Love of Muzzle Loaders: Muley Side Lock

A Muley Side Lock, hand made.

Mule Lock with trigger attached.
Tails on the trigger and sear have no function, but are reserved for adding springs.
Hammer is left very rough until the lock is installed and the nipple position/distance is found.
Hammer pivot blocks are just soft-soldered for testing. Will be riveted eventually.
Mounting plate is about 4 inches long and about 1-1/8 inches high.
Trigger pin and hammer pin both are 1/8 inch diameter.

Full-cock sear not pictured here (not made yet).
Trigger with black Sharpie to show wear point.

Shown with the half-cock/trigger in place as half-cock.

Ditto

Showing fired position, half-cock out of the way.

Full-cock sear in place. Half-cock in position.
Trigger pin in the sear slot is brass 3/32 inch diameter. It was time consuming to file out that slot.
The block above the trigger/sear tails is supposed to be for coil springs.
It will probably be removed (done). For now it is a trigger/sear stop.

Full-cock, both in position

Fired Position, both out of the way. Trigger pin pulls the sear back in tandem.

Trigger Springs Added.
May/05/2016.

Springs fit into split tails of each moveable piece.
A 4-40 screw holds the springs to the face plate.
Story: the 4-40 tap broke halfway through the screw hole.
This worked out OK as the screw is now stopped by the lack of threads.

Another hooked pin (nail) holds the spring tails in place.
A pin (nail) is now the trigger/sear stop.

Full-cock.
Note the riveted hammer pivot blocks.
Finishing nails, heads at this end, peened on the face side, #42 drill size.

Fired. (Bang)

Half-cock for capping

Face View.
Very crooked date stamping as a serial number, 05022016.

Hammer Spring added:
Big and ugly but it works great, maybe too strong.
Made from old hand saw blade.

Hammer spring held in place at the rear by an rectangled 8-32 round head black screw.
Peened at the backside.

May/09/2016

Started stocking a previously percussion .45 cal H&A Spanish barrel into the Cherry stock.
Drilled the depth down the center line.
Carved some with a pocket knife.

Barrel laying in the partial inlet.
Old percussion tapped hole is 5/16 x 24 TPI (in inches).
Barrel filler is left over from being in a rifle.

May/10/2016

Started stocking the pile of parts. Lots more to do here.
.45 cal H&A barrel. 11-1/2 inches long, cut from a partly ruined rifle barrel.

So far that is all of the parts. Lock needs to go deeper as it is too far away.
Hammer gets bent up a bit.

May/12/2016

Lock in the general location but will be about 1/4 inch deeper.
Hammer shaped to hit the proposed nipple.
Nipple will be 5/16-24 thread, #11 cap, from TOTW.

Lock with reshaped trigger, offset to be about the center of the stock.
Trigger forward movement stop pin added, a finishing nail, soldered.

May/13/2016, Friday and a half moon.

Started shaping the stock. Removed about 1/4 inch from both sides except around the lock.
Lock has been inlet farther down into the stock.
Barrel needs a tang welded onto the plug.

A 5/16-24 nipple has been ordered from TOTW.
Good, because I did not want to shorten the barrel also make and fit a new plug just because the nipples I have are in 1/4-28.

May/14/2016

Removed more wood from each side.
More wood can be removed around the lock.
Ramrod? Maybe.
Lock Mounted. 8-32 through bolt, #6 brass wood screw rear.
I will be filling in the trigger wood gap.

Brass trigger guard coming.
Temporary 8-32 lock bolt and brass washer.

May/18/2016

Hammer resting a new TOTW nipple (MRS-S) that came in today, 5/16-24 threads for a Springfield rifle, but works great here.
Fits right into the threaded hole that was there.

Barrel has a tang, barrel needs a tang screw and barrel lug.
Selection of sights has not been determined.

May/19/2016

I was going to take this pistol to the range today (May/20/2016) but it got left at home accidentally. :-(

Reduced the lock outline.
Re-curved the tang so that it lays down properly.
Added barrel front pin and tang screw.
A temporary nail headed pin, visible on this side.
Temporary until a piece of wire is found with the correct diameter.
Rounded the stock nose.

Lock bolt washer sunk into the stock.

Oblique view
Hammer reshaped.
One coat of low gloss tung-oil finish.

May/22/2016

Off to the range.

The main spring seems a slight bit weak. If the cap was not fully down on the nipple, it would not shoot.
That spring will be stiffened, probably tonorrow.
Maybe add sights too.

May/23/2016
Cleaned up the tang a bit.
Flattened out the hammer spring and retempered it. It should be much stronger for a while anyways.

May/25/2016

Added: trigger guard, trigger face, sights.

Trigger guard out of brass sheet.
Front sight soldered, folded brass, from 7.62x54 brass flattened.
Rear sight inlet into barrel then bent up and in.

Trigger face, brass sheet, soft-solder.
Guard screws will be replaced with slotted oval head brass.

Shooters View.

June/03/2016
Range Report:

25 yds, 30gr of Goex FFFg, 0.490 hand cast RB, Ticking patch, spit lube.

Started with the first shot way down at about 5 o'clock. After finding out where it shoots, slowly worked up to the middle XX hits. I have moved the rear sight to hopefully center the hits as the front sight is soldered on and does not move.

It definitely needs a hammer or nipple cup because I received several cap fragment hits on my fingers, bloody.

Also I must mind my grip, choking up on the grip is not good as the recoil forces that hammer spring into my index finger. I may modify the stock so that it isn't so smooth on the grip area.

June/14/2016
Added a Flash Cup to the Barrel.