Houston, we have a problem....
 

On arriviing home, I went to work on the barrel fitting. I first removed the tang from the stock, Then I removed (easily) the under rib from the barrel and laid the barrel in the stock channel and pinned it with the tennon. The good new was, the tennon, barrel, and tang are in perfect position. The bad news is, as anticipated by Sabotloader, the hammer and nipple are not aligned. The pictures below, while not great, may show that the hammer contacts the nipple on the hammers forward right edge. The nipple needs to be back and left (viewed from above) 1/16" - 1/8" to center under the hammer. I know bending the hammer is an option, however, doing that makes the original 54 cal barrel out of alignment. I plan to call Green Mountain and Cabela's tomorrow as suggested by Cayugad. One thought would be to get another hammer for this lock. What do you think the chances of getting hammer, no lock, are? Any other ideas welcome. :(

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RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

What a PITA. You sure its worth the trouble? One other option is to bend this one and buy another hammer and just swap those out when you change barrels.

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

Gander - only thing I'm sure of is that I'm going to end up with "a" 50 cal Hawken carrying a 1:28 barrel.

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

lol ok. Well, i'd just order a new hammer BUT before you bend that old one, make sure you get the new one first and that it fits the original barrel.

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(5qenk4z3brezh0zyh0u2pvuk))/CATEGORIES/PARTDETAIL.ASPX?CATID=0&SUBID=0&STYLEID=0& amp;PARTNUM=LOCK-TC-HA might need to copy and paste

http://www.cainsoutdoor.com/cart/asp/select_item.asp?item=12166

maybe?

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

yeoman

OK, I just grabbed the Lyman Trade Rifle 54 from the back room, it is also Investarms also.

What I would like to know is... your lock should have a 1/2 moon cut in it where the bolster of the breech plug fit on the Cabelas barrel. Asthe GM barrel sits now with the wedge in place where does the bolstersit in the the 1/2 moon depression as compared to the Cableas barrel. (+ while I am thinking about the TC tang and the Invetarms Tang are interchangeable only the TC tang accepts a wider hook.)

Back to subject... If the bolster/breech plug of the GM barrel is fitting properly in the drepression on the lock then alignment can be had...

Do this for me - remove the wedge - align the barrel and nipple under the hammer - close the hammer on the nipple... Then look at the alignment of the underlug to the wedge hole. Is it close? This information will probably determine your next move...

Here are a couple of pics... the top picture is a TC lock installed into the Lyman stock on to a Lyman barrel. The bottom picture is the Lyman lock. There is some differences in the bend and length of the hammers...

(ps - I have 3 -4 hammers - Tc's and aftermarket - done a few of these swaps and have extra parts)

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

Underclocked -

The Cabela's hawken is made by Investarms. I think it carries an L&R lock and they show a hammer available on the L&R site. I do not know if a TC hammer would fit/work, and appreciate your links/ search effort. Thanks. I'm hoping Cabela's will be able to tell me tomorrow.

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

yeoman

The left/right alignment of the barrel and hammer is detirmined by the fit of the lock to the side of the barrel. The lock should be very close or touching the side of the barrel...

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

Sabotloader - just walked to the shop and brought back the rifle.

My lock is hard against the barrel. This lock does not have a half moon dip in it. Instead, both the original barrel and the GM have a slot in the underside of the bolster to allow the straight top edge of the lock to pass "thru" the underside of the bolster.

What I do notice is there is a hair of travel permitted by the wedge, and when I allow the barrel to travel as far back as the wedge pin allows, the hammer will clear the nipple. Don't know if it will clear a cap, but does suggest I may be able to remove a hair of material off the tang face allowing the barrel to come back that hair.

I also notice the hook of the breech lays a bit to the left of center where the original barrel hook is dead centre, suggesting all of the material I take from the interior of the tang will come from the one (left) side.

Given my description, still think so?

The barrel needs to move left (from above) to center the nipple. The harder the barrel lies against the lock the less clearance the hammer has and if I press it hard against the lock the hammer lip hits the nipple spout - doesn't clear cleanly.

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

yeoman

This sounds a whole lot better - you are there it is going to work... because we can get even more movement to the rear if we need to with out a real problem if you are that close and still have the 54 fit...

Do not take anything off the face of the tangyet... just remove material on the nipple side of the tang on the hook inlet. Remove just enough to get the barrel hook in and the tang fitting snugly against the barrel. I do almost hesitate to tell to take all the material of the nipple side... If the the tang is centerter the barrel should center on the tang...

hopefully talk to you tomarrow...

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

Some additional information.

Now that I have the tang in hand, the hook will start in the tang under pressure, it's that close. Do you think they are made to be tapped on the first time to ensure a tight fit? I do believe I could place themuzzle on a piece of leather on the concrete shop floor and tap the tang on with a hammer and piece of oak. Concern would be getting it back off. That may be easy given there are only two bearing surfaces owing to the taper of the hook. Like you,I have to believe the hook is centered on the barrel, suggesting the visual difference between the alignment of the hooks of the two barrels laid in the channel may have more to do with the slight difference in hook width and slight extra room in the barrel channel. Don't have the gun with me but something to check.

I'm not sure what you mean by this (54 fit)

Uh, the nipple needs to go left (from above) so material needs to come off the left (from above) interior of the tang, not "nipple side", correct? I'm fairly inclined to tap the tang on at this point. Let me know about that.

It's all close enough that I do think it can work.I may have to shave the tang face a hair and insert a shim between the barrel and lock.I have a tough time thinking of that shim as "craftsmanship" and would like the tang to continue to function with the 54 cal barrel. Challenges........

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

yeoman

The 54 cal barrel will still fit...

I am sure it will work, my biggest worry was the wedge alignment and from what I read you are in the ball park...

I still believe removing a little material from the tang will do the job, but before you do that I would ask that you put the tang on the 54 barrel... how much movement do you have? does the tang fit snuggly or does it move around abit.... Another thing that comes to mind the hook on the barrel is tapered a little bit narrow on the end slightly thicker at the barrel... so at this point I would suggest do not drive it on...

It is really interesting to me that your breech plug has the slot for the lock to fit up into as do the TC's - this is a big part of the L/R alignment... The measurement request I sent in the PM will also tell you a lot. I really suspect everything is really going to be close to the same....

Talk to you on the land line this afternonn...

mike

RE: Houston, we have a problem....
 

Roger that.

(you'd thinkI was an astronaut, or, maybe, a space cadet)

I'll have measurements for the landline.