Currently I'm putting together a percussion pistol for a buddy. He has assembled most of the components which include a 15/16" AF x .50 cal x 10" GM barrel, a 1" Hawken hooked breech and tang, an L & R Hawken lock, a nice iron trigger guard, a L & R single set trigger assembly, and a collection of small pieces and screws.
What he's after is a saw-handled target pistol. He's a very big man with big hands and long fingers. But that L & R lock needed to be reduced in dimensions and while I was at it, I turned it.
I removed everything from the plate that hung out past the guts, allowing of course, enough for a solid inlet.
The bridle got some filing to remove radii and give it a little grace, and was dressed on the back and front and all edges.
The sear also was filed to remove the radius behind the screw boss, where the sear spring is supposed to bear. More on that in a bit. The faces of the sear were filed to improve the bearings, and again, add to its shape for aesthetics. Bridle and sear polished to 180 grit.
The sear spring as it arrived, has been ground off on the lower leg so that it rests on the sear at least 1/8" back of the sear screw boss. This gives the lock about a ten pound sear release. This is the second such lock I've worked on recently, and I sent detailed comments and photos to L & R to address the issue, but obviously to no avail. To fix the problem, I heated the spring red and straightened out the spring stock, gently tapping it flat. I then polished the metal on both sides, thinning the metal that would become the lower leg. Then I heated it red again and bent the leg under, starting right at the back end of the retaining stud. I tapped it closed and arched the lower leg. Then I re-polished it, and tried it gently in the lock. Now the leg was too long, and I could not push it down into it's position. So I reduced the lower leg length little by little until it snapped down against the sear. Happy with the arrangement, I removed the spring, and hardened and tempered it in the flame of my propane torch. One must be careful when tempering to get the steel evenly heated. It was in and out of the flame frequently until I was satisfied the colour was correct and even.
Now the sear has a lovely crisp, light, snappy action.
The full cock notch on the tumbler was too aggressive. I filed it square with the tumbler's axis and l polished it to 1200 grit.
The stirrup is a casting and needed to be completely filed and dressed to create round feet on both ends.
The mainspring is one of L & R's new forged springs. They seem well made albeit rough. And it was way too strong. So I tapered both legs, filing a considerable amount of steel off, and while I was at it, I cut bevels on both legs, and dressed up the hook. After polishing to 180 grit, and reassembling, I found the action still strong, but much better. The spring now has a more lively feel.
The outside and inside of the plate needed to be ground to remove hollows, and then was polished to 180 grit.
The hammer still needs filing and polishing, the hammer cup split and the thumb stud chequered, but that will come.
It's amazing how you can use up almost a full day. But it is satisfying work.
Did it need all that? Probably not. The lock functioned fine as it was out of the box, and I suspect it was every bit as good as an original Golcher. But where's the challenge and fun in that?
