Author Topic: Greasy Fly (in a Gunlock)!! (Read 9209 times)

Roger Fisher · « **on:** July 22, 2009, 05:09:39 PM »

I notice that my ol durs egg flintlock has a hesitant fly going to full draw. She snicks nicely into halfdraw and usually the same to full draw. Maybe a third of the time she hesitates to 'snick' going into the full draw.. I have been using brownells grease (the grey stuff) I wonder about your experience with this...? I have spritzed the grease out with lite oil and will go thata way a while. I noticed she is still hesitating sometimes however.....Might be some thickened grease in that flyarea or hole. I will probably have to pull the innards out and clean/clean/clean.

And do you avoid grease in your lock innards in winter for the above reason.??

Dale Halterman · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2009, 06:23:30 PM »

I have one of those locks in a rifle I built a few years ago, and I only use thin oil to avoid gumming things up. Guns, grease, and cold weather just don't go together. A friend's centerfire rifle refused to fire in December in Susquehanna County north of you several years ago because he greased the firing pin really good. I soaked it in kerosene to clean it and them put some light oil on it and he had no more problems.

Dale H

Ian Pratt · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2009, 06:52:52 PM »

Hey Roger, I have been using that lock oil Chamber's sells for a few years and it's about the best thing I have tried, stays stuck to the metal, stays slick and don't thicken up in the cold. Can't remember what it's called right at the moment, not the stuff they sell to oil the bore

Joey R · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2009, 07:01:20 PM »

I think it's Accralube for the inner workings and Accraguard for the bore and outer surfaces. I think??

jerrywh · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2009, 07:55:45 PM »

Often times those flies need to be tuned a little.

T*O*F · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2009, 08:59:28 PM »

Why oil the fly at all? It just flops around in there and suffers no appreciable wear requiring it to be lubed. Presumably, the rubbing parts have been polished and hardened to provide hard non-wearing surfaces.

Sometimes I think lots of guys overdo a lot of this cleaning and oiling thing just to have something to bench race about.

Ian Pratt · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2009, 10:26:35 PM »

Yeah you're right, It's pretty stupid to put oil in there, forget I said anything. I'm gonna blast all the oil out of my lock with ether, and from now on when I re-oil it I'm gonna be real careful to not get ANY on the fly. Anybody got some kind of little rubber boot that I can fit to the bridle to keep oil off of the fly?

Artificer · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2009, 10:49:11 PM »

Quote from: TOF on July 22, 2009, 08:59:28 PM

Why oil the fly at all? It just flops around in there and suffers no appreciable wear requiring it to be lubed. Presumably, the rubbing parts have been polished and hardened to provide hard non-wearing surfaces.

Sometimes I think lots of guys overdo a lot of this cleaning and oiling thing just to have something to bench race about.

Good point. I'd oil it and then wipe off the oil. That way there is a light coat of oil on it to keep from rusting, but nothing to suck up dust and powder residue or other contaminents.

Ian Pratt · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2009, 11:38:50 PM »

We're gonna need to come up with something to wick away the excess oil that is bound to migrate from the tumbler shaft to the fly - how about drill a little hole in the lock plate and run a small brass tube out of it and neck it up to a shop vac hose? That should do it. Might scare the squirrels at first, but we gotta keep that fly dry. don't we

Hank*in*WV · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2009, 01:03:43 AM »

After washing and drying my locks, I spray them with WD 40 and then blow them off with my air compressor.

Roger Fisher · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2009, 02:45:05 AM »

Quote from: Pratt on July 22, 2009, 10:26:35 PM

Yeah you're right, It's pretty stupid to put oil in there, forget I said anything. I'm gonna blast all the oil out of my lock with ether, and from now on when I re-oil it I'm gonna be real careful to not get ANY on the fly. Anybody got some kind of little rubber boot that I can fit to the bridle to keep oil off of the fly?

Your cracking me up - nicely said!! C ya at Chuck's

Roger Fisher · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2009, 02:46:45 AM »

Quote from: Pratt on July 22, 2009, 11:38:50 PM

We're gonna need to come up with something to wick away the excess oil that is bound to migrate from the tumbler shaft to the fly - how about drill a little hole in the lock plate and run a small brass tube out of it and neck it up to a shop vac hose? That should do it. Might scare the squirrels at first, but we gotta keep that fly dry. don't we

Jesus-Pratt I do think you been in the jug (again)

Jim Chambers · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2009, 02:50:50 AM »

Old guys like me and Don Getz are always happy when our fly is dry........Oh, you mean the fly in your lock, sorry. Ha!
We heading to Dixons about dawn tomorrow morning. Hope to see everyone there including Ian.

Don Getz · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:01:07 AM »

Roger, about that Pratt guy, I think he's been in the smoke too long, got to get away from that forge for a while. Don't
put GREASE on the fly, it has to flop around, grease slows it up too much. I have some of that red grease, sold by Shooters Choice, comes in a little plastic hypodermic needle type of thing, use it on my trap guns. I usually put a little on
the shank of the tumbler, where it goes thru the lock plate, I also put some on the tumbler where the main spring rides,
and a little on top of the sear, where the sear spring rubs against it. All of the other moving parts get fine oil. You might
want to re-think all of the above if you are planning on taking that gun out where it might be pretty cold. I think I would
forget about the grease, except maybe where the main spring rides on the tumbler...all the other areas would get fine oil.
Here's a little polishing tip I use.....I take some 600 grit emery paper, wrap it around a dowel (smaller than the tumbler hole that goes thru the lock plate). I then spin the lock plate on this to polish the hole, works great...........Don

J Shingler · « **Reply #14 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:02:27 AM »

Old guys like me and Don Getz are always happy when our fly is dry........Oh, you mean the fly in your lock, sorry. Ha!We heading to Dixons about dawn tomorrow morning. Hope to see everyone there including Ian.

LOL Well I like mine ... oh never mind. Ian some uys just take life way to serious. None of us are gettin out alive anyway!! See you all at Dixons!

Leprechaun · « **Reply #15 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:57:47 AM »

Quote from: Roger Fisher on July 22, 2009, 05:09:39 PM

. I have been using brownells grease (the grey stuff) I wonder about your experience with this...?

Are you sure that's grease. It might be ointment and there aint nothin' worse than a fly in the ointment.

Ian Pratt · « **Reply #16 on:** July 23, 2009, 06:16:54 AM »

Well, ointment in the fly is a little worse

Dr. Tim-Boone · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:50:56 PM »

It takes a really tiny syringe to do that. Did you make it on your lathe???

Quote from: Pratt on July 23, 2009, 06:16:54 AM

Well, ointment in the fly is a little worse

It takes a really tiny syringe to do that. Did you make it on your lathe???

Roger Fisher · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2009, 04:45:20 PM »

Holy Chr I'm kinda sorry I started this, well $#*! the devil made me do it!!

I do like that spinning it in the hole suggestion (in the lockplate) I'sn't much I haven't tried since I was about 10 or 11 ; but that is one!

Brian · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2009, 05:08:51 PM »

Quote from: Pratt on July 23, 2009, 06:16:54 AM

Well, ointment in the fly is a little worse

Well said. Ointment in the fly would be bad.

T*O*F · « **Reply #20 on:** July 23, 2009, 07:00:43 PM »

Quote

We're gonna need to come up with something to wick away the excess oil that is bound to migrate from the tumbler shaft to the fly

Hmmm......I don't know what "excess oil" is. The price of oil today is too expensive to waste as excess. I thought gravity affected how fluids migrate. Unless you carry your gun sideways, the "excess" will migrate down into your lock mortise.

Now for the guys who insist on having their locks flooded with "excess oil" perhaps we can get Sam Everly to engineer a spring driven oil pump that flood the innards of the lock with oil everytime it's fired. Of course, you have to modify your buttplate into an oil pan to store it.

It could start a whole new industry as the next step in muzzleloading technology, the flintlock engine.

Ian Pratt · « **Reply #21 on:** July 23, 2009, 09:29:19 PM »

Centrifugal force man, you can't rule out centrifugal force, that poor fly is going to be wetter than a fishes gizzard no matter what we do. I think we may just have to settle for the wet fly system until something better comes along.

Birddog6 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 23, 2009, 09:47:02 PM »

Quote from: Pratt on July 23, 2009, 09:29:19 PM

Centrifugal force man, you can't rule out centrifugal force, that poor fly is going to be wetter than a fishes gizzard no matter what we do. I think we may just have to settle for the wet fly system until something better comes along.

OK.............

You guys have got to make up your minds.....

I just took the locks off 27 locks, washed all the oil & grease out of the locks, and now we're going to a Oil Bath System......... Jeezzzzzzzzzzzz........

OK.... I can do it..........

But can we use Moose Milk for lubrication so I don't have to make up another concoction ?

We can put a drip pan off the lock drain & lube the patches !!

Now lets see........ this lock went to that one. and that one goes to that one. no, it goes to that one....... no that ain't right either, maybe it goes to this one,, no that ain't right either............ hey.. I may need some help here..... $:-\$

Dphariss · « **Reply #23 on:** July 23, 2009, 11:23:28 PM »

Quote from: Roger Fisher on July 22, 2009, 05:09:39 PM

I notice that my ol durs egg flintlock has a hesitant fly going to full draw. She snicks nicely into halfdraw and usually the same to full draw. Maybe a third of the time she hesitates to 'snick' going into the full draw.. I have been using brownells grease (the grey stuff) I wonder about your experience with this...? I have spritzed the grease out with lite oil and will go thata way a while. I noticed she is still hesitating sometimes however.....Might be some thickened grease in that flyarea or hole. I will probably have to pull the innards out and clean/clean/clean.

And do you avoid grease in your lock innards in winter for the above reason.??

Spray the thing with "Gun Scrubber" or soak in solvent then dry and oil with a light weight non-congealing oil gun oil.
0w30 or 5w30 real synthetic motor oil (I use Amsoil) will work only needs 3-4 drops for the whole lock. A quart will last a long time compared to the stuff sold for guns in little bottles.
Grease is down right dangerous in locks no matter who made the stuff. Flys that do not work right are a source of ADs.

Dan

Pete G. · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2009, 12:08:33 AM »

If you will look closely you will see that the fly in those locks is not symetrical and can be can be put in upside down. Try flipping it over to see if it makes a difference.

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Author Topic: Greasy Fly (in a Gunlock)!! (Read 9209 times)

J Shingler

Leprechaun

Birddog6