So, I decided some time ago to use a pair of the small Queen Ann locks on these pistols. However, I very much like the look of the locks on a pair of U.S. Historical Society reproductions of George Washington’s pistols that I own. Those locks have a “waterproof” pan feature that looks like this….
I modified both locks to have much the same raised lip on the pan and a drain hole between the pan and the fence….
A bit more finishing to do but as of now both locks are cleaned up, modified, and ready for engraving…..
Had started the lock inletting quite some time (i.e. years) ago. Working this wood is like inletting a lock into a block of Bakelite !! Need to sharpen tools often. Now that the stock is thinned to its final dimension, the locks need to go a little deeper....
Started work on the triggers and trigger plates. These triggers were part of the sets of castings I did in 1970. The plates are cut out of 1/8" thick mild steel and the pivot housing is formed out of .040" sheet steel and then silver brazed to the plate. The first picture here shows a thinner trigger plate with a thickened front section for the barrel tang bolt. I didn't like the way the first one came out so I switched to making the entire trigger plate out of 1/8" material. Better.
Next step is to inlet the triggers.
Ok, this post will document a MAJOR screw up in working on these pistols…and then the method of recovery averting a real disaster on this very long term project…..
There I was, minding my own business, pursuing the easy task of inletting the triggers on these pistols. The first one went well. Other than the very tough wood, there was no difficulty getting the trigger installed.
There I was, minding my own business, pursuing the easy task of inletting the triggers on these pistols. The first one went well. Other than the very tough wood, there was no difficulty getting the trigger installed.
In order to get the trigger in exactly the same place on the second pistol, I took some measurements from the first one and made a mark showing where the forward edge of the trigger plate should go. Then, in the next few minutes, I apparently went temporarily brain dead ( 
) and proceeded to cut into the pistol stock using that mark as the pivot point of the trigger. I proceeded to carry on happily cutting wood away with wild abandon and quite pleased with myself that this second trigger installation was going so well. In short order, I had the inlet cut for the trigger plate and then the slot for the trigger bar to make contact with the lock sear….All of a sudden, I realized that something was wrong…the trigger bar slot was not breaking into the hole that had been cut for the sear arm….what the... 
When I investigated it took not longer than a minute to realize that I had started the whole trigger installation a good half inch forward of where it should have been !!!! There was a moment of silence (as usual) as I realized what kind of an idiot it takes to make a precise measurement and then immediately start cutting away wood in exactly the WRONG place. Now, based on my prior personal history, one would expect that, at this point, I would have loudly run through my entire repertoire of both foreign and domestic swear words (in almost 30 assorted languages) that I had collected from around the world over my many years in the Navy…but I refrained. In my stupefied silence I realized that I had, perhaps, just destroyed my chance of completing this 50+ year project with TWO pistols as I had just ruined one of the stocks…….after a few minutes of mental self flagellation I came up with a plan to recover.
After a bit of calm reflection, I realized that if I just moved the trigger back to where it belonged most of the area forward of where I had incorrectly inlet the trigger plate would be covered by the trigger guard inlet. However, this would not entirely cover the mistake and inletting on top of a previously miss-cut inlet would be fraught with the danger of messing things up even more. So the best course seemed to be to get back to where I started, re-inlet the trigger in the correct location and proceed from there.
So I cut patches from a scrap of rosewood to fill in everything that I had incorrectly cut away and bonded them in place with stained AcraGel…..
) and proceeded to cut into the pistol stock using that mark as the pivot point of the trigger. I proceeded to carry on happily cutting wood away with wild abandon and quite pleased with myself that this second trigger installation was going so well. In short order, I had the inlet cut for the trigger plate and then the slot for the trigger bar to make contact with the lock sear….All of a sudden, I realized that something was wrong…the trigger bar slot was not breaking into the hole that had been cut for the sear arm….what the... When I investigated it took not longer than a minute to realize that I had started the whole trigger installation a good half inch forward of where it should have been !!!! There was a moment of silence (as usual) as I realized what kind of an idiot it takes to make a precise measurement and then immediately start cutting away wood in exactly the WRONG place. Now, based on my prior personal history, one would expect that, at this point, I would have loudly run through my entire repertoire of both foreign and domestic swear words (in almost 30 assorted languages) that I had collected from around the world over my many years in the Navy…but I refrained. In my stupefied silence I realized that I had, perhaps, just destroyed my chance of completing this 50+ year project with TWO pistols as I had just ruined one of the stocks…….after a few minutes of mental self flagellation I came up with a plan to recover.
After a bit of calm reflection, I realized that if I just moved the trigger back to where it belonged most of the area forward of where I had incorrectly inlet the trigger plate would be covered by the trigger guard inlet. However, this would not entirely cover the mistake and inletting on top of a previously miss-cut inlet would be fraught with the danger of messing things up even more. So the best course seemed to be to get back to where I started, re-inlet the trigger in the correct location and proceed from there.
So I cut patches from a scrap of rosewood to fill in everything that I had incorrectly cut away and bonded them in place with stained AcraGel…..
Once the patch had cured, I dressed it off and re-inlet the trigger in the correct location…..
Not perfect….but with the trigger guard in place, I think this will amount to a good save….. As many have mentioned on this board before, it is not so much never making a mistake but how well you can cover it up...
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