Flint works loose after multiple shots

[HighUintas]

My flint keeps working loose after multiple shots. I even used a graver and raised some teeth in the top jaw so that it grips the leather really well. And I crank the screw down as tight as possible without feeling like I'm going to damage my lock. It is terribly annoying. I have to reset the flint and screw every 7-8ish shots.

Can anyone see from these pictures why it's happening? Is it the angle the top jaw is sitting at in relation to the bottom? Did I take too much off the back side of the top jaw when finishing it? The latter is my worry because I don't feel like having to fix it.

 

[SDSmlf]

My flint keeps working loose after multiple shots. I even used a graver and raised some teeth in the top jaw so that it grips the leather really well. And I crank the screw down as tight as possible without feeling like I'm going to damage my lock. It is terribly annoying. I have to reset the flint and screw every 7-8ish shots.

Can anyone see from these pictures why it's happening? Is it the angle the top jaw is sitting at in relation to the bottom? Did I take too much off the back side of the top jaw when finishing it? The latter is my worry because I don't feel like having to fix it.

View attachment 316799View attachment 316800

Do you notice anything different with the flints in the stack of them in this photograph from the one in your photographs?

 

[HighUintas]

Do you notice anything different with the flints in the stack of them in this photograph from the one in your photographs?
View attachment 316802

Well maybe mine has a slight angle towards the rear but it's extremely minor.

 

[deerstalkert]

try turning the flint over for a start. before the wailing and tooth gnashing starts, every Kibler comes that way so something must work that way.
next cut a notch in your leather to go around the jaw screw, and get the back of the flint against the screw.

 

[ArmorerRoy]

A different way to do the leather and it also moves the flint further back.

 

[Nazgul58]

The leather looks thick. I find it works best with thin flexible leather.

Don

 

[kyron4]

The leather looks thick. I find it works best with thin flexible leather.

Don

This.

Leather is to thick and not pliable. Use thinner piece and notch back for screw.

 

[Mr. Gain]

This.

Leather is to thick and not pliable. Use thinner piece and notch back for screw.

BTW, I think the issue with thick leather is not a lack of pliability, but the impossibility of compressing it enough via the screw to obtain a grip that is secure under the greater forces of impact/recoil.

 

[Commodore Swab]

If you notice there is a section of the cock that is cut away behind the top jaw screw. This is for the leather, punch a couple holes in thinner leather and run the screw thru the leather. This locks the leather into place. Many lock builders incorporate the void without knowing why it is there.

 

[Banjoman]

What they said. Leather looks twice as thick as it needs to be.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

If you notice there is a section of the cock that is cut away behind the top jaw screw. This is for the leather, punch a couple holes in thinner leather and run the screw thru the leather. This locks the leather into place. Many lock builders incorporate the void without knowing why it is there.
View attachment 316817

Correct.
The back of the flint needs to rest against the jaw screw. You can cut a V in the back of the leather OR you can get a hole punch and put an O through the leather through which the jaw screw will pass. This latter method also ensures that IF the flint falls out, the leather stays with the lock.

LD

 

[wiscoaster]

The leather looks thick.....

Don

That was also my first thought looking at the OP's pics, and mentioned in multiple posts. In addition to cutting the notch mentioned by others, take a ball peen hammer and pound the thing on an anvil to make it flatter and more flexible.

 

[HighUintas]

try turning the flint over for a start. before the wailing and tooth gnashing starts, every Kibler comes that way so something must work that way.
next cut a notch in your leather to go around the jaw screw, and get the back of the flint against the screw.

It's a chambers lock... But I wasn't going to do any wailing and tooth gnashing! I figured it's something I did when finishing or wasn't doing correctly in use.



Thanks for the replies and advice, all! I'll try getting some thinner leather and putting the flint up against the screw.

Although, I thought that with a correctly built lock you should be able to move the flint forward as it wears to get more life from it. Is that not correct?

 

[RobertE]

My Chambers Late Ketland was notorious for spitting out flints.
Along with a bit thinner leather and using somewhat flatter flints with no extreme hump , I raised teeth on both the cock and the top jaw.
Haven’t had an issue since.

 

[oldwood]

Flint leather way too thick. Cut new ones from an old wallet , tongue of old shoe , or of thin leather like those examples. Take a 3 corner file , and put grooves in the hammer jaws. Take a hack saw and deepen the screw driver slot a few thousandths for more robust screwdriver. Always lubricate the threads on the jaw screw to eliminate thread friction. You should only have to tighten a flint in the jaws after several dozen shots , or maybe never. Do these suggestions , and you'll be a regular "flint hammer mechanic". Just think of the glory of it!! Others will be knocking on your door wanting this knowledge. My emoji's were taken away , or I would have embellished this post w/ some.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

Take a round ball and hammer it flat , fold it around the flint, throw away the leather.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

The soft lead after being flattened will help to grip the flint and the cock jaws. It works for me at least.

 

[TrophyGuy]

Notice how the top jaw bottoms out on the shelf of the cock then pivots like a simple lever to squeeze the flint. The angle between the jaws surfaces is actually trying to squeeze the flint forward. The flint is held in position by friction instead of being mechanically captured. Slop in the screw fit is another culprit, letting the top jaw flex upward. My low hanging fruit solution would be to slip a short section of hard steel wire atop that shelf to make the top jaw bottom out on the shelf earlier, pivoting the jaw angles nearer to zero. It would be a fiddly, tedious fit every time you replace a flint, but it might help with that sloppy jaw fit. Glue on the leather pad surfaces wouldn't hurt, another tedious fix.

 

[Grimord]

It has been my understanding that the lock manufacturers do not recommend the use of lead for holding the flints because it puts too much stress on the lock and the cock. Only the military style locks used lead as they were more robust.

 

[deerstalkert]

It's a chambers lock... But I wasn't going to do any wailing and tooth gnashing! I figured it's something I did when finishing or wasn't doing correctly in use.



Thanks for the replies and advice, all! I'll try getting some thinner leather and putting the flint up against the screw.

Although, I thought that with a correctly built lock you should be able to move the flint forward as it wears to get more life from it. Is that not correct?

High, I didn't direct that comment about the wailing and tooth gnashing at you. i should have qualified it with "those that think there is only one way".
also i must apologize to the forum , those neighbors i bumped into yesterday, the citizens of my state, and any sentient beings i came into contact with yesterday, for my attitude yesterday . promise to strive to improve it today.