Flintlock sear spring

[Crossfire]

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I hope your fall weather is as nice as mine has been.

After dreaming about it for fifty-five years, I finally bought a flintlock rifle. A Pedersoli Pennsylvania Dixie .45 caliber from Dixie Gun Works. I really like the rifle even though I have yet to shoot it.

The problem I have is an extremely heavy trigger pull. After some internet research I found that the heavy pull is a heavy sear spring. I removed the lock from the gun and that is exactly the case. The recommendation is to grind off about half the spring width. I could not find anything on the internet as to how the spring should be ground. In examining the lock, it appears the spring could be removed without taking the lock apart by removing one screw. Then the question is how to compress the spring. The other option is to grind down the spring while on the lock with careful use of a dremel tool and small grinding wheel. I am talking about the front trigger pull without the "set."

Some of the comments I ran across from other owners was their rifles had a heavy pull and they just learned to deal with it. For me that is not an option.

If anyone has had experience in this area, I would sure like to hear from you.

Thank you.

 

[BADUNAME30]

Welcome Crossfire.
Tho i have not experience with your particular rifle. I will advise that you do not let that spring become hot in the process for risk of changing it's temper.
Does maybe Dixie offer a lighter spring for said stuffer ?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Read Kit Ravenshear's book on V springs.

 

[arcticap]

Dixie Gun Works sells it:

BK2017 Simplified V-Springs Manual $6.00

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_112&products_id=1761

 

[Chawbaccer]

You need to be careful with V springs, as a nick or scratch will be where they break at. You will get best results of thining it down by doing it by hand, use a quality stone for knife blades or fine sandpaper glued on a piece of quarter inch plate glass. When you have it to the proper thickness, gently round over all the edges and polish any scratches out. There are special compressors for main springs, but I don't know about the smaller springs.

 

[loose noose]

Crossfire, On my GPR flintlock with the double set triggers, the pull was also extremely hard on the first trigger, however, after around the 1st 10 rounds, it loosened up considerably. I believe it's just "the nature of the beast". The light trigger was allways nice and crisp. That is assuming you have double set triggers. You might want to shoot it first before you start messing with any springs.

 

[1911 guy]

Agreed. I have a pedersoli rifle with set triggers. Unset, the pull is rather stiff. Set, it's nearly a hair trigger. Remove the screw from the rear of the guard and swing it to the side. This allows access to the small screws between the trigger. They are adjustment screws. Fiddle with them a bit to see if you can get an acceptable pull before stoning or filing the spring.

Set triggers are designed to be "good enough" (a bit heavy) unset, the thinking being on longer shots you'll have time to set it first. On close quick shots, the heavier pull will be "good enough".

 

[Nit Wit]

crossfire:
Track of the wolf sells main spring vices. Go on muzzleloading forum and find a competant lock smith. Muzzleloader magazine has a guy that advertises lock tuning flintlock rx go to www.cabincreek.net or call 717 757 5841. Don't grind your spring! Springs are meant to be a bit stiff. If you want a limp spring buy a cva.
Nit Wit

 

[4v50 Gary]

What Chawbacca says is true. If you scratch it, you'd better polish it out or that scratch will be where it cracks.

 

[Crossfire]

Good morning, guys. Thanks for your responses to my inquiry. Not being able to figure out a way to overcome the heavy sear spring compression problem, I went ahead and ground it down with a dremmel tool and needle files right on the lock. I don't have a trigger pull scale and to begin with it felt like a twenty pound pull. I got a nice even taper from the screw attachment, around the bend, and to the point where it contacts the sear. The trigger pull is still a little heavier than I would prefer, but it has a nice clean release. I will know more after I shoot it a few times. If necessary I can take it down a little more. The grinding did not affect the “set” pull. I am surprised that most of you choose to live with a heavy trigger rather than take whatever steps necessary to correct it. This is not saying the spring might not break in the future.

Articap, thanks for the link to the book on V springs. I was making out an order to DGW and included the book. I may need it in the future. 1911Guy, I tried adjusting the two screws on the trigger assembly and no amount of playing with them could over come that heavy sear spring. Loose Noose, I put a piece of wood in the hammer jaws and dry-fired it against the frizzen a number of times. That didn't help either.

I would like to think I affected a cure. As a failure would happen at the most inopportune time.

 

[karlsgunbunker]

Nevermind.