How good are the locks (flint) on older Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mt rifles?

[Kurt]

 The inside of the lock has no markings and it works fine but I am curious how well these locks held up to use. Thanks in advance for any replies. Kurt

[reddogge]

I had a DGW lock from the 80s in a rifle I built 2 years ago and I had to get Brad at Cabin Creek to work it over to get it to spark reliably. The main spring was too weak among other problems.

[Steeltrap]

I don't know if it's the same, but I acquired a Dixie Gun Works lock recently from a gentlemen on this forum that I'm using on a pistol build. I've tuned it to the best of my abilities and it consistently sparks great. I did have to silver solder a hammer stop on the top of the bolster as the hammer stop (prior to that) was the tumbler hitting the bridle. (Not what you want). I think the lock will work just fine and hold up longer than I'll be on the planet.

[Kevin Houlihan]

 I had one that the frizzen was too soft.  It had ridges worn into it and wouldn't spark reliably.  I replaced it with an L&R RPL lock, which while not a great lock was still an upgrade.  My son still has the rifle and it shoots great.
Kevin

[Bob Roller]

Dixie Gun Works was, as long as Turner Kirkland owned it NOT oriented to quality locks,triggers or anything else.After he passed away his son Hunter did all he could to upgrade that operation and he started handling better quality imports from Italy and when BPCR got going he got good shooting guns from Pedersoli and others.He paid me $1000 to make four target rifle locks on the Alex Henry pattern plates and hammer with the Stanton four screw internals..I told him Turner would rise from the grave if he knew about that order.
    I worked there in the Summer of 1958 and there were NO locks there that were intended for the quality market but it was almost non existent anyway so the low end was supreme for a  long time.I still miss Hunter and sold a number of fine antique guns to him.Ypur old DGW lock IS reflective of what once was their "beans and taters.".Good luck with a remake of it.
Bob Roller

[Hungry Horse]

 The lock mechanism is fair quality, but the frizzen on some of these locks will not harden. I don’t know enough about different metals to tell you why, but I’ve tried several methods of hardening and they all worked marginally, or not at all.
 That being said I have one of those locks on my home built poor boy rifle, and it’s very reliable. But it has a frizzen from another lock on it, that I ground and fitted to it. This rifle won a contest my gun club put on years ago to see who could get the most shots out of a single flint. It shot 64 shots without a misfire. Hope this helps.

Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

The part that makes it a FLINT lock had to be replaced with a frizzen from a different lock?
Bob Roller

[Hungry Horse]

 Yep, you got it Bob. The frizzen is the frizzen off of a Dixie F1 flintlock ground to fit the pan. The pivot bolt on the pan was in the wrong place, so that had to be welded up and re-bored. Otherwise it all fits, and is roughly the right size. The F1 was made in Belgium originally and the frizzens were first quality. Over the years I’ve bought more than one old F1’s just for the frizzen they usually were non-functional because they didn’t use the good steel on the internals.

Hungry Horse

[Steeltrap]

The Dixie lock I have as pictured above was made in Italy. It had Italy stamped on the bolster but when I squared it up, I removed the Italy stamp.

[Bob Roller]

I owned several different Pedersoli BPCR rifles and they were good shooters and well made.The Italians seem to have the ability to make guns to any level of quality wanted or needed.The English took lock making to a level that is top of the line and for me,a challenge to try and copy.The first one was a Stanton copy in 1987 and R.E.Davis bought it and I used a version of it in Schuetzen locks sent to Germany.
I have heard good reports on the Italian made Whitworth repros and maybe someone here can give a report on one of these rifles.
Bob Roller 

[Blacksmoke]

Bob Roller:  Many thanks for building a CLASSIC lock of any vintage! You are one of only a few who truly knows how a  lock is supposed to work! I have a rifle on the bench now with a "Roller" lock on it.  To bad the gun maker who built the rifle did not know the workings of a class lock!! However I am getting things straighten out to make the lock sound again! Kudos to you Bob Roller!! Hugh Toenjes

[Kurt]

Thanks to all for the great information, though a bit discouraging. What is the term for adding a hard metal layer to a soft frizzen? I've heard hack saw blades are sometimes used? My frizzen is fine but you've got me thinking.

[Bob Roller]

The hardened plate is called "half soling a frizzen"but it usually covers the full curve of the frizzen face.
Bob Roller

[Hungry Horse]

 A hacksaw blade half-sole works some times, but often the hacksaw blade isn’t wide enough to eliminate the wavy edge with the teeth on it. I prefer recoil springs from small engine. They a usually a little thicker and they are easy to get. I also have used metal woodworking scrapers. They are real handy on large military type locks.


Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

Bob Roller:  Many thanks for building a CLASSIC lock of any vintage! You are one of only a few who truly knows how a  lock is supposed to work! I have a rifle on the bench now with a "Roller" lock on it.  To bad the gun maker who built the rifle did not know the workings of a class lock!! However I am getting things straighten out to make the lock sound again! Kudos to you Bob Roller!! Hugh Toenjes

Hugh,
WHAT has happened to this lock?Altered/made unsafe to use or??? Thank you for the kind comments on my past work and chances of me making any more locks is about zero.Triggers maybe but nothing certain.
Bob Roller

[Eric Kettenburg]

Probably the best material for soling frizzens imho is old Disston saw blades.  They'll spark like a mother---.

[Blacksmoke]

I generally use old wore out files.  Aneal them to cut out the sole to the frizzen and correct thickness. Then heat to cherry red and quench in ATF. Now polish all sides bright.  Now tin the face of the frizzen with 95-5 soft solder. Clamp the piece of file to the frizzen and sweat it in place. The heat needed to sweat it is 450-500 degrees just right to draw the temper in the piece of file! make sure you can see bright solder all the way around the sole. quench in luke warm water and you will have a shower of sparks like no other!! I have done this operation many, many times - works great!! Hugh Toenjes

[Habu]

I picked up an orphan Dixie Tennessee lock at a gun show maybe 20 years ago.  The lock looked like it wasn't that well fit to begin with, and then was used til it wore out.  It did make a nice little lock after some work.  As I recall, the screw holes were welded up, plate polished, new works (tumbler, sear, bridle, springs) made and fitted, frizzen replaced with one that pivoted on a pin from the inside, topped off with a new double-throated hammer. 

Not cost-effective, more of a nostalgic exercise in what I wish I would have known how to do to "fix" a Dixie lock 20 years earlier.  Had it been on a rifle, Kevin's approach of replacing it with an L&R RPL lock (with some tuning) is probably a better plan.