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Flint Life
- Thread starter rfcjr
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paulvallandigham
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If you use good flints, like those from Tom Fuller, and your lock is tuned, you should be able to get 80-120 strikes per flint. Those are a lot of "ifs", and many locks fail one or all of them.
If you will go to member resources, on the index page, at the top, then scroll down to " Articles " , click on them, and the first article will be the one I have written about shooting and tuning flintlocks. It will help you through the learning process. If you have any questions, contact me.
If you will go to member resources, on the index page, at the top, then scroll down to " Articles " , click on them, and the first article will be the one I have written about shooting and tuning flintlocks. It will help you through the learning process. If you have any questions, contact me.
Depending on the lock. Minumum you should get 25. A Siler lock you will get 50 to 80 normally. Save all the dead flints & if you have a Chambers Ketland or a Chambers Deluxe you can take those dead ones & & reuse them & get another 40-80 shots from them !
I have a lock on a trade gun that 15 shots per flint is about it, needless to say I don't shoot that gun much. I usually get around 50 or more on my rifle with a siler deluxe lock on it. Sometimes I will just put a new flint in after a shooting session of 25 shots. (depends on my mood after cleaning the gun). The first flint on my fowler I got 92 shots, (round faced english lock, chambers). Every once in a while the flint will break or just quit sparking after 5 shots, sometimes napping the flint will bring it back to life, sometimes not. I would say if you have a decent lock, and flint you get 40 shots. flinch
Mark,
You should check out what's happening with your locks.
Like Birddog says... you should get AT LEAST 50 t- 80 rounds from a flint.
Two weeks ago, in a Chamber's Early Virginia, I finally had to knap a flint that I had used in 3 club shoots and a trip or two to the range.
Chipped off the knot and finished the rest of the club shoot. It's still in the lock. I can probably knap it one more time, move it forward, and do another club shoot. Then it will be too short and have to change it.
Chamber's locks have a beastly mainspring, but the geometry is such that it is very easy on flints.
You should check out what's happening with your locks.
Like Birddog says... you should get AT LEAST 50 t- 80 rounds from a flint.
Two weeks ago, in a Chamber's Early Virginia, I finally had to knap a flint that I had used in 3 club shoots and a trip or two to the range.
Chipped off the knot and finished the rest of the club shoot. It's still in the lock. I can probably knap it one more time, move it forward, and do another club shoot. Then it will be too short and have to change it.
Chamber's locks have a beastly mainspring, but the geometry is such that it is very easy on flints.
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
My first flinter was a production gun, After the frezzen snapped off and I waited 8 months for a replacement. It got 8-10 shots per rock.
Now I have a custom Chambers lock, and I can get 50 or better shots from it, per rock.
Now I have a custom Chambers lock, and I can get 50 or better shots from it, per rock.
As another reference I use Tom Fuller 3/4" x 7/8" black english flints in TC's new style Flint locks and average 50-60 shots...I've knapped and nursed them close to 100 shots a few times but I don't get into repositioning them forward and all that...when they wear down so short in the original position that start to fail I've gotten my money's worth out of them.rfcjr said:
I shoot 50 shot range sessions starting with a fresh flint, often shoot a whole session without knapping or if so, once...then I clean the used flint when I'm cleaning the rifle and toss it into a jar to save for the future just in case...
Mark, I am really curious as to what kind of gun or lock you have? It seems you have been shooting for some time? I am pretty much a beginner in the flintlocks, (6 years) but in my mind 15 shots per flint is unacceptable. flinch
I think he's posted claims to have been shooting muzzleloaders well over 30 years and has shot 10s upon 10's of thousands of shots...so it is a puzzler until you consider that the limited number of shots he gets on a flint may have a lot to do with the fact that he shoots caplocks :hmm:
Yes, fifteen does seem a bit odd. I am no expert, have shot flint from four or five guns over about fifteen years, siler and davis locks, I would guess 30/40 shots minimum and 90 plus/minus maximum. Fifteen should be improvable, I am sure resident experts will offer some good advice. Good smoke, ron in fl
Several of them have been Jim Chamber's locks. 2 of them were Silers built by Applachain Lock Assy. One L&R Queen Ann. One Davis Round Faced Lock. I've also owned several Italian Brown Besses, three North Star West guns, a Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Rifle, a Kit Ravenshear French Marine Musket, 2 Dixie Gun Works Charlevilles, a Centermark Grenedier, and several others.
I might have had one flint exceed 15 shots in about 25 years of shooting flintlocks. My friends average about the same number of shots from what they say. I've never given it much thought. I've never owned any cheap mass production flintlocks.
I mostly use Tom Fuller black english flints in the sizes recomended by Track of the Wolf for the locks I have.
I might have had one flint exceed 15 shots in about 25 years of shooting flintlocks. My friends average about the same number of shots from what they say. I've never given it much thought. I've never owned any cheap mass production flintlocks.
I mostly use Tom Fuller black english flints in the sizes recomended by Track of the Wolf for the locks I have.
Bill Bryan
40 Cal.
Similar to some of these guys I've been to the range 2-3 times without changing flints. I agree that the older Thompson Center flintlock chewed up flints in a few shots. With the better locks you should be able to stay at the range all day with one flint. A well tuned lock is almost self knapping. I have a small brass hammer attached to my vent pick. I only use it about once a day when I'm at the range.
pa woods roamer
40 Cal.
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We shot with a fellow Club member that used a T/C Hawken Flinter. I swear his Flint looked like a piece of Road Gravel! No Sharp edge, heck, it didn`t have an edge, just a rounded lump. He just kept shootin` and shootin` and shoot....
Something I tried and now do pretty routinely is to flip the flint over periodically...shooting a typical 50 shot range session I'll stop around 15 shots and again at 30 shots to clean off the lock with an alcohol rag...and during this wipedown I flip the flint from bevel up to bevel down, and reverse it again at the next lock wipedown...seems to self-knapp and keep right on shootingCitadelBill said:
Well, the lock I get a max. of 15 shots per flint is a North Star West trade gun, gonna have to do something about that lock one of these days. All my other guns have siler or chambers locks on them, lets see, I have 2 with large siler locks on them, one I bought from Jim Chambers, the other large siler from Log Cabin Shop, the one I bought from Log Cabin Shop might me a bit better than the one I bought from Chambers, both get at around 40 shots per flint without too much fuss, (there is the occasional bad flint) the gun I am currently shooting I just finished this winter is a large siler deluxe from Chambers seems to get about the same number of shots per flint, maybe more. I know I can get more shots from a flint than 40 shots, but being a bit new to flintlocks, I feel better just putting a new flint in, (confidence builder)my fowler has a round faced english lock or col. virg. lock, (big lock) and is real easy on flints, I get at least 50 shots per flint on this one. I am thinking there must be something wrong if you are only getting 15 shots from a flint? flinch
Roundball, I have tried flipping the flint over, but seems a bit slower with bevel down, not so noticable when shooting off a bench, but when offhand shooting seems to make a difference. The gun will continue to fire but I can actually hear the **** hit the stop before it goes off, result is , flinch. Locks are different though. flinch
Right, hits higher on the frizzen and probably doesn't get as good of a downward shaving action...if you haven't already tried this, you nmight take your flint leather and right at the bend, cut/punch a 1/4" hole in the middle of the bend...this lets the flint slide back a little further so the flint itself is resting against the jaw screw.flinch said:
In essence, this effectively "shortens the flint" by sliding the front edge back away from the frizzen a little, offsetting the fact that it was hitting higher due to the flip over, and it'll start hitting a little further back down the frizzen face again, back in the area that it was originally striking...when it regains that same shaving action the speed will pick back up
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I wonder why only 15 or so shots.
The flint in my .62 fowler, still the original, has quite a few shots, way more than 15, and continues to spark nicely.
My GPR, however, does less well though still more than 15. I have, though, used only Lyman and T/C Flints and agates (Why???). Have a bunch of BEFs from Fuller but have not used them yet.
Could flint life be related to flint width? The Lyman lock uses a much narrower flint than the Fowler's Siler.
Pete
The flint in my .62 fowler, still the original, has quite a few shots, way more than 15, and continues to spark nicely.
My GPR, however, does less well though still more than 15. I have, though, used only Lyman and T/C Flints and agates (Why???). Have a bunch of BEFs from Fuller but have not used them yet.
Could flint life be related to flint width? The Lyman lock uses a much narrower flint than the Fowler's Siler.
Pete
