Making The Lock:

Bill came back and had filed down the castings on the parts. So we drilled out the holes in the face plate of the lock with a #33 drill bit and then tapped the holes with a 6/40 tap for the sear, sear spring and bridle screws. We put the tap into the drill press so the tap would be perpendicular to the faceplate.

Here are the remaining pieces of the lock laid out. 

The pan was filed to fit onto the lock face plate, drilled and tapped. Then a 13/64" bit was used to seat the head of the bolt securing the frizzen pan to the plate.  Next we flattened the bottom of the frizzen cover and the top of the pan. Using a small clamp, the frizzen was positioned onto the pan and clamped. Bill drilled thru the plate, frizzen and into the frizzen pan. After doing so, he again drilled the plate to accept the head of the frizzen bolt with a 13/64" drill bit. In the photo, the head of the bolt is put into the hole to determine if the depth is correct.  You can see the head of the bolt securing the frizzen pan to the plate to the right.

Bill then tapped the hole, inserted the bolt and screwed it in. Then removed the clamp and tested the hinging action of the frizzen. He liked it. 

Here is what the lock looked like at this stage. Now we are ready to work on the bridle. A passage hole is drilled thru the bridle and is mounted to the plate with a 6/40 bolt. the white plastic piece (located in the photo to the right in the upper right hand corner) is screwed into the sear spring bolt hole. The bridle is then swung over to make contact with the plastic piece and the bridle bolt is tightened. Now a 6/40 tap is run thru the front of the plate and the tip makes a mark on the inside of the bridle. This is where the next 9/64" passage hole is drilled for the sear bolt. In the photo to the left, Bill is drilling out the bridle. He hollers "Whew" half way thru, so I toss him a piece of leather to hold it to finish drilling the bridle. Reckon I don't blame him, I would have done the same. But apprentices have the learn, right?

With the hole drilled, the sear bolt is put thru the bridle and into the lock. The lock plate hole for the tumbler is drilled out to 5/16" and the other piece of plastic it put into the hole.  Now we use a 11/64" bit to drill thru the plastic piece. This put a hole in the center of the bridle dead center in the tumbler hole.  The plastic piece works like a jig to keep the bit centered. Once this is drilled, we removed the bridle and fit the tumbler into the lock. Mr. Chambers improved the tumbler by making it already to size. The tumbler fit the lock fantastically.  Then we drilled out the hole for the frizzen spring and tapped the hole. 

At this point, we have the basic lock 90% completed. Bill will have to cut the casting off the end of the tumbler above the squared portion of the tumbler shaft; fit this to the hammer.  Next time we will drill out the center of the tumbler shaft for the 6/40 bolt to mount the hammer to the tumbler; drill out the fly; pre-harden sear, fly, tumbler and frizzen.  

Bill finished the lock and is working great. Now it's time to inlet the lock into the stock.

Hoot AL Rifle Shop

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