George Lauber Wheellock

[Matt Maier]

Are the George Lauber wheellock plans any good? I would like to build one and they are the only plans I can find. I have found a copy of the book, but before I spend more than $50 on a book that's out of print, I would like to know what other people think about it.

 

[hawkeye2]

I have all 3 of his books which I bought back in the 70s but I have never tried to build from them. From what I have heard over the years there are dimensional errors in some of his drawings such that part A may not work with part B as drawn and dimensioned. I expect that if you were a machinist or draftsman you could locate and correct the errors by careful inspection of the drawings but that might be a lot of work for the layman.

 

[Matt Maier]

Fair point. I am a machinist, and I have made model engines and such, but I have never attempted anything as intricate as a gun lock. Are there any other sources for plans other than The Rifle Shoppe?

 

[hawkeye2]

It sounds like you are up to the challenge. A friend, retired machinist, is building a wheellock from scratch. I've been meaning to post some photos but just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[dd832]

Are the George Lauber wheellock plans any good? I would like to build one and they are the only plans I can find. I have found a copy of the book, but before I spend more than $50 on a book that's out of print, I would like to know what other people think about it.

Matt a 'pdf' file is available on the internet, it's a free download also. Here's the link: http://the-eye.eu/public/concen.org/Militias Army Gunsmithing Weapons Prepper Survival ebooks pack/ebooks 1/Wheellock Rifle or Pistol Plans.pdf
The lauber wheellock plans are converted from metric to imperial units and you might have more luck converting the units back to metric if you're okay with doing that.
I worked on a wheellock a year ago on this forum starting in May when I tried to rebuild a Mendi wheellock, it's on page 3 under "Rebuilding a Mendi Wheellock". The Mendi lock is slightly larger than the Lauber lock. My build may give you some ideas on how to attack the project, I'm only a hobby machinist and I found it easier to build to fit because I reverse engineered the project.

Here's a link to a German website that has many dimensioned drawings of wheellocks and they are all metric: http://feuerwaffen.ch/drawings.htm

good luck, Mike