I worked an AH flintlock over a while back. What I found was that the gritty finish covered all of the internals, causing ALLOT of friction.
Once removed, I found that finish covered a number of casting and machine flaws. All of the drilled holes retained burrs from drilling and threading, for example.
The tumbler was replaced because of a casting flaw at the half cock notch, which, IMHO, created a very potentially dangerous situation.
The tumbler bashing into the bridle, as it stopped the forward movement of the cock would result in a lock that would self-destruct in a relatively short time, so the back of the tumbler was relieved to allow the cock to stop its forward motion on top of the lockplate, at full down.
In addition, once the tumbler/bridle relationship was corrected, the cock dropped so far forward that the flint would bash into the pan, so the shelf on the back of the cock was built up to allow clearance between the flint and pan.
The frizzen and lock plate were pack hardened, as a part of the rebuild. IMHO, the plate appeared to be pretty soft. The steel felt kinda gummy, like it was made of leaded steel, which, IMHO, is too soft to use for a lockplate without being case hardened.
IMHO, the frizzen spring is poorly designed, and should have been replaced with a properly designed spring, but I couldn't find a decent spring that would fit.
Otherwise, the lock wasn't too bad for a Spanish lock. :wink:
The replacement tumbler showed a very minor casting flaw at the half cock notch, so that flaw appears to be pretty common.
I suggest checking the tumbler for that casting flaw, if nothing else.
God bless
