To Blue or Not to Blue a New Lock

[Enfield58]

I replaced the lock on a Pedersoli Frontier rifle. I'm trying to decide on whether or not to blue it. Or should I leave it as-is?

 

[Sidney Smith]

Depends. Is the barrel blued, or in the white? I've always browned my locks because I also brown the barrels. IMO, it would look out of place to blue or brown the barrel, then leave the lock alone, or the other way around.. That's just my line of thinking.

 

[Enfield58]

Depends. Is the barrel blued, or in the white? I've always browned my locks because I also brown the barrels. IMO, it would look out of place to blue or brown the barrel, then leave the lock alone, or the other way around.. That's just my line of thinking.

That was what I was thinking. The barrel is browned but some of it is worn off.

I was thinking of stripping the browning off the barrel then let it form a patina.

I'm also lazy. I don't want to disassemble the lock just to blue / brown it. I also don't want to remove the barrel and go through the process of stripping the browning off.

I need to write Dear Abbey about needing help for a lazy flintlock shooter.

 

[tenngun]

If your barrel is blue then a blue lock matches. Brown then brown the lock.
However. Many guns had a case hardened lock, not color case hardened and was white
Our modern ideas of matching didn’t necessarily match the past. Old guns could be seen with brown barrels and white lock.
This is from book of buckskinning 2 the gun is an ‘English style’ American made trade rifle of the type supplied by American Fur and Rock Mountain fur to the mountain men. The fellow with it was an AMM member,
We saw tacking guns in the ‘80s as very MM, but it may not have been real common on white owned guns. However the rifle is what a MM rifle looked like.

 

[Enfield58]

If your barrel is blue then a blue lock matches. Brown then brown the lock.
However. Many guns had a case hardened lock, not color case hardened and was white
Our modern ideas of matching didn’t necessarily match the past. Old guns could be seen with brown barrels and white lock.
This is from book of buckskinning 2 the gun is an ‘English style’ American made trade rifle of the type supplied by American Fur and Rock Mountain fur to the mountain men. The fellow with it was an AMM member,
We saw tacking guns in the ‘80s as very MM, but it may not have been real common on white owned guns. However the rifle is what a MM rifle looked like.View attachment 95801

That’s nice to know. So I may not be defying convention if I do nothing.

 

[deerstalkert]

convention is for sheep. it is yours, do what pleases you. i surely suspect Jerimiah Johnson didn't worry what Hatchet Jack or nay other Jack thought of his rust browned Hawken.
hop that didn't come off too severe. not meant that way. i just see a trend to "i have to do it just as so and so did it"
these are not Remingtons or Savages. our muzzle loaders should be unique.
i am recovering from covid pneumonia and am getting ansy to get back to my flintlock build. i appoligize in advance if this is caustic in any way.

 

[Enfield58]

convention is for sheep. it is yours, do what pleases you. i surely suspect Jerimiah Johnson didn't worry what Hatchet Jack or nay other Jack thought of his rust browned Hawken.
hop that didn't come off too severe. not meant that way. i just see a trend to "i have to do it just as so and so did it"
these are not Remingtons or Savages. our muzzle loaders should be unique.
i am recovering from covid pneumonia and am getting ansy to get back to my flintlock build. i appoligize in advance if this is caustic in any way.

Im glad you are recovering. Caustic responses indicates that the patient is recovering nicely

 

[ord sgt]

I have done both, browning the lock and leaving the lock in the white. The locks left in the white will slowly start to turn dark unless you keep buffing away the rust. My rifles are not meant to be show pieces. Honest wear and tear from use.

 

[deerstalkert]

i would never intentionally be caustic regarding anyones efforts. just seems nasty to me. one does what he can. what got me going is some namby pamby responces in the making primer cap thread. some are afraid of their shadows.

 

[tenngun]

One owns the gun, and as long as it’s not pointed at me what one does with it is their own business.
None of us have a 100% hc gun unless one owns an original.
However there is a pleasing factor to having a gun as close as we can to an original. Even that’s not going to happen for the most of us. Any gun we are likely to get even a $20000 bench copy will fail some where.
So we shoot what we got and make the best of it.
When I built my SMR I didn’t know that German style locks were not found on them.
I’m proud of my gun, it’s a good shooter and been to several events without any one saying anything about the wrong lock.
I have no intention of replacing it.
But
It mocks me, I know it’s wrong for the style and it’s always there.
If you are doing something with you gun, do what you like best, but think ahead. Will it matter to you if a detail is done wrong for the type of gun?
I am happy with my SMR,my centermark TFC and my Lancaster style smooth rifle even though they all have flaws.

 

[Enfield58]

I'm warming up to the idea of leaving the lock in the white. However, the places where the brown has worn off the barrel bug me.

 

[Steve Martin]

Don't worry about it...I enjoy shooting a left hand lock Trade gun despite the fact I'm right handed. It's a great .62 caliber smoothbore that I got a sweet deal on. Being a "wrong side" lock gun doesn't bother me any and yes, I shoot it with no problem but sometimes the guys at the range give me strange looks! Being historically correct is ok so long as you don't let it get in the way of you enjoying owning and shooting fun guns!

 

[Sidney Smith]

That was what I was thinking. The barrel is browned but some of it is worn off.

I was thinking of stripping the browning off the barrel then let it form a patina.

I'm also lazy. I don't want to disassemble the lock just to blue / brown it. I also don't want to remove the barrel and go through the process of stripping the browning off.

I need to write Dear Abbey about needing help for a lazy flintlock shooter.

You could probably brown a lock without disassembling it, but you will never be able to get into all the nooks and crannies of all the parts that require browning that way. Not to mention you don't want to get browning solution on the springs.

It's not that difficult to disassemble a lock.

 

[Grenadier1758]

While not all rifles had this specification, the specification for the 1803 Harper's Ferry Rifle called for the barrel to be browned with the lock and screw heads blued.

 

[Tenring]

No matter what you decide on please please do not hammer any Brass Tacks on to the rifle.LOL….

 

[Steve Martin]

Amen to that!

 

[Rawhide67]

I recently assembled a kibler southern mountain rifle for a friend. Most of the steel was browned but he didn't want the lock plate browned. I hit it with cold blue paste, rubbed it back with steel wool, and ended up with a soft blue gray patina. Looked pretty good to me. Overall, he wanted a gun that didn't look factory new, but something that may have been in a closet for 50 years.

 

[Tenring]

Very nice, I bet that looked good.

 

[Enfield58]

No matter what you decide on please please do not hammer any Brass Tacks on to the rifle.LOL….

I don't do brass tacks or any other kind of tacks.

 

[Tenring]

There ya go, I was just making a funny.didn’t mean anything by it.