Frizzen doesn't open all the way....

[William Joy]

It's a small Siler Flintlock. Tried diffrent flints ( lengh) but to 80 percent the frizzen doesn't open all the way. Is the spring to strong?

 

[bingo1952]

Have you tried the bevel up/bevel down approach? Some locks like a flint with the bevel down some with the bevel up.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

You may or may not have tried these already but some suggestions are:

1. Ensure flint is set in the jaws so that it almost but not quite touches the frizzen while on half cock

2. Try changing the way the flint is mounted, i.e. bevel down instead of bevel up

3. Make sure that the pan cover portion of the frizzen/pan cover is not rubbing against the barrel while opening

4. Try putting a little lube where the frizzen touches the frizzen spring

5. You may need to polish the frizzen where it slides along the frizzen spring

6. I personally would not mess with trying to adjust frizzen spring tension

 

[Le Grand]

William, Take the lock out of the gun and see if the frizzen opens all of the time. If it does, you can guess that the pan cover, at the bottom of the frizzen, is rubbing on the side of the barrel. The cure is a little filing on the pan cover, just enough to keep it from rubbing as it moves.

 

[Vaino]

The first LR I built and still shoot, has a small Siler and the flint length was very critical. Setting the flint so it just touches the frizzen at half cock helps but as soon as the flint wears or is knapped, the frizzen isn't pushed to the toggle over point. I solved the problem by grinding a slight hump as noted by the frizzen toe when the frizzen is open 25-30 degrees. This was done on the hardened frizzen w/ a Dremel and then polished. Originally this Siler's frizzen toggled over at 45 degrees which is way too late..

 

[William Joy]

Thanks that solved the problem! :thumbsup:

 

[29caliber]

I've got this same problem with my small Siler and am having difficulty visualizing your description of the solution. Is there any way that you could post a photo of your modification? Thanks, Tom

 

[Vaino]

Don't have any pics but here's a detailed description. Install a flint so it's just touching the frizzen at half-cock and manually let the cock slide down the frizzen until the flint is at the bottom of the frizzen and then mark the point on the frizzen spring where the frizzen toe is pointing. This is the high point of the hump or drop-off and w/ a Dremel grind relief towards the end of the leaf. In other words,from the toe mark to the leafend ,it's "downhill". The hump or drop-off only needs to be .010-.015 high, is approx. 1/16"-3/32"" long and requires a fine polish. Hope this helps because the small Siler is prone to having this problem and w/ this change, flint length isn't critical w/in reason.
Reread my first post and the hump or dropoff is ground on the frizzen spring and the frizzen itself isn't touched....Fred

 

[29caliber]

Thanks...I've got a better idea of what you mean now. I've got two small Siler locks and as soon as the flint shortens just a tiny bit, then this problem develops. Tom

 

[Stophel]

Silers have a ski ramp for a frizzen spring. Terrible shape.

 

[Tumblernotch]

The large Silers do this sometimes when the flint wears. I mount my flints bevel down and this usually takes care of the problem. I've never had a Siler that would work right with the bevel up.

If your flint doesn't have too high a hump that interferes with clamping tightly, you can move it closer to the frizzen if it's badly worn. Get a few more shots out of it plus throws the frizzen open.