Mauser: it is a Traditions flintlock. I have partially disassembled the lock in the past. The frizzen spring was simple to replace, however thesear spring gave me problems. I tried to remove the main spring, but like you said it was very stiff. I couldn't even begin to squeeze it with my fingers-hence the vise grip.

Hopefully on Wednesday I"ll be able to take it to the range and then have a need to clean it.

This site has some helpful diagrams/explainations:

http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~slaw/SuesPage/flintlk.htm

And here is a picture of my lock: