Small Siler issues

Swampy said:

Is this small Siler a Chambers? If so call them, box it up send it back to them. They will make it right.

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justlearning said:

Looking for suggestions on what to try next. I'm about to give up and just replace the whole lock.

Lock have been problematic since new. Rifle now has nearly 300 balls through it.

Poor sparking, bad fitment and a flint smasher. Everything I have done has helped a little with every step taken but no where near the dependability of my rifle with a Large Siler (of which I've had a flint last over 50 shots without ever even needing to be knapped). On this lock sometimes only two shots before flint needs knapping. Five shots is about the limit and that is rare. I'm told the Small Siler can be troublesome although one of my shooting buddies has nearly zero issues with his and flints seem to last forever without being knapped.

So far;

1: Different flints, flint sizes, bevel up/down.

2: Tried different pieces of leather and lead wrap for flint.

3: Mounting screws too long and dragging on part of the hammer and the other pushing against fizzen spring. This was diagnosed by Dixon's.

4: Bridle was bent and pan did not fit tight along barrel causing lots of powder residue to get into the inner working of the lock. Filed parts for better fit. No, this has nothing to do with sparks or flint wear, just another issue.

5: Filed and reshaped the cam so frizzen would flip up more easily. Polished cam and frizzen spring where cam touches. Polished frizzen screw and frizzen where it touches mounting area (sorry, don't know what that's called). Yes it is oiled. Frizzen has a very sloppy fit side to side and the screw hole is too large. That's the way I received it, can't add metal.

6: Rehardend frizzen.

Nothing appears to be dragging in the inner workings of the lock.

Like I stated in the beginning. Every step helped a bit but I was spoiled by my rifle with the Large Siler and am hoping to get the same or at least close to the same dependability with the Small Siler.

I was looking at a new Chambers lock yesterday at Dixon's. On the new lock I will at least need to swap the sear and drill and tap mounting holes.

Any suggestions?

Mike

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Dan Phariss said:

Also be sure the mainspring and other internals are not bearing/dragging on the wood inside the mortise.
In your situation sending it to Chambers might be the best idea and ask if its worth reworking or if a new lock would be a better answer.


Dan

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DennisA said:

Just a thought. I noted that you rehardened the frizzen but I didn't note that you mentioned anything about drawing it back after hardening. Once hardened the frizzen needs to be drawn back at 400 to 425 degrees for about 15 or twenty minutes. This should produce a light straw color.

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Eric Krewson said:

I just finished my first flintlock rifle and noticed the lock was a little slower than I expected. I had carefully inletted the lock internals but after reading some of the suggestions in another post I realized I had never checked my inletting job with the lock bolts fully tightened. I had only pushed the soot blackened lock in with my hand to see where to remove wood.

I pulled my lock, blackened all the internals with candle soot, installed the lock and tightened the lock bolts.

To my amazement it wasn't a question of where the lock parts were rubbing wood but where they weren't. Lots of black in my lock inlet, particularly where the main spring sat in the inlet.

A little more chisel work an my lock became much faster. Another rookie oversight but an eye opener for future builds.

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paulvallandigham said:

Don't Crank those lock bolts down. Easy does it. They just need to hold the lock plate in that mortise you so carefully carved into the stock for the lock.

Treat your lock as you might a fine swiss watch. Put witness marks on the screw heads to indicate when they are properly seated, and then refer to the witness marks every time you put that screw, or bolt back into the lock or stock.

Leave the Gorilla out of your workshop when working with any MLer. More problems are created by screwing in bolts and screws too FAR than by any other single cause.

The plate seated in its mortise, keeps the entire Lock from turning due to the torque generated by the firing of the lock. That is why so many older locks used only ONE LOCK BOLT to hold the entire lock to the stock, and why many replicas use only one bolt today.

There are two things I look for when I am delivered a gun that is having Problems: The first is for evidence of rings or marks on the ramrod, indicating a loaded gun, and an empty gun. The second thing is witness marks on the bolts. I prefer to see slotted bolts and screws with the slots all aligned with the length of the barrel, but you don't see this very often with commercially made guns these day. When these "marks" are present, they tell me I am dealing with a careful owner, who knows how to take care of his gun.

When witness marks are ABSENT, the first thing I do is hold the gun so that I can look down the length of the lockplate to check it to see if: a. any of the bolts'heads are sticking past the lockplate, and b. if the lockplate is pulled inward so it is no longer square with the side flats of the barrel. Backing out the offending BOLT cures about 90% of the "Lock Problems" I am asked to "fix". :hmm:

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