Finished assembling Wilson flintlock castings

[rich pierce]

I’ve finished assembling a TRS 600 lock which they call a Wilson Trade Lock. Note its finer features seldom if ever found on trade guns. Internal bridle, and boss for front lock bolt on the inside. As with many sets of castings, a bit of fiddling was needed. Their screw sets are generic, I think. Had to modify the top jaw screw, make a couple other screws. I ended up making a new mainspring. The one supplied was weak and didn’t approve of me increasing the preload to strengthen it. The sear spring had an anemic tab on it and the frizzen spring - feather thin at the tip - needed a lot more preload. On the plus side, the tumbler was very easy to true, all the spotted holes were right on, sear snd bridle castings were very nice, and the engraving on the lock plate and cock withstood careful polishing. All’s well that ends well! Now it sizzles. No money is saved on these sets - they take me a lot of time, but it’s increasing my knowledge and skill set, so a win.

[Jim Kibler]

Well isn't that pretty!  Nice job.

[Pukka Bundook]

Very nice work Rich.
What's it going on?

[rich pierce]

Very nice work Rich.
What's it going on?

I’m making a light club butt fowler based on CB-6 and CB-7 in Grinslade’s book on flintlock fowlers. It’s built around a 39” Colerain turkey-choked 20 gauge barrel. Gun will be about 7 pounds, so it really is scaled down a bit.

Here’s the buttplate I formed for it.

[Pukka Bundook]

Look forward to seeing more, Rich.
Neat buttplate!

[Robert Wolfe]

Nice!

[oldtravler61]

  Well done Rich an nice work on the butt plate too...

[Jim Kibler]

As far as appearance and correctness goes, it's hard to beat castings pulled from originals.  There are a host of problems associated with this method, but in terms of design, it's the best.  Rarely do manufacturers do a good job of correctly capturing all of the intricacies or details when making designs / masters themselves.

Jim

[Bob Roller]

Good job on the lock.I haven't made this style mechanism for over 50 years but did replace a lost "fly" in one that was still in new condition.
I sold the tools to make that style mainspring to the man in Ohio that was making a double barreled gun from scratch.
Bob Roller

[Mike Brooks]

Nifty! very nice work. As you point out, hardly a trade level lock.

[smart dog]

Hi Rich,
Nice lock!  Something to consider.  The lower leaf of the mainspring is very close to the edge of the lock and you have plenty of extra toe on the tumbler in front of the hook when the lock is at rest.  If it was my lock, I would heat the bend of the mainspring bright red, place the bend on an anvil and hammer the bend a bit more closed.  Then I would evenly heat most of the lower leaf to bright red and grab it with pliers just before the hook, and give it a gentle arc downward. Then makes sure it fits and the hook is not now short on the tumbler. Then heat treat.  That will raise the lower leaf away from the edge of the lock plate and also likely enable the lower leaf to be straight when the lock is at half cock.

dave

[rich pierce]

Thanks, Dave. The working arm is flat as a pancake; straight as an arrow at full cock. It has a nice arc when free of constraint.

[Clark Badgett]

Oops. I removed that front bolt boss from mine.

[TDM]

Nicely done Rich!

[flatsguide]

Fine work Rich.
Cheers Richard