Brown Bess frizzen gouge

[Mitch97]

Recently I bought a brown Bess carbine (pedersoli) and noticed it has some gouging issues(?). I'm new to flintlocks and I'm unsure if this level of cutting is normal.

The frizzen throws an excellent shower of sparks, though. I'm just worried this gouging is abnormal and prematurely wearing the frizzen out.

I come to yee Great bastion of knowledge looking for insight.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

How much force does it take to cock the lock?

 

[TreeMan]

Every flintlock I own shows pretty much the same gouging. Some the same some a little less. Don’t stress it. My Bess frizzen looks exactly like yours.

 

[rich pierce]

Don’t worry. It’s sparking.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Recently I bought a brown Bess carbine (pedersoli) and noticed it has some gouging issues(?). I'm new to flintlocks and I'm unsure if this level of cutting is normal. View attachment 124894

The frizzen throws an excellent shower of sparks, though. I'm just worried this gouging is abnormal and prematurely wearing the frizzen out.

I come to yee Great bastion of knowledge looking for insight.

Thats the edge of the flint hitting the face of the frizzen too "square."
Take a standard size wooden match stick, broken off to not project beyond the sides of the cock, and place it under the flint at the edge of the very back of the flint where the flint contacts the jaw screw. This will shim the back of the flint upward a tad and lower the front edge of the flint, thus creating more of an angle and not a 90 degree impact. See if you like how that works. You can continue to use matchsticks, or a lot of the lads in the ranks simply wrap the flint in a lead holder, and put an extra thin piece of lead where the match stick would go, leave it at that.


LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

The gouging @Mitch97 sees in the steel (frizzen) of his Brown Bess is not abnormal. It is often seen on many flint lock rifles. It can be mitigated by paying attention to the angle that the flint strikes the steel.

Raising the back of the flint will lower the leading edge of the flint to provide more of a scraping strike of the flint to the steel and cause less of a gouge.

 

[Mitch97]

This is shimmed with two match sticks broken in half (4 total pieces). This seems to help the frizzen open with less resistance. I think the frizzen spring or mainspring may be a bit heavy.

 

[toot]

The gouging @Mitch97 sees in the steel (frizzen) of his Brown Bess is not abnormal. It is often seen on many flint lock rifles. It can be mitigated by paying attention to the angle that the flint strikes the steel.

View attachment 124908

Raising the back of the flint will lower the leading edge of the flint to provide more of a scraping strike of the flint to the steel and cause less of a gouge.

it is a normal thing most times found on original arms!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
You want that resistance in opening the frizzen. That way the flint will grind its way to the metal no matter how dull the flint or dirty the frizzen face. The most frequent feature I encounter when fixing reenactors guns is they have very weak spring pressure on their frizzens due to the misguided idea that will help the frizzen open faster or be easier on flints.

dave

 

[Penske]

Second what Dave said. Just pay attention to the flint angle and location it is held in the jaw (forward or further towards the rear when being held by the jaws of the cock). Your frizzen looks normal to me.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

it is a normal thing most times found on original arms!

Yes. Mine is the same way!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Every flintlock I own shows pretty much the same gouging. Some the same some a little less. Don’t stress it. My Bess frizzen looks exactly like yours.

Yeppers. Normal stuff. Keep shooting.

 

[CyrusP]

Recently I bought a brown Bess carbine (pedersoli) and noticed it has some gouging issues(?). I'm new to flintlocks and I'm unsure if this level of cutting is normal. View attachment 124894

The frizzen throws an excellent shower of sparks, though. I'm just worried this gouging is abnormal and prematurely wearing the frizzen out.

I come to yee Great bastion of knowledge looking for insight.

Excuse me sir, but we’re going to need to see pics of that Brown Bess carbine.

 

[toot]

so just NOT TO WORRY!! enjoy!