calling Pletch, flat or coil?

ebiggs said:

"... all the top competition shooters in the world today use coil springs. ..."

Click to expand...

I was referring to modern CF shooters but only to make the point cost or manufacturing difficulty is not the issue as is sometimes indicated by some here. Thoes guys can have whatever they think is best.
In my muzzle loaders I have both, I like both, I shoot both and I try to tell the truth about both. Simply that. :hmm:

Click to expand...

This shows a REMARKABLE lack of understanding of firearms design, I.E. WHY they use the springs they do. They are often so far distanced as to not even be apples and oranges.

Dan

The coils were disliked simply because they were not traditional.

Click to expand...

You are correct, sir. :hatsoff:

"This shows a REMARKABLE lack of understanding of firearms design ..."

Click to expand...

Yes, I know. Why let the facts get in the way? :hmm:
But with the pending collapse of the world on Friday and the fact my TC or GPR or Pedersoli is going to blow up in my face any day now, my 'remarkable' lack of knowledge in firearms is minor. Don't you agree?

Pletch said,
"Another thing to look at is how the springs act as they are placed under tension. I believe that a coil spring builds tension linearally. With a flat spring the tension builds more rapidly as it is compressed. Geometry enters in here though; When the spring rides up the tumbler foot, the leverage changes. A lock designed this way feels like a compound bow breaking. This doesn't mean that the spring was suddenly weaker, just that the leverage changed"
A coil spring lock "can be" designed that way, it's just that the T/C and it's clones are not. The tumbler and spring contact with the tumbler can be designed to provide maximum leverage with hammer full down and almost zero leverage at full cock. I once built myself a box lock action to take advantage of that feature and on my first try I took it too far. As the hammer came back it would reach a point where the leverage went over center and the spring began to actually push the hammer backward. I had only to install a stop to halt the hammer just short of the over-center position. With either flat or coils the spring pressure increases as it is compressed but a coil spring can be arranged so that it actually moves very little between full down and full cock. A stiff coil spring with a heavy preload may move as little as 1/8" while rotating the hammer from full down to full cock and that makes for a very fast hammer fall.
But that is not the case with T/C coil spring locks, they are designed to be cheap to build rather than best to shoot.