dry firing?

[Tony Logan]

when dry firing a flintlock, is it necessary to put a wood clothes pin in the hammer jaws of a flintlock? or is it ok to just cock and fire with the frizzen open and in the clear?
I noticed that a lot of people mention on here to put a wood clothes pin or rubber eraser in the hammer jaws for dry fire pracice.

 

[David G]

By all means use a section of wood in the jaws,frizzen closed or it could damage your cock. :redface: lol...

 

[Birddog6]

ALWAYS put a flint, piece of wood, or eraser in the jaws of the flint when dry firing. Always close the frizzen each dry firing. If not you are taking a chance on fracturing the tumbler shaft or damaging the hammer or lockplate..
The flint or sub. hits the frizzen & starts the slowdown motion of the hammer, and it is important this is done.

If the lock is properly built, the tumbler has a stopping place & it hits the same time as the hammer hits the lockplate. Thus if there is no flint in it, the tumbler & hammer/lockplate take allot of impact. The frizzen & angle of the flint hitting it retard that sudden impact you would have with no flint in it.

So it is most important that you have something in the jaws at all times.

Keith Lisle

 

[Tony Logan]

thanks I wouldn't want that to happen.

 

[David G]

:haha: ...me either!

 

[Ken Rummer]

I would use wood to negate possible mechanical damage to the lock. I found that dry firing helped me get used to the movement and noise of the lock operation. It was distracting. After practicing my 50 yd groups dropped from 6" to 3" over one week. Hope more practice will reduce them further.

 

[MSW]

I agree with the consensus. Don't dry fire your lock without an eraser, a bit of wood, or a flint in the cock. (I don't see the necessity for a bit of flint, and after all, they're expensive, and you'd get no training benefit from flint that you wouldn't get from a bit of clothespin.)

 

[Tony Logan]

Thanks, I tried an eraser, it works pretty good. I was just cocking the gun and firing with the frizzen open, no contact, but nothing to slow down the cock. Now I guess the procedure is to fire with frizzen closed with the eraser hitting the frizzen face.

 

[morehops]

I wouldn't have thought that it could do a lot of damage. Then I found my jaws screw bent one day. Called Chambers for a replacement. Lady said dry firing with frizzen open was most likely cause of my bent screw. That's a pretty substantial screw and gives me an idea of just how much inertia that lock generates.

 

[Many Klatch]

As long as you are practicing dry firing, you can also use the time to build up your shooting arm. Put a target (dot) on the wall and aim at it for a count of 15 before you pull the trigger. You will be surprised at how that will improve your off hand score after a month or two of dry fire practice.

Many Klatch