Moukhalla

[blue lander]

Thanks everyone, I'm learning a lot from this thread. I'm still a little confused how the sear is supposed to engage the cock. I don't understand what "force" is supposed to push the sear out into the cock when you pull it back.

Here's a closeup of the sear from mine. It appears to be bent?

[rickystl]

Hi Blue Lander.

It's a bit hard to describe - in writing - how the sear action functions in these snaphaunce locks, but I'll give it a try LOL : The sear arm is in constant tension against the inside of the hammer. This is accomplished with the small V-Spring located between the sear and the inside of the lockplate. See photos below. So when the hammer is pulled back to the cock position, the sear pops out of the hole in the lockplate just slightly to engage the angled slot on the inside of the hammer. At the same time, the trigger bar will move slightly rearward. Once the trigger bar is pulled backward, it will cause the sear bar to return to it's original position and release the hammer. Hope this helps.

I can't really tell by your photo, but it appears your sear spring might be missing (?).

Most of these locks you encounter will have the sear worn down. You will also find tumblers worn fron the stress of the mainspring. This is because the sears and tumblers were never tempered/hardened. I can picture these guns being fired only two-three dozen times and already need a sear adjustment.
Hope this helps. Rick

[blue lander]

That's a very clear explanation, thank you. You're right, mine is missing the sear spring. It has the trigger spring, though. Hopefully it'll be an easy piece to replace.

[rickystl]

Well, the sear spring is designed the same as the trigger spring, just arched in the opposite direction. The trick is finding someone who both understands these locks, and can forge springs. Good luck. Let me know if you need some more help.
Rick.

[BANDOOK]

HI RICK ,I HAVE BEEN FOLOWING ALL YOUR POSTS AND RESTORATION TECHNIQUES,ALL I MUST SAY IS THAT YOU HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENCE,AND GO DEEP INTO DETAIL UNTILL YOU GET THINGS PERFECT,VERY GOOD,HOPE I HAD THOSE TRAITS
REGARDS RAJESH

[blue lander]

Here's a closeup of where the cock and sear meet. I don't see what I'd call a slot, it's more of a sloping ledge (I circled it in red).

Anyways, I took a binder clip and and put the "legs" between the sear so it'd act as a makeshift sear spring. I pulled the cock back and I felt the lock engage for a split second before the clip few out across the room. I have a feeling even with a proper sear spring, the surfaces of both the cock and sear are too worn down to engage.

[blue lander]

I made a makeshift sear spring out of the binder clip. That metal's actually pretty tough and springs well.

Now when I pull the cock all the way back the sear does pop out as far as the mechanism allows it to. But because the sear is bent, it can't catch the trigger latch. If it were straight it'd catch no problem.

On the other end the sear's too worn down to hold the cock in place. I don't see how it could be repaired, so I'm going to look into replacing it. I know a site that sells parts to build your own English style Snaphaunce, I'm going to contact them to see if the dimensions of the sear they sell could be made to work with my mechanism.