Durs Egg locks

[B.Habermehl]

Any body have any recent experience with L&R 's Durs Egg locks. I've mostly used Chambers and Davis locks in the past. Just thinking of trying something different. I have a project in mind that will need a later style English lock. It's early enough in the thinking about it stage that the only parts in the shop is the barrel. I'm thinking of using a .54 cal GM 15/16 barrel I have here and shortening it to 34 inches or so. Building it into a English inspired half stock rifle. BJH

[smart dog]

Hi,
I've used several over the years. I am building a rifle right now that uses one.  I like them but they need work and tuning. They tend to smash flints because the frizzen tension is too high but I just adjust that and they produce great sparks. I don't like the fly arrangement on L&R locks. It has no post, just a hole that pivots on a tiny post cast into the tumbler. They are a pain to assemble and disassemble and are easily lost. All of the bearing surfaces need careful polishing. Regardless, if you take time to polish and tune them, they work very well and the Durs Egg lock seems very fast.

dave   

[Mike Brooks]

Hi,
I've used several over the years. I am building a rifle right now that uses one.  I like them but they need work and tuning. They tend to smash flints because the frizzen tension is too high but I just adjust that and they produce great sparks. I don't like the fly arrangement on L&R locks. It has no post, just a hole that pivots on a tiny post cast into the tumbler. They are a pain to assemble and disassemble and are easily lost. All of the bearing surfaces need careful polishing. Regardless, if you take time to polish and tune them, they work very well and the Durs Egg lock seems very fast.

dave   

All of the above AND, the flint edge ends up right in line with the touch hole and the gasses cut the edge of the flint off making flint life real short.

[Bob Roller]

Hi,
I've used several over the years. I am building a rifle right now that uses one.  I like them but they need work and tuning. They tend to smash flints because the frizzen tension is too high but I just adjust that and they produce great sparks. I don't like the fly arrangement on L&R locks. It has no post, just a hole that pivots on a tiny post cast into the tumbler. They are a pain to assemble and disassemble and are easily lost. All of the bearing surfaces need careful polishing. Regardless, if you take time to polish and tune them, they work very well and the Durs Egg lock seems very fast.

dave   

All of the above AND, the flint edge ends up right in line with the touch hole and the gasses cut the edge of the flint off making flint life real short.

The Durs Egg has a good potential but I find it better to install a precise set of parts.
 

Bob Roller

[moleeyes36]

Hi,
I've used several over the years. I am building a rifle right now that uses one.  I like them but they need work and tuning. They tend to smash flints because the frizzen tension is too high but I just adjust that and they produce great sparks. I don't like the fly arrangement on L&R locks. It has no post, just a hole that pivots on a tiny post cast into the tumbler. They are a pain to assemble and disassemble and are easily lost. All of the bearing surfaces need careful polishing. Regardless, if you take time to polish and tune them, they work very well and the Durs Egg lock seems very fast.

dave   

Dave,

When you adjust the frizzen tension to lower it on a Durs Egg lock by L&R how do you go about it?  Thanks.

Mole Eyes

[smart dog]

Hi ME,
First, I highly polish the roller on the frizzen and the little hump on the spring.  If that does not make an appreciable difference, I grind a little off the hump and test.  I don't remove much because you want that hump to provide the camming action.  If necessary, I grind a bevel on the side off the top leaf of the frizzen spring to weaken it.  What I try to achieve is for the frizzen to provide moderate resistance to the flint until it is open sufficiently to cam over.  When that happens, I like to have very little spring tension on the frizzen. The hump on the spring and roller will prevent the frizzen from bouncing back and hitting the flint again.  All the Durs Egg locks I've used had pretty heavy spring resistance all the way to the rest position.

dave       

[Joe S.]

Forgive me for asking dumb questions but....While I get it that L&R produces locks to the masses and is not in the biz of custom locks.If every time I read here that their locks are good but...Why are they not taking some of this feed back and making an attempt to atleast make little adjustments in there process to help with what I'm reading are on going problems?Not bashing their locks here and am using one on my rifle,just wondering and get the cost part of the equation.

[moleeyes36]

Hi ME,
First, I highly polish the roller on the frizzen and the little hump on the spring.  If that does not make an appreciable difference, I grind a little off the hump and test.  I don't remove much because you want that hump to provide the camming action.  If necessary, I grind a bevel on the side off the top leaf of the frizzen spring to weaken it.  What I try to achieve is for the frizzen to provide moderate resistance to the flint until it is open sufficiently to cam over.  When that happens, I like to have very little spring tension on the frizzen. The hump on the spring and roller will prevent the frizzen from bouncing back and hitting the flint again.  All the Durs Egg locks I've used had pretty heavy spring resistance all the way to the rest position.

dave       

Thanks, Dave.  I've got a L&R Durs Egg on a target rifle that I'm quite fond of.  Never had a problem with the lock and it's pretty fast to boot.  However, it's hard on flints as you mentioned.  I guess I'll try to lighten the frizzen tension using your instructions.  Thanks again.

Mole Eyes

[Turtle]

 Ditto on the flint edge getting fried. I now install my flints bevel down, and that doesn't happen.
                                                                       Turtle

[FALout]

That little fly needs to go on the right way also, if I remember correctly you can turn it over and install the wrong way.  Been awhile since I used a Durs Egg lock.

[bgf]

Everything said so far is true or can be, though I always use flint bevel down on that lock and never saw one torch a flint...  My older cast springs were tired after thousands of shots, but forged spring upgrade fixed that.  Newer ones come with forged springs.  I don't know how many shots, but I've burned out 2 or 3 touchhole liners so far and could use another.  The frizzen was a touch too hard on mine,also, but I drew the temper back.  Mechanically, I don't see any major issues with the one I got, and the more recent ones seem finished and assembled to a higher quality in general compared to the past.  And, I think they have made some improvements in metallurgy on the frizzen as well.  It is a very fast medium/large lock when set up and configured correctly.

The chamber's late ketland is not as nice in appearance options, but gets rave reviews from me and others in terms of speed, reliability, and build quality.  I think it is closer to typical British export lock used in colonies, but not always the right choice aesthetically or even functionally either.

I would use durrs egg again if it best fit a project, but I would allow time for inspection/tuning, or seriously consider Roller(TM Bob Roller) version if that's an option.

[Daryl]

The L&R "Dickert" lock is an amazingly fast lock - at least mine is. Bevel down and "Truckin'". Yes - the flint inside corner gets burned rounded and smooth, but I still get lots of shots per flint- at least 50, sometimes more. The vent flame actually burns the stone away, rounded and smooth.  That this happens shows the nose of the flint goes right down into the pan, which is probably why the ignition is so good - sparks shower right into the middle of the pan.

Rich's river rocks, ROCK in all of my locks!

[Turtle]

 I hunt deer with my NY rifle with the Durrs lock on it. Ignition does seem more reliable with the flint edge going to the bottom center of the pan, so when I deer hunt with it I install the flint bevel up.
                                                    Turtle