doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com fitting sidelocks to lock plates

Lads,
Back in the day when good gunmakers bought their locks from stanton , brazier or who ever else made good locks...
Did the gunmaker send two lockplates to the lockmaker & got them back with locks on?
Or did the lock maker send the gunmaker all the precise filed parts,
& it was up to the gunmaker to drill the plates n fit the locks.
Either way don't sound easy, am I missing something?
cheers
franc

I have always been under the impression that the lockmaker supplied the completed lock, and all the gunmaker had to do was inlet it into the stock in the proper position. He probably had to caseharden the lockplate to his specs, but I have understood that the lock supplied was a perfectly working, completely functional lock.

I'd be very interested to learn if it was different from this.

All my best, SRH

These are modern reproductions for percussion shotguns, but I believe this is pretty much how they were delivered to the gun maker.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/list/Item.aspx/764/1

I have seen old sets of locks as supplied to a gunmaker by Stanton or some such and they were nicely shaped and finished (but not fully polished) and the lock plates were of a rough 'generic' shape rather than the exact shape and size as fitted.
The gunmaker would then have filed them exactly to size and shape, applied the exact taper on the edges for a perfect wood to metal fit, made any small modifications to suit the other mechanisms and after the whole gun had been brought together by the actioner (or whosoever that particular maker used for this task) the gun would have been engraved, en suite and then hardened.
This is a grossly simplified version of events but in essence, the locks came 95% completed other than 'finishing'.

And by the way, have a wonderful Christmas!

If a gun was built with a lot of cast, would the whole action be sent to the lockmaker so he could make curved locks to suit ?
I'm not being picky, just wondered how they would match all the parts.
Merry Christmas too you all too .

I would think any cast was built into the action or lock plates.. that surely was the stockers job, from behind the lock plates down through the wrist/
I Wonder if big name , repeat Lock buyers had templates at the lock makers, so if Henry Atkin ordered a pair of 12 bore bar action locxks, Stanton new exactly what was needed & they would be on the same page & get the same locks (or damn close) each time?...there seems alot of things that must have been sorted out for things to fit without major work...but they sure knew ho to do it...just one example of the incredible work that went into a fine old Gun before the age of computers n such
Best wishes to you all
franc

Look at how they work.
The assembly references off the tumbler axle.
The tumbler must reference off the striker.


The actual shape of the lock plate can be whatever you want.

But, that first drilled hole cannot.

Many crossover and heavily cast guns were built with fully swept actions from the action flat back with swept lockplates and components therein. The top tang and trigger plate follow the center line of the stock hand.
The lock internals are mainly gracefully set over to the swept line of the lockplate and often the only 'normal' right-angle interactions are the sear/bent and their alignment with the tumbler axle, everything else swinging in 2 planes.
I think I am right in saying that usually the tumblers hit the strikers is a oblique direction.

The H&H video explained how the locks were made to suit the cast, the lockmaker said every part was made slightly convex or concave to fit and work at the angle they were positioned at.
Maybe the trade could supply normal or standard locks then maybe build one off (or maybe two off ) parts for the rest ?

Agree with the above but believe locks were supplied without external hammers (on that type) and then after the lockplates were fitted to the action the Percussioner would make the hammers to fit the action. Remember, most of these guns were basically unique. At best these guns were made to pattern but without any interchangeability.