MountainDevil54

I figured I would put this together after an incident at the range last week!

I took my friend back out with the Traditions Mountain Rifle caplock to practice a few off hand, hunting situation shots and the first shot went perfect. He reloaded the second shot, took his time and as usual, he had it pointed away from us with the muzzle in the air while he capped the rifle. We always cap with the rifle on half cock.

He had just put a #11 cap on, turned towards the target and pulled the hammer back.

BOOM! We both stood there with out eyes bugging out.

My first though was that he had his finger on the trigger or didn't come to full cock and the hammer smacked the cap, setting it off.

He tried a few times to get the hammer to hold and nothing!

I grabbed the gun and inspected the lock, tried the triggers to see if it was an inletting issue. Everything checked out perfect.

Possibly a broken sear spring which caused the hammer to drop due to the sear not being able to properly move into position?

Nope!

What I found at home when I removed the lock and inspected it, was some RIG grease had moved into the wrong area of the lock and froze the Fly in place and the sear was just skipping over the fly, rather than going into the full cock notch.

After cleaning a rifle, I always test the hammer to ensure everything is working properly.

One thing was different on this day.... It was cold out! Low 40s after a nice rain storm had rolled in. I don't know what happened or how the grease got into where it did, but it did, and it sure in heck made that fly stick in place.


Now I am just putting this out there for the new guys and show them how to avoid what happened.

Starting with your lube, you need to know how it acts in all weather, hot or cold. It's possible the RIG melted down a bit inside the house and turned ran, then set up in the cold when we went outside.

I'm now strictly using my Anti-Rust & Patch Lube as it doesn't fully melt until it hits around 105-110 degrees. I like to get a fair amount into the tumbler where the main spring hooks into place. Forgetting to lube this section of the lock can cause a gritty/binding feel when you cock the hammer.

Moving on to the Sear, I rub just a tiny amount onto the tip and work it in with my finger. Over lubing this area can cause series issues as the sear rubs across the fly. A heavy dose of lube in this area and you are asking for your lock to trip and cause it to fire when you go to full cock.

Another safety area is to always lube the area where the sear spring rubs on top of the sear itself! Not lubing this section can also cause the spring to bind up and cause the sear to stick.


Once more, I do not know how that lube moved into the fly area, but I will be using my lube from now on as I know its melting point and that it will stay where I put it.

bronko22000

My friend had a similar experience during a late season ML hunt in PA. I was doing a push for him and jumped a big doe that was headed his way. I stopped and waited, and waited, and waited but no shot. When I got up to him he told me the doe came by him not 15 yards away. He bleated and she stopped. But his hammer would not stay at full cock.
After taking my little tool kit out of my pack and removing the lock we both immediately saw the problem. When he put the lock on the stock, the rear (set) trigger was forward and the sear arm was below rather than above the trigger.