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What is "lock time"?

jsergovic
What is "lock time" as referred to in the sentence:

"The only thing a titanium firing pin will do is decrease the lock time of the pistol."

Thanks.

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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • buckdeer
    lock time is the period of time between trigger activaction and ignition
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  • gunnut505
    It goes back to the phrase, "Lock, stock & barrel"; when a gun was made way back when, the purchaser would take possession of the lock; which was the mechanism by which the gun fired, stock; which held the gun's frame, and barrel; we all know that one.
    Lock time is indeed the interval after trigger motion it takes for the firing pin to strike the primer-Remington's Etronx notwithstanding.

    If you know it all; you must have been listening.WEAR EAR PROTECTION!
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  • bobski
    actually, if we split hairs, igition time is what everyone just defined. lock time itself is: the time that it takes for the hammer to swing and strike the firing pin or case rim. its the actual rotation 'time travel' of the hammer on its axis. i/e: a rabbit ear hammer on a sbs shotgun has a long swing far from its axis/pivot point, (long lock time.) internal hammers on a remington 0&U have short swings from its axis/pivot point, (short lock time.) the difference of 1/64" of travel in some cases, can effect bbl movement enough to miss a target. while youre wiggling around out there in your hold position, what you see then and what it really looks like after the bullet or shot leaves can be as much as 2 to 4 inches off, depending how bad the lock time is. ask any BP shooter and he'll tell you the truth to this fact. this is one extra reason mfg'ers make hot primers. its designed in part to decrease the whole igition time from trigger pull to bullet out the end, in conjunction with hot powders that burn quick and efficently. hope i helped and that i didnt offend. thanks.

    former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.
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  • bambihunter
    Yep, and to add what Bobski said, if you're wingshooting with a black powder muzzleloading shotgun it will REALLY make you "swing through". That is something I personally think all young shooters should shoot before shooting centerfire shotguns, they'll get a better idea of following your target.
    Good question jsergovic...
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  • allechalley
    Amen, Bambi. The first time I got opportunity to experience "lock time" was when I was handed a flint lock rifle. It felt like you could go out for coffee with all the commotion that went on and the wait before the bullet went downrange. Needless to say, I didn't hit to close.
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  • rhmc24
    With respect to all the foregoing, I wonder just how the titanium firing pin would actually affect lock time. A firing pin only moves a fraction of an inch. The titanium reduced mass would allow it to get up to speed quicker and travel to the primer quicker than a steel firing pin. But with its reduced mass, it seems to me it would strike with less force and perhaps ignite the primer slower. Maybe it is used with a lighter firing pin spring to compensate. Are we splitting hairs here??
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  • bobski
    youd be talking milliseconds or billiseconds...and well not the worth...unless youre a world champion who cant sleep at night unless he had one. remember how guys used to put mags and wide slicks on their street cars and all they achieved was slowing down their cars because it took more HP to get them spinning? if they had put slicks and mags on AND put a bigger carb AND had positrack AND had race gearing AND tuned the exhaust AND put in a hurst speed shifter AND stripped out the back seat AND punched out the mill AND increased flow with a supercharger...theyd win a drag race. same with guns. a titanium pin all by itself is stupid. but, IF the gun was ported, IF the springs are custom fit, IF the gun was polished and matched, IF the loads were made special, IF the grips were just right....the gun would win matches in a skilled shooters hands.

    former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.
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