Flintlock woes

[BigRoy3]

Howdy the Forum.

I've been a lurker for awhile. Decided I'd post a question for the group.

I have an L&R lock on my TVM Tennessee Mountain Rifle. Now I've been shooting a flintlock for the past three years; I've shot caplocks for 20. Whenever I snap the lock to see the color and amount of sparks the lock makes, I get either a few orange sparks, or a lot of orange sparks. I have always used 3/4 inch English flints and discovered today that I have to keep flipping the flint to be able to shoot for any length of time. Doesn't seem to matter if the bevel of the flint is up or down. The flint has to be knapped constantly. I'm amazed at folks that say they can shoot 20 or more times before having to knap a flint. The lock functions smoothly and is fast. Frizzen doesn't seem to have a ton of resistance to opening.

So, what should I do?

 

[Wes/Tex]

Locks on flinters often have to be tweeked to get best results. In your case, a couple things may be causing your problem. It's possible that the main spring may be weak or the frizzen spring may either be too weak or too strong. This may sound odd but the frizzen spring is usually the problem unless the cock faces too directly into the frizzen itself. If the frizzen spring is too strong the flint is chipped along it's face. If too weak, the frizzen will fly back and bounce back hitting the flint on the downward motion. This is difficult for the human eye to detect but if you'll fix a small bit of strong paper to the flint you can see if it's torn by the frizzen banging back.

The springs are usually the culprit though the cock can cause problems if it's not rotating properly. Let the cock down slowly and see if it's bringing the face of the flint against the frizzen at an angle. If it's slamming the flint face-first into the frizzen you need to use a shorter flint.

When all esle fails, contact TVM and let them have a go at it. They've got a pretty good reputation for that. Good luck.

 

[BigRoy3]

Wes,

Thanks for the information. I'll start with a shorter flint and see if that cures the problem. I've been using 3/4 x 7/8 flints. I'll try the 3/4 square flints. If not I'll check with the folks at TVM.