Thanks to all for the comments. This is why I decided to make the pattern stock, sometimes the obvious escapes us. Yes, the front corner of the lock needs to be rounded off. The lock molding will need to change correspondingly to the new shape of the lock plate. The position of the lock plate is pretty well determined by the throw of the hammer which is the same as the original Springfield lock.
The lock is one that I made a number of years ago for a project that was cancelled and it has been sitting waiting to be used.
Here is a better picture of the breech/lock/hammer. The hammer nose needs to be finally shaped and fitted to the breech. As you can see, I still have about 1/8" of forward hammer travel to play with.
Steven, the grip cap length is about 1.700". I roughed it to this size because I have a horn grip cap that could be used.
After all of this, should I just use a Springfield lock and be "safe"? I really dont want to make a new lock plate to deal with the 'wood space' issues above the lock.
Thanks again,
Jim Westberg
