Lock Issues

[Ats5331]

Hi all,

Tinkering with my chambers deluxe flintlock I was using at Mike Brooks class.

The lock was functioning perfectly in class, however, now that I am home, I have noticed that the lock is not engaging at full cock.

I took it apart and inspected all the parts, it seems to look alright to me? When the mainspring isn’t on, I hear the two clicks and the fly catches at full cock. When I install the main spring, it doesn’t catch at full cock..

Any thoughts?

[smart dog]

Hi,
Back off the tension on the sear screw a tiny bit to see if that solves the problem.

dave

[Ats5331]

Hi Dave,

I’ve attempted that several times, it doesn’t seem to be working however?

I know it’s hard to explain via typing..

Thanks,
Allen

[rich pierce]

Are you able to pull the cock back far enough to make the fly fly forward when the mainspring is in place? Sounds like that may be it.

[Ats5331]

@Rich

Yes, I am able to do that, but it doesn’t want to catch at full cock when assembled…

Puzzling

[Ats5331]

The fly moves forward but it’s is not catching to allow the cock to rest at full cock. I tried to get a picture to show the issue

[Stoner creek]

Screws in the bridle are too tight. Back the sear screw off one half turn.

[Bob Roller]

Is POSSIBLE that mainspring is touching the bolster on the lock plate. I got rid of that style of mechanism in 1970 and never used it again.I would think that a bridle binding the tumbler would interfere with the half cock as well.Take a small hone and polish the tip of the sear and the polish the intercepting side of the fly that engages and pushes the sear out of half cock on the way down.
Bob Roller

[rich pierce]

Bingo it looks like the hook of the mainspring is touching the bolster. Whether that is the issue or not, it shouldn’t be happening.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Your photo is great, except that the only part that is important is too dark to see what's going on there.  Try again with light playing on the tumbler notches, please.  To allow the tumbler to rotate a little further, if that is required, file the spot on the plate's bolster to remove metal, allowing the mainspring to come up a few more thou.

[Ats5331]

Here’s a picture in better lighting. I have another lock and am comparing functions. The main spring doesn’t touch on either of them. To me, it looks like the bridle isn’t catching on the tumbler (my terminology may be off here).

[Scott Bumpus]

Is the tit on the front of the main spring seated fully in the lock plate

[Ats5331]

Yeah, it’s on completely. I took the main spring off and the fly/catch system works perfectly? This leads me to believe the mainspring is a culprit

[Scott Bumpus]

That is a replacement fly and may need a little fitting.

[Frozen Run]

This leads me to believe the mainspring is a culprit

Occam's Razor, if the lock functioned perfectly throughout the class, it's likely a home shop error in reassembly or maybe a tenacious wood chip that slipped out the mortise and is jamming it up somewhere. Is the lock seizing up in the mortise or out of it? I'd sleep on it, and get some professional in person supervision before modifying a lock.

[Ats5331]

Yeah, Don. I haven’t tinkered with it at all or modified it. I feel like it’s the mainspring or a fly issue..I’ll have a friend give it a look over.

At this point I have spent too much time trying to figure out what’s wrong.

[Bob Roller]

I doubt if a non functional lock would get out of Jim's shop any more than one would from mine.
Bob Roller

[Scota4570]

A better view:

[PAFlinter]

Is it me or are your screws not screwed in completely.  That could be "cocking" things just enough

[Ats5331]

Wayne gave me some advice to back off the screws, I tried back some off, tightening others, etc. to no prevail.

Might call Barbie and see if she has some advice

[PAFlinter]

silly question.  do you have the screws in the right locations.....is one screw hitting the cock perhaps?

[Ats5331]

Yeah, I checked that over as well. Barbie thinks it may be a tumbler problem, so we may try a new tumbler on it.

This one was a stumper!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

In your last phot, it appears to me that the sear nose is way up past the full cock notch...what's up with that?  Why are you pulling the hammer back so far that the sear nose passes the full cock notch up into the tumbler?

[Ats5331]

In your last phot, it appears to me that the sear nose is way up past the full cock notch...what's up with that?  Why are you pulling the hammer back so far that the sear nose passes the full cock notch up into the tumbler?

Taylor, I was pulling it to where it should catch at full cock. Since it doesn’t currently catch, I was holding it with my thumb to try to take a picture, so that may be way it looks odd. As I said in my previous post, I chatted with Barbie and she believes the tumbler notch may be bad. Sending me a new tumbler this week

[Clark Badgett]

Both screws look to be 2-3 turns backed off. Screw them down flush and then lightly back them off, like maybe an 1/8th of a turn.