I had a similar experience with the lock off of a reproduction 1861 Springfield Rifled Musket. It was not cocked.
I put the rusty lock in a room-temperature solution of Brownells Steel White, mostly water after it is mixed. The solution cleaned all of the rust, but the spring that had been used a thousand times just snapped in half! I'll never do that again, and I don't know why it did.
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