Reinletting a new lock

[histed]

I have a flintlock rifle I built about 30 years ago. At the time I used a smaller Russ Hamm LH lock, which worked fine, but always looked a little weird on a .54. Time passed, repairs were made, laws changed. I'm considering using a Siler lock, which I THINK I have enough room to inlet. Later, I want to use the Siler LH percussion lock so I have a convertible - one for early inline/percussion season and a quick change for late season flint only. Is this a stupid idea? Have any of you done something similar? What about the lock bolts? The Hamm is, I think, 4 3/4 while the Siler is 5 1/4 in length. Any experienced comments would be welcome

[Eddie Southgate]

To be able to be convertible you would need two matching locks in flint and percussion . You could use two Silers of the same size and shape but I don't see how you could use the Russ Hamm since it is smaller and not shaped the same .

Eddie

[waksupi]

It will depend on how much wood you have on your lock panels.

[curator]

How well the lock plate bolts line up is important. So too is the touch-hole pan position. After that, the position of the trigger against the sear bar needs to be correct or adjustable. Wood is easy to remove assuming the new lock does not go over the lock plate panels. Installing a different/larger lock may not be the best option. Perhaps a good gunsmith with lock experience can tune your Russ Hamm lock or make conversion parts.

[histed]

The original plan was to use two Siler's for the conversion and build a pistol reusing the smaller Hamm. I'm starting to think it may be wise to A) leave well enough alone, put a liner in the touch hole and move on or B) totally restock using two Silers and new wood. Retro fitting doesn't usually work well for me. BTW, curator, which museum? What Rev War outfit? I was with Cluggage's Ranging Co for a number of years.

[bedbugbilly]

Size of the lock panels will determine if the Siler locks will work. Go to Track of the Wolf and you should be able to download and print the pictures of the locks you are considering in "full size". If using the same barrel, the existing barrel touch hole will determine the location of your flash hole liner - then the position of your Siler lock. TOW and others have 5/16" touch hole liners as well as 5/16" "drums" - for nipple - and when converting, you just screw out the liner and put in the drum or vise versa.

Lock bolt locations will come in to play, BUT, if necessary to change them, you can always fill in the existing lock bolt holes (glue in a dowel) and redress the lock bolt holes. On the panel opposite of the lock plate, make a new side plate which will cover the existing holes and work for the new lock bolts and it won't be noticible. I have seen this a number of times on original rifles which, over the life of the rifle, required a new lock.

It seems to me that the major issue is if your lock panels that exist will fit the locks that you want to use. If they will, then it is a matter of careful layout of the hole for the flash hole / drum so that the flash hole lines up with the pan correctly If the flint lock lines up correctly, then the percussion lock should line up when converted to flint.

Look at it this way . . . you can either leave as is with the Hamm lock or do the layout work with the Siler locks to see if they will work. If the existing stock will work - it saves a re-stock job. IF you decide to re-stock, you'll still have to do the layout work when fitting the locks and the line up with the flash hole.

The nice thing about TOW is that you can run off a print of the part in full size so you can check the fit of the part to what you want to do. So I guess the short answer is "yes" - what you want to do is very "doable" if you have the lock panels big enough to fit the locks you want to use and the new Siler locks will cover the existing lock mortise.

Good luck!

[histed]

Thanks, bedbug. I know TOW, but DIDN'T know about printing full size "parts". I'll give that a try.