lock tuning by dave france

[hp gregory, 9128]

being that the off season is apon us and cabin fevor will soon be kickin in i was thinking about checking the tune on my guns. i like to take the locks out and check everything for wear and tear. if there is any creap in the triggers i like to take care of it. while geting ready to do this i found an article written by dave france on tuning a musket lock. i think he also wrote one on sharps locks. i had read these years ago and had saved them. these are outstanding articles not only for the new skirmisher but for the older more experianced shooters as well. they were written so that it was easy to put them to use and understand. if mr france would be kind enough to post a link to his articles im sure many skirmishers would enjoy reading them.

hp gregory

[dml1296]

Do you have a link to the article? Hmmmmm. Maybe I should ask Dave. :wink:

[Wayne Shaw, 1985V]

All The article that HP is refering to is posted on the Northwest Regions Web site. Listed under information, great article to read and copy. Wayne Shaw Harlans Light Cav, SAC

[lmcmahon]

Here's the link to the Dave France's article on lock tuning. http://www.nwtskirmisher.com/useful-locks.shtml

Dave also has a good article on casting bullets.
http://www.nwtskirmisher.com/useful-casting.shtml

[dml1296]

Thank you. That's the kind information I have been looking for. Maybe Dave should write a book. :wink: :wink:

[DAVE FRANCE]

Funny you should say that about writing a book at this time.

I sent an article to Steve Meserve that might be in the next Skirmish Line or the next. It is fairly technical, but worth the time (I think) for people who are really interested in how to make their rifles shoot well and what affects accuracy.

At a friend's request, I took a picture of a Henry that is partially disassembled and put some directions on the picture to show how to disassemble and assemble it. The software that is available on most computers now makes that very easy now.

Pictures of the assembly and disassembly of a Henry make it much clearer that just instructions.

Another thing that has interested me recently is how cowboy action shooters have changed their Henrys and 73 Winchesters to reduce the effort to work the lever. I have a Uberti 73 winchester and most of the things that help in that way were done to it. Most of the things they do are fairly simple, but CAS shooter pay a lot to have that done.


This is sort of off the subject, but I am very impressed at how clever the designers of the Henry were. I worked as a design engineer on engines for 30 years, and I think designing the Henry action would be very difficult without CAD systems that can be used to draw in 3-Dimensions. I read in a couple places that the gun designers did a lot of making wooden pieces to work out the design.

If some of the articles I wrote are published again or put somewhere where they are easily available, I would be happy to update them.

On the subject of casting bullets. Some of the things I learned about casting bullets took me years to learn. When I was writing that article, I some things by talking to skirmishers.

David

[DAVE FRANCE]

This is a website that has some good pictures and instructions for the 73 winchester disassmbly. Of course the 73 is similar to the Henry.

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/winchester_73.html

[lmcmahon]

Dave's article is in the next issue of the Skirmish Line which will be in the mail any day. Magazine went to the printer on Monday 12/13.

[John Holland]

Just a cautionary note -

When Dave noted "Another thing that has interested me recently is how cowboy action shooters have changed their Henrys and 73 Winchesters to reduce the effort to work the lever." This modification is for a "short throw" when working the lever and is an illegal modification for use in the N-SSA.

John Holland
SAC, I.G. Corps, etc.

[DAVE FRANCE]

John,

I never considered suggesting a short stroke change. Most of the advantage in reducing the lever effort is changing to weaker springs and just polishing everything. Another change that seems iffy to me is the changing to a lower weight carrier block.

David