Currently I am working on an English sporting gun, and thought it would be a nice touch to add a sliding tumbler safety to the lock. I am using a Chambers late Ketland for the gun. The bridle and sear screws on the back of the lock are quite close together, which presented a design challenge in adding the sliding safety. A common safety design on English locks employs a sliding bar in a slot on the lockplate, with a stabilizing tab on the inside that engages a slot in the bridle. Here are a couple of photos of a P. Bond lock on a pistol I have by that maker:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/cGW9Dy/P1253294.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/hoZMty/P1253295.jpg)
I have a pair of old German locks that were once very nice that have a much simpler yet effective safety that does not use a bar in the lock plate or a tab in the bridle, so I used them for my design. The Brits will just have to forgive me! Notice the fly in the center of the tumbler in the second photo:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/e6i36J/P5140087.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/nuT36J/P5140088.jpg)
Other than a few critical measurements I just made the parts to fit each other, mostly by "eyeballing" and trial fitting. First is a photo of the tumbler as it came from the manufacturer:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/mV3pVd/P4031101.jpg)
The tumbler had to be modified to allow engagement of the sliding safety. I filed a flat spot on the tumbler, removing enough material so I would have a solid solder joint below the point of engagement. Then I cut a wedge of steel and filed it to fit the tumbler at two points and soldered the two together, then cleaned the assembly up with a file.
![](https://preview.ibb.co/kFpwAd/P4031103.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/mqJZwJ/P4031104.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/iqDTOy/P4031105.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/iVt6Ad/P4031106.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/iTR4wJ/P4031111.jpg)
I marked and cut the slot for the safety engagement:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/bEJyqd/P4031113.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/cC5YOy/P4031116.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/bWVNGJ/P4031118.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/dC3niy/P4031119.jpg)
Next I began the process of manufacturing the safety and the activation knob assembly. Hopefully the photos are pretty much self explanatory. Everything is in the rough at this point:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/ip9hGJ/P4031120.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/kTdyqd/P4031121.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/h5PA3y/P4031122.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/hmQHiy/P4031124.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/jmQpwJ/P4031125.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/n6sPVd/P4031126.jpg)
Doing some file-fitting:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/mJVHiy/P4041127.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/bt78qd/P4041129.jpg)
Sawing out the safety mechanism:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/dWrbAd/P4041131.jpg)
![](https://preview.ibb.co/fsFsiy/P4041133.jpg)
First dry fit:
![](https://preview.ibb.co/jSFKVd/P4041136.jpg)
I must apologize, I live in the boonies and my internet connection has been horrible since a storm blew through here a couple of days ago, so I will have to continue this thread later. What should normally take an hour to post has taken about four so far....
Thanks for looking,
Curtis