Hot rodded my lock!

[EC121]

After getting a custom rifle with a big lock(that was usable as it was), I took the advice of the Appalachian Lock Hacker(inside joke) and added a Chambers Early Germanic mainspring. It required fitting the mainspring pin. You can either drill out the hole or fit the pin to the hole. I chose to fit the pin to the hole using Harbor freight diamond files to make it reversible. I also ordered some musket flints to compensate for the geometry and to allow striking the whole frizzen face. I test fired it yesterday with great results. The hammer is much snappier, and the big flint showers sparks in the pan. Lock time decreased significantly. Some minor inletting was required to fit the new spring in the inlet.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
You found it necessary to speed up a Kibler round-faced lock? Jim's springs are pretty strong.

dave

 

[EC121]

I didn't say it was necessary. Jim'a lock is a nice, smooth lock, but I had nothing to lose trying the new spring. I decided to try it based on the recommendation of a friend quite knowledgeable in the lock area. So I tried it, and it made a better working lock. Because I was getting the beginning of a high strike line in the frizzen face with the recommended flint size, the musket flint was my idea in an attempt to change the strike angle geometry. Even if the flint hangs out a bit, that also helped. This is just my personal experience as a tinkerer.

 

[EC121]

Here are the two springs.