backdated to replicate an earlier musket as well.

 Hungry Horse