Bending metal parts without breaking them

I recently-ish (my guess is about a year ago) replaced the sear on my Traditions Hawken (LH) caplock rifle. She fired as well with the new sear as ever with the old, but...

The lock never really set in the stock right, partly because (I assume) it was a production traditions. MOSTLY I think because of the refinish and sealing i gave it after an unusually wet hunting season that found me with a rifle that had a swelled stock and some nasty problems.
Long story short after 15 to twenty plus years of reliable use the sear broke. I believe it was in part due to my accidental firing of the set trigger while in half cock, I wont link the threads I posted on this but they are there. I managed to get a new sear part and installed it. (Traditions discontinued the LH version of my rifle some time ago but some parts are still available.)

At the time of installation I noticed the old part was bent down where the bar sticks out into the stock to engage the trigger. Since the new set worked as advertised I didnt worry about it.

While trimming the wood to get the lock to finally sit in the stock flush, like it should I managed to change the angle just enough that it no longer fires. She looks pretty but that stupid bar sits too high now!! (if it ain't broke don't fix it?!?!) I've managed to get it to fire reliably by shimming the lock back out, but I would like to bend the bar down as the original one was bent. I assume heating it and bending it is OK but wanted to start a thread here to see if I am missing something on this, and to get precautionary advice prior to trying to do it.

It may be possible to bend the sear arm through the use of heat however the process may affect the head of the sear, the part that contacts the notch in the tumbler.

If you heat the sear bar to bend you will be best served to heat the whole unit and then quench in oil to reharden it.

Clamp the front of the sear in your vise, which will act as a heat sink. Heat and carefully bend the arm. Also ensure that the arm is not bottoming out in the stock.

Pete G said:

Clamp the front of the sear in your vise, which will act as a heat sink. Heat and carefully bend the arm. Also ensure that the arm is not bottoming out in the stock.

Click to expand...

Good advice Rudyard

Adui said:

I recently-ish (my guess is about a year ago) replaced the sear on my Traditions Hawken (LH) caplock rifle. She fired as well with the new sear as ever with the old, but...

The lock never really set in the stock right, partly because (I assume) it was a production traditions. MOSTLY I think because of the refinish and sealing i gave it after an unusually wet hunting season that found me with a rifle that had a swelled stock and some nasty problems.
Long story short after 15 to twenty plus years of reliable use the sear broke. I believe it was in part due to my accidental firing of the set trigger while in half cock, I wont link the threads I posted on this but they are there. I managed to get a new sear part and installed it. (Traditions discontinued the LH version of my rifle some time ago but some parts are still available.)

At the time of installation I noticed the old part was bent down where the bar sticks out into the stock to engage the trigger. Since the new set worked as advertised I didnt worry about it.

While trimming the wood to get the lock to finally sit in the stock flush, like it should I managed to change the angle just enough that it no longer fires. She looks pretty but that stupid bar sits too high now!! (if it ain't broke don't fix it?!?!) I've managed to get it to fire reliably by shimming the lock back out, but I would like to bend the bar down as the original one was bent. I assume heating it and bending it is OK but wanted to start a thread here to see if I am missing something on this, and to get precautionary advice prior to trying to do it.

Click to expand...

Maybe a sleeve over the sear arm?

Adui said:

I recently-ish (my guess is about a year ago) replaced the sear on my Traditions Hawken (LH) caplock rifle. She fired as well with the new sear as ever with the old, but...

The lock never really set in the stock right, partly because (I assume) it was a production traditions. MOSTLY I think because of the refinish and sealing i gave it after an unusually wet hunting season that found me with a rifle that had a swelled stock and some nasty problems.
Long story short after 15 to twenty plus years of reliable use the sear broke. I believe it was in part due to my accidental firing of the set trigger while in half cock, I wont link the threads I posted on this but they are there. I managed to get a new sear part and installed it. (Traditions discontinued the LH version of my rifle some time ago but some parts are still available.)

At the time of installation I noticed the old part was bent down where the bar sticks out into the stock to engage the trigger. Since the new set worked as advertised I didnt worry about it.

While trimming the wood to get the lock to finally sit in the stock flush, like it should I managed to change the angle just enough that it no longer fires. She looks pretty but that stupid bar sits too high now!! (if it ain't broke don't fix it?!?!) I've managed to get it to fire reliably by shimming the lock back out, but I would like to bend the bar down as the original one was bent. I assume heating it and bending it is OK but wanted to start a thread here to see if I am missing something on this, and to get precautionary advice prior to trying to do it.

Click to expand...

I'm betting the problem is, the new sear arm that the trigger blade pushes against is too long. It is bottoming out in the hole in the wood when the lock is installed deeper in the stock.

These arms are always a lot longer than they need to be. They only have to be long enough to be sure to always have the trigger blade push against them.

My suggestion is, take a file and file about 1/16 to 3/32 of an inch off of the end of the arm. It still should be more than long enough to engage the trigger blade and it won't bottom out in the hole in the stock when the lock is installed to full depth like it should be.

Although the nose of the sear is hardened, the arm is almost always left soft so filing it shouldn't be a problem. If it is hard, a grinding wheel will be needed.