Dirty lock/fly sticking

[William]

Last night, quite by accident I discovered that my .54 caplock would not stay at half-cock and pulling the trigger, even lightly would cause the hammer to fall.  It's a left hand L&R lock with a single trigger, made by Mongrel a few years ago and like all his creations, comes with a lifetime warranty.  So I emailed him asking if this was a concern or not.  He suggested that I pull the lock first and see if the wood had swollen and was interfering with the sear not fully engaging.  I did just that but didn't see any indication of this being the case, however I did notice that the inner workings were a bit dirty and it's been over a year, maybe even two since I'd done anything but clean the bore after shooting.  So a quick wipe down and a few drops of oil seemed to make it work more smoothly.  The fly was just dirty enough that it wasn't doing it's job but after working the hammer back and forth and wiping off the excess oil, the half-cock position held fast. I installed it back into the stock and used the trigger to see for sure and yes, problem solved, things are again working properly.  Pull the lock on your muzzle loader and clean then oil it every so often so you can avoid having the same problem that I just did.

Always practice safe handling of firearms, regardless of where you are or what kind of arm you are holding.  The half-cock position is often referred to as "safe", implying that it's perfectly okay to leave it there without risk.  I was quite surprised when I brushed against the trigger yesterday while on half cock and the hammer fell. No cap on the nipple and I was inside but I got to thinking about what might have happened if there was along with a load in the barrel.  Food for thought and I believe my experience was important enough to pass along.  It is so important to treat every gun as though it was loaded, just remember that.

[sweed]

Certain lubs wd-40 in particular, but Im sure there are others, will create a sticky surface residue. I had a Savage bolt action from my dad who worshiped the WD stuff whose firing pin got to where it would not break a primer!! Washed it with brake cleaner and presto!!!!

[William]

WD-40 has never been near this rifle, although I do agree that it's not a very good gun lube and not any kind of rust protector.

[Hawken50]

   Every time i clean any of my rifles i pull the lock clean it and then oil with a good quality gun oil. Either Rem oil, CLP or Ballistol. Then i wipe off the excess oil. Just a little dab will do it.

[mtnmike]

Ballistol here.

[Hawken50]

   Gotta agree mtnmike. Just started using Ballistol this year and i gotta admit i tend to grab it first for about everything. And mixing it with 80 percent water makes a great blackpowder cleaner also .

[Red Badger]

I also agree with what has been said here and my guns get the same treament that our forefathers used - sweet oil - it does gum up after a while and if it does it no longer helps with rust issues so you have to stay on top of it. HOWEVER I think the main topic here is a safety issue!  So allow me to jump up on my soapbox for a few words:

William stated:   "Always practice safe handling of firearms, regardless of where you are or what kind of arm you are holding.  The half-cock position is often referred to as "safe", implying that it's perfectly okay to leave it there without risk.  I was quite surprised when I brushed against the trigger yesterday while on half cock and the hammer fell. No cap on the nipple and I was inside but I got to thinking about what might have happened if there was along with a load in the barrel.  Food for thought and I believe my experience was important enough to pass along.  It is so important to treat every gun as though it was loaded, just remember that."

Sound sage advice and some that cannot be repeated too often!  Accidents can happen to the most safety consious of us at any time but if we keep harping on safety and takeing the lessons to heart, those accidents will not be fatal, just little ones like williams dirty lock produced.

[smr40cal.]

 I ALWAYS pull an clean my lock after every range trip, It gets an Alcohol spray down to clean it then it gets a few drops of Barricade on the vital parts.