Window calk

[bob in the woods]

I have had /seen some locks where the bolster was not perfectly flat, or at times having a rough finish. Lapping with some wet/dry paper has fixed this. If this surface isn't flat or finished well, it can 't mate with the barrel surface good enough to provide that seal we desire.

[Turtle]

ouch Mike!
I challenge someone to lube and assemble their perfectly inletted lock guns shoot it for a year without internal lock corrosion like I do. many people comment on my fine inletting-they must be really
 dumb!.

[Mike Brooks]

ouch Mike!
I challenge someone to lube and assemble their perfectly inletted lock guns shoot it for a year without internal lock corrosion like I do. many people comment on my fine inletting-they must be really
 dumb!.

You'll probably have alot of people take you up on that challenge.

My post wasn't intended to hurt, just letting you know what most everybody else's standards are. I don't think I could sell many guns with a bunch of caulking in between the lock and the barrel.

[Mike Brooks]

I have had /seen some locks where the bolster was not perfectly flat, or at times having a rough finish. Lapping with some wet/dry paper has fixed this. If this surface isn't flat or finished well, it can 't mate with the barrel surface good enough to provide that seal we desire.

I have on occasion found this to be true with one particular lock, but the manufacturer has the problem straightened out now. I always use a flat mill bastard file to take any irregularities out.

[Nordnecker]

When I inlet a lock I check the fit between the bolster and barrel with a .004 feeler gauge. If I cant get it in there I figure it's a pretty good fit. I do remove the lock for cleaning. I don't notice any blow-by inside the lock.

[Turtle]

 I achieve total contact barrel to bolster  with Prussian blue after fitting-always. I was only trying to suggest something that might have helped someone else-sorry I tried. Early in my gunbuilding Jean Wojak a fine builder and gentleman told me" NEVER criticize someone else's work". I have tried to always remember that. ( also complimented me on my inletting)
                                 Turtle

[WadePatton]

I give up

It doesn't add up.  "Perfect" lapped metal to metal fit, and properly let into the wood, AND _yet_ you find it necessary to use a sealant to stop blowby?

Daryl shoots a hundred shots in a day with no blowby or sealing compound.

See how we're confused, and why folks are ciphering about where else/why else you might be getting blowby?

[WadePatton]

ouch Mike!
I challenge someone ...

You'll probably have alot of people take you up on that challenge.

My post wasn't intended to hurt, just letting you know what most everybody else's standards are. I don't think I could sell many guns with a bunch of caulking in between the lock and the barrel.

Mike, I don't think you're going to clean up your customers locks annually either. 


Don't get me wrong Turtle, I think it's great that you choose to perform such a service for "less conscious" peeple.

[Mike Brooks]

I achieve total contact barrel to bolster  with Prussian blue after fitting-always. I was only trying to suggest something that might have helped someone else-sorry I tried. Early in my gunbuilding Jean Wojak a fine builder and gentleman told me" NEVER criticize someone else's work". I have tried to always remember that. ( also complimented me on my inletting)
                                 Turtle

Sorry I tried to help you out, my fox paws. Forget everything I posted. Carry on......

[Turtle]

 Frustrating-people don't read my posts. Wade, I was talking of corrosion after a period of time and MANY shooting sessions-not just one. if you take a lock out and  clean it every time, it doesn't matter how poor a seal you have. Conversly of you don't, and the TINYEST bit of corrosive nasty gets down there it reeks havoc over time. I worked on a well built (not mine) flintlock that had been shot in one shoot, barrel and externals cleaned (lock not removed) , and then but away. Due to illness the gun wasn't touched for over a year. I was brought to me because it wouldn't hold half or full cock. I ended up having to replace some of the internal parts to repair it due to their corroded state.  One man I shoot with actually partially  disassembles his removed lock to clean it properly every session-never looses the fly!.                                      Turtle

[Daryl]

Frustrating-people don't read my posts. Wade, I was talking of corrosion after a period of time and MANY shooting sessions-not just one. if you take a lock and  clean it every time, it doesn't matter how poor a seal you have. Conversly of you don't, and the TINYEST bit of corrosive nasty gets down there it reeks havoc.
                                             Turtle

I read every post, Turtle.  My locks, none of them, require any 'help' for sealing out the fouling.  I will submit that if you use Pyrodex- corrosion from the perchlorate fouling will most certainly show up, if any fouling gets "in there".  The locks come off the gun (except for the .69's percussion lock) ever time I shoot them, when I clean them - except the odd time at Hefley when the humidity is in the single digits. Then, I sometimes clean the rifle like LB- plug the vent, fill, set a shot spell, push that out and repeat for about 2 beer's time.

The 14 bore's lock has been off the rifle - may be 12 times since 1986 when she was built.  There is never any fouling in the lock - every now and them - sometimes even once a year, I get curious and check it- no fouling and the hammer's cup is not corroded either.

With the rifle's bolster & snug fit of the rifle's parts, there is no fouling inside the lock- EVER.  My flinters do not leak, either, but how would I know as you say - the locks are removed and get cleaned after every time I use them.

[Turtle]

 This has been a painful learning experience here. I assumed people went on this forum to learn new things and help other people. That was my motive. I was naive and wrong. From now on I will read and not post.
                                        Turtle

[Mike Brooks]

This has been a painful learning experience here. I assumed people went on this forum to learn new things and help other people. That was my motive. I was naive and wrong. From now on I will read and not post.
                                        Turtle

This need not be painful if you approach it the right way. You assumed you were teaching people when actually it was people who were trying to teach you how the rest of the world deals with the problems of blow by you have been having. Honestly, you should not ever have blow by on a properly built gun. If for some reason you do then maybe your caulking solution would be viable. Personally I'd add or remove more wood untill the lock set properly against the barrel for a permanent fix to the problem.
 All who responded could have easily said " Oh what a great solution" and went on. Instead they tried to make you understand what the root of your problem was.  So, as you posted above From now on I will read and not post. makes me want to say the same thing,