ORIGINAL: cayugad
I pull the lock and have always found fowling behind the lock plate. My Thompson Center Hawkins is much worse then my Lyman Trade Rifle but I still pull them and get that all wiped off and clean. I then oil it all up and put the thing back together.
FYI...with just a few minutes tinkering, barelytrimming / shavinga little wood inside the lock mortise, I've beenable to get all my TC locks sitting tight metal-to-metal andnothing gets down inside my locks...IMO, I expect that can be done with any lock on any rifle