Seeking some help:

[Wingshot]

I’ve recently come to possess an older DGW Tennessee Mountain Rifle in .32 cal. percussion. It has the Japan made 13/16 barrel which I have been told was a more comfortable rifle to shoot as opposed to later versions with heavier barrels. I haven’t shot it yet but I’m going out tomorrow to do just that.
 My question is this, has anyone here had any experience with converting this particular rifle from cap to flintlock? I know that L&R has a RPL lock available but is this my only option? I have to think that there are still some DGW flinters floating around out there and I’m looking to do this conversion as economically as possible as I don’t have a lot into it as is. Are there any other problems or concerns that I should be looking out for should I go ahead and dive into this conversion? Thanks in advance for any help.

[heinz]

Wingshot, a flintlock is far more difficult to make work properly than a percussion lock.  Skimping on the lock quality will lead to poor performance.
You have to be pretty good with flintlocks to be able to tune a DGW rock lock up to passable performance. If you can manage the L and R price go with that or see it someone on the forum has a suitable used lock you can buy. Otherwise leave it percussion until you can afford a better lock.

[Wingshot]

Wingshot, a flintlock is far more difficult to make work properly than a percussion lock.  Skimping on the lock quality will lead to poor performance.
You have to be pretty good with flintlocks to be able to tune a DGW rock lock up to passable performance. If you can manage the L and R price go with that or see it someone on the forum has a suitable used lock you can buy. Otherwise leave it percussion until you can afford a better lock.

I appreciate the advice on the L&R. I’ve always had flintlocks (at least since 1973) and this is my first percussion gun in loooong time. I’m not experienced in tuning locks and I get the impression that the OEM DGW locks were probably marginal. I’m curious if there’s anyone on here that’s actually done the conversion and if there’s anything I could pick up to help me decide if it’s something I want to tackle. I can handle the inletting, etc and I plan on doing some tweaking on the clunky stock profile. In the meantime I’m just going to enjoy it for what it is and work up a load.

[deepcreekdale]

About a year ago I installed one of Jim Chambers Late Ketland lock in a DGW Tenn, Mtn rifle for one of my regular customers. It took a little bit of inletting and fitting but wasn't that much of a job. He was thrilled with it and it replaced a marginal, barely usable lock with one of the best locks available. Not sure if the model he had is like yours or not but if you have a Track catalog with the full size photos, you could see if it would fit.

[Bob Roller]

The Dixie locks on the JayPan versions as I recall were a knock off of the Chet Shouts lock
but a bit bigger.Performance reports ran from very good to absolutely pathetic.If you can
get a Chambers Late Ketland to work then go for it.One of the very last flintlocks I made
was on the L&R Dixie replacement lock. I used the externals and made a custom mechanism
that worked quite well.
  When the DGW squirrel rifle was first offered it was made in Belgium and was 40 caliber and
a caplock.This was in the late 1950's.The later ones from JayPan that were caplocks seemed to
be OK as far as accuracy is concerned.The first thing I would look at now is the inside of the
barrels because a lot of highly corrosive powders have come along over the years.
Bob Roller

[heinz]

Wingshot, sorry I took you for a new guy.  This statement led me there "It has the Japan made 13/16 barrel which I have been told was a more comfortable rifle to shoot as opposed to later versions with heavier barrels."

You have been shooting flints almost as long as me (1967) ;-)

[Wingshot]

Shot a woods walk with her today. More accurate than I am is all I’m going to say. Had a problem with the cock dropping unassisted and deduced it was the rear set trigger pressing on the sear bar. Tied it back and kept running with the front trigger. Cracked my ramrod at the end😩. It’s a hoot to shoot and now I need to get out to the range and see what she’ll really do. One of gents at the shoot suggested a Chambers lock as well or the L&R. Seems like that’s the way to go. This might be heresy but I kind of enjoyed the caplock today!