a question for those who own a traditions kentucky flintlock rifle

[Jake2454]

how much of a gap should there be between the frizzen face and the flint at half cocked?
thanks in advance for the response.

 

[bodark]

The one I have has almost no gap at all. The flint is almost resting on the frizzen.

 

[Jake2454]

The one I have has almost no gap at all. The flint is almost resting on the frizzen.

bevel up or down?
thanks

 

[bodark]

bevel up or down?
thanks

Bevel up

 

[M. De Land]

I would think that would depend entirely on the lock used and it's geometry. I make my own flints and fabricate them as long and wide as can function reliably in the lock. This extends the flint life and moves the impact area on the frizzen face as it is resharpened thus also extending frizzen life as well.

 

[mmb617]

All three Traditions flintlocks I have like the flint very close to the frizzen at half cock. None of them are Kentucky rifles but I think that's a characteristic of Traditions locks in general.

 

[Jake2454]

I would think that would depend entirely on the lock used and it's geometry. I make my own flints and fabricate them as long and wide as can function reliably in the lock. This extends the flint life and moves the impact area on the frizzen face as it is resharpened thus also extending frizzen life as well.

since the locks are mass produced i was looking for a general pattern with respect to stock locks.
i would love to have the time and ability to make my own flints
thanks for the reply.

 

[Jake2454]

I would think that would depend entirely on the lock used and it's geometry. I make my own flints and fabricate them as long and wide as can function reliably in the lock. This extends the flint life and moves the impact area on the frizzen face as it is resharpened thus also extending frizzen life as well.

since the locks are mass produced i was looking for a general pattern with respect to stock locks.
i would love to have the time and ability to make my own flints
thanks for the reply

 

[Jake2454]

All three Traditions flintlocks I have like the flint very close to the frizzen at half cock. None of them are Kentucky rifles but I think that's a characteristic of Traditions locks in general.

thanks for the reply
i know the lock is very similar to the deer hunter.
your answer is what i was looking for.
by the way have you modified the frizzen spring on your locks? i ask as i have heard that the traditions have very stiff frizzen springs

 

[TrapperDude]

thanks for the reply
i know the lock is very similar to the deer hunter.
your answer is what i was looking for.
by the way have you modified the frizzen spring on your locks? i ask as i have heard that the traditions have very stiff frizzen springs

This question is worth a bump because I've heard another say the Trapper pistol eats flints--something I've observed with my own.

Does lightening the frizzen spring extend the life of flints on these, or should the mainspring be lightened?

 

[Jake2454]

This question is worth a bump because I've heard another say the Trapper pistol eats flints--something I've observed with my own.

Does lightening the frizzen spring extend the life of flints on these, or should the mainspring be lightened?

from what i have read the force to open the frizzen should be about 3 lbs and the ratio of mainspring to frizzen spring is around 3-1/3 so hammer pull at about 10lbs....i have lightened my frizzen spring and noticed the frizzen seems to take less of a beating and probably prolongs flint life

 

[mmb617]

thanks for the reply
i know the lock is very similar to the deer hunter.
your answer is what i was looking for.
by the way have you modified the frizzen spring on your locks? i ask as i have heard that the traditions have very stiff frizzen springs

The three Traditions flintlocks that I have are a Deerhunter rifle, a Hawken rifle and a Trapper pistol. I have not done any modification to any of the springs. I use up my flints till they are too short to hold in the jaws anymore. I don't have any way to measure the stiffness of the frizzen springs but just seat of the pants the three all seem to be about the same effort required to close the frizzen.

This question is worth a bump because I've heard another say the Trapper pistol eats flints--something I've observed with my own.

Does lightening the frizzen spring extend the life of flints on these, or should the mainspring be lightened?

My Trapper pistol gets longer life from a flint than either of my rifles but I don't think any of my Traditions flintlocks are what I'd call hard on flints. I'm kind of OCD about record keeping and set up spreadsheets for everything, so I track how many shots I get on a given flint exactly.

The Trapper pistol has a grand total of 590 shots through it so far and is on it's 6th flint, so it averages nearly 100 shots per flint. How long a flint lasts can vary quite a bit, at least that's been my experience. The fewest shots I got with this pistol was 48, on one black English, but at the other end of the scale I once got 169 shots from one French amber flint.

The Deerhunter rifle has 1059 shots total and is on it's 15th flint, 70 shots per flint. I can certainly live with that.

The Hawken rifle has 252 shots total and is now on it's 6th flint, which is only 42 shots per flint but I've been working with it because I've had some problems getting reliable ignition with it right from the day I bought it. So I've changed out flints a couple times when they weren't really completely used up.

 

[TrapperDude]

The three Traditions flintlocks that I have are a Deerhunter rifle, a Hawken rifle and a Trapper pistol. I have not done any modification to any of the springs. I use up my flints till they are too short to hold in the jaws anymore.

I think this is the key. I use my flints until they get really stumpy. I noticed that the flint worked even when pretty blunted. A sharp edge doesn't really seem to be that critical. Is that your experience, too?

I don't have the number of shots through my pistol that you have through yours, so the number of shots per flint isn't something I can state as an average--my sample size is too small.

However, I may have seen my first flint stop sparking, not because it had gotten too thoroughly blunted, but because it got short enough that the leather was getting in its way. I probably need to try pushing the remaining flint farther out beyond the leather. I didn't do that because I thought (possibly erroneously) that the flint was just too blunt.

 

[mmb617]

As previously stated I'm cheap. No flint gets discarded if I can squeeze a few more shots out of it. I'm not hunting nor am I shooting in a match so an occasional misfire isn't a big deal to me. I generally don't do anything with my flints until I have a failure to ignite. Then I evaluate my flint and take what I think is the appropriate action.

Sometimes the edge doesn't look that bad it's just sooty and an alcohol wipe on the flint and frizzen is all I need. Most of the time I knap the flint taking care to remove as little material as possible, and it can be a stumpy edge I wind up with, a sharp knife edge isn't really required. The fresh edge even if stumpy almost always gets me going again.

When I knap the flint and see that it looks to be getting too far from the frizzen I move it forward in the jaws, repositioning the leather if that's necessary. The flint is only discarded when it gets so short the jaws can't get a good enough grip on it. Truth be told sometimes when that happens I notice that I can turn it sideways and get a few more shots since it's now wider than it is long.

I find range trips to be very relaxing and I'm in no hurry at all. A bit of fussing around to keep the gun running doesn't bother me in the least. After all, this is something I do because it's fun.

 

[bigstick6017555]

some helpful info

 

[Jake2454]

some helpful info

nice thanks for posting

 

[mmb617]

Towards the end of that video (while discussing lead vs leather flint wraps) is a statement we'd all agree with for sure. "The last thing you want to do is break your cock." And he says it with a very straight face.

 

[Elkpurgatoire]

Thanks for this discussion. These are aspects of fIintlocks that I never considered. I have been muzzle loading for nearly 50 years and still use those ‘cap thingies’, but my curiosity is being rattled here and perhaps it’s time to ‘graduate’ to the basics.

 

[ord sgt]

I would think that would depend entirely on the lock used and it's geometry. I make my own flints and fabricate them as long and wide as can function reliably in the lock. This extends the flint life and moves the impact area on the frizzen face as it is resharpened thus also extending frizzen life as well.

I can attest to this. I am using some flints that M. DeLand has made. I have lost count as to how many shots have been fired with one of his flints. How many more shots are left? I will keep using it until it sparks no more.

 

[Jake2454]

i thank you all for your spirited replies which i found to be very informative