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Polishing lock internals

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Alright, so parts inside the lock rub against each other. The sear and the tumbler actually scrape against each other. So one way to improve lock performance, i.e. faster movement of the parts ; less wear..., is for the surfaces of the moving parts to be polished very smooth. This term may even refer to polishing the surfaces where the sear and the tumbler meet to reduce trigger pull because the friction has been reduced between the two parts.

This is often done by hand with emery paper and oil. The side of the sear, the sides of the tumbler, the inner edge of the main spring may be polished. Some folks have had the inner surface of the lock plate polished by power tool known as jeweling, but I recommend that powder tools be avoided.

BEWARE: it is possible as mentioned to polish the full cock notch and the tip of the sear where they interface, BUT those two parts must have proper angles to properly function. and the quickest way that I've seen for a lock owner to make mistakes is by polishing those two locations while not knowing or being able to maintain those angles. Also it is dangerous for folks to try to polish the large hole in the lock plate or the surface area of the tumbler that rotates within that large hole, as that too can be over polished and render a lock with minor problems into a wall-hanger-only situation.

LD
 
See Dave above. Good info there. This was typed while he was posting.

Reasons: 1) Reduce friction. 2) look like an original lock, not something made of unfinished bead blasted lost wax cast parts.
It’s done by judiciously using files, stones, and fine abrasive paper or cloth carefully backed. Look up lock tuning. There are do’s and don’ts. The polishing can vary from selectively polishing friction bearing surfaces to polishing everything visible. Too complicated to cover in a short answer. If not well understood and executed, more harm than good can be done.
 
As stated you need to understand why you are polishing this or that. It can get in tuning the mechanism. Many locks are slapped together from rough unfitted cast parts. The problem is that certain relationships need to be properly fitted for decent function.

I spent time yesterday on a pedersoli yeager lock. Just about everything was sub standard. The tumbler fit in the bridle and lock plate was very sloppy. The bridle was too tight to the plate, the bridle screw needed to be loose to allow the tumbler to rotate. The full cock notch was set an angle that caused the cock to move foreword when you pulled the trigger, before it released. That was overcome with a massively over powered sear spring. The sear screw was way too small and the sear nose was to short. The short sear made it so only short flints clear the frizzen at half cock. The pan did not fit the frizzen at all, there were large gaps. There was no clean up of the milling machine burs before sandblasting and case hardening. It is the worse expensive lock I have ever worked on. It can all be fixed with enough work and knowledge. That work was made more difficult by the case hardening.

Sometimes polishing alone is not the solution. A sloppy poorly made lock will not be made better with polishing alone. Did the lock fire the gun before I worked on it? Yes.. Did it do so safely and efficiently, no. After making parts and fitting others, it is safe and works better. I did cut my losses and stop there. To make it right would require many new handmade parts. The time required is not justified in this case. A better solution would be to get a new quality lock kit with a blank plate and start over. Franky, based on reputation I was shocked at how awful the lock was.
 
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As stated you need to understand why you are polishing this or that. It can get in tuning the mechanism. Many locks are slapped together from rough unfitted cast parts. The problem is that certain relationships need to be properly fitted for decent function.

I spent time yesterday on a pedersoli yeager lock. Just about everything was sub standard. The tumbler fit in the bridle and lock plate was very sloppy. The bridle was too tight to the plate, the bridle screw needed to be loose to allow the tumbler to rotate. The full cock notch was set an angle that caused the cock to move foreword when you pulled the trigger, before it released. That was overcome with a massively over powered sear spring. The sear screw was way too small and the sear nose was to short. The short sear made it so only short flints clear the frizzen at half cock. The pan did not fit the frizzen at all, there were large gaps. There was no clean up of the milling machine burs before sandblasting and case hardening. It is the worse expensive lock I have ever worked on. It can all be fixed with enough work and knowledge. That work was made more difficult by the case hardening.

Sometimes polishing alone is not the solution. A sloppy poorly made lock will not be made better with polishing alone. Did the lock fire the gun before I worked on it? Yes.. Did it do so safely and efficiently, no. After making parts and fitting others, it is safe and works better. I did cut my losses and stop there. To make it right would require many new handmade parts. The time required is not justified in this case. A better solution would be to get a new quality lock kit with a blank plate and start over. Franky, based on reputation I was shocked at how awful the lock was.
I am shocked too. I have two Pedersoli’s that I have yet to take to the range. Armed with what you’ve posted I will be on the lookout for those issues.
 
An alternative to slip stones is diamond laps. I have them for engraving tools already. Since they are large maintaining the correct angle and not rocking the lap is easier. I see credit card size diamond sharpening plated in the hardware store. You can cut a sharp safe edge on them with a belt sander. This allows you to get down to the bottom of the sear notch.
 
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