Set Trigger and or lock problem

[Randy in WVA]

Greetings fellows..recently joined this fine site and I must say that there is an abundance of good advice and tips..I have been shooting flintlocks for over 30 years that began when my father brought home a T/C Hawken he won in a plant raffle..I have recently been working on my own build in the form of a  Lancaster / Lebanon county longRifle. As a Journeyman Machinist by trade, half the fun has been in the form of making jigs and tools for the build to be honest, although I must add I have tried to use traditional methods such as scraping, and only a power hand drill...the problem I am having though is perplexing and I cannot figure it out...I took my Siler lock apart to polish it and re-assembled it with no issues, and fly installed...the lock engages fully at half cock and full cock and does not slip..however, when I set the rear trigger and depress the front trigger to fire it, nothing happens but a click...if I re-set the rear trigger and depress the front trigger a second time it fires without issue...this is consistent and is always in the same way..set-pull-click....set-pull- lock fires...the lock sparks really well and is very smooth...I have also double checked that there is no wood interference...I cant figure this out for the life of me and wonder if has ever happened to any of you...any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Again, this site is wonderful and all of the posts I have seen here reflect a vast amount of knowledge and experience! Thank Guys!

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Well, Like a good engineer you have eliminated some possible causes. Now it could be that the sear nose is sticking in the notch on the tumbler for some reason. Or that the tumbler is moving against the plate with too much friction...... or the sear spring is hanging up on top of the sear...  these can be solved by polishing and lubrication if they are the cause...... Something is making the set trigger have to hit the sear twice to get it to release..... maybe the trigger is too far below the sear? Or maybe it is binding and not moving up to hit the sear with full force??

And then... and only after checking all these other things... it may be a spring problem........... Others may be able to give you specific help.. there are a bunch of really knowledgeable folks on here.

Good Luck and let us know what happens.

[Long Ears]

Tim has most of it nailed. My bet is the trigger needs inlet a little bit more ( be careful) or more tension on the trigger spring. If you tighten the screw that hold the trigger spring it will make it tougher to set but it will hit harder. Bob

[sweed]

If you were to remove the lock and test it by hand, you would know if you have a lock problem or a trigger problem. Divide and conquer! 

[Acer Saccharum]

Read this from the Tutorials for more info on set triggers: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=32152.0

[Randy in WVA]

Guys, thank you all for the great advice...as advised, I went all over my triggers and lock again and the issue was a combination of several things: 1) when I re-assembled my lock, I definatly put too much torque on all the screws and that was causing it to bind the sear 2) I also discovered that my inletting was not quite deep enough and that was causing considerable lack of engagement 3) and as to lube, well I must admit that WD-40 probably was not the best choice, and used some instrument lube......Lock now functions smooth as silk and the triggers work flawlessly every time......and Acer, that tutorial link was most helpful in helping understand the function and geometry with these triggers...Again, I am in awe of all the knowledge that all of you have with these issues and am most grateful for you sharing it! Thank you!

[Acer Saccharum]

You want the sear screw snug. If the sear binds when you tighten it down, remove some metal UNDER the head of the screw to alleviate the binding issue. Without a tight sear screw, you could have inconsistent let-off, or worse, and unsafe condition at full cock.