Frizzen life

[NORD]

Hello,

I am thinking about building a Jim Chambers Flintlock rifle...possibley the York. My question is how many shots can you get from a frizzen before it wears out, or is it even possible to wear a frizen out in a lifetime.
The reason is I plan to shoot this gun a lot in competitions.

Thank you!

 

[Toomuch_36]

Frizzen life will depend on a number of things, but primarly just a few.
If the frizzen is hardened propperly the most detrimental item to frizzen life will be choice of flint and the set of the flint in the cock. The best choice of flints IMHO will be either black English or French amber. Stay away from the man made sawed aggate it is far too hard and will chew up a frizzen in no time. The flint should be positioned, at half-cock and pan closed, to be all but touching the face of the frizzen at approx. a 60degree angle about half to 3/4 up on thefrizzen face. Bevel up or down makes little difference except in getting the correct position, some locks it like up and some like it down.

Toomuch
..........
Shoot Flint

 

[Roy]

Not anything really to worry about. You may have to keep track of how mny times its sparked and report back. :grin:

 

[roundball]

Hello,

I am thinking about building a Jim Chambers Flintlock rifle...possibley the York. My question is how many shots can you get from a frizzen before it wears out, or is it even possible to wear a frizen out in a lifetime.
The reason is I plan to shoot this gun a lot in competitions.

Thank you!

There are probably a lot of variables that could come into play...but as at least one reference, I have .45/.50/.54cal TC Hawken flintlocks that I shoot one of almost every weekend year round.
Each of those three have a couple thousand shots on them and the frizzens basically still look new...so I'd guess the total # would surely be well up into the thousands...maybe 10's of thousands

 

[Many Klatch]

I've been shooting my smoothbore since the 80's. It still has the original frizzen and it has never been rehardened. I figure I must have 4 or 5 thousand shots through it by now.

Many Klatch

 

[OTHERN]

Nord
some of the italian frizzens are only casehardened and the number of shots may be 2-300. On the other hand I have a silar with over 10,000 shots on it and it is still going strong. the chambers locks are very good and will probably last your lifetime.
Othern

 

[Herz_aus_Stahl]

Watch this link: http://www.feuerwaffen.ch/HTML/HTML%20Flintschloss%20Theorie%20mini/index.html

Dont worry thats in german, but the pics show what you need. Click on "Diashow starten" and then use the little pointer at the bottom. There you find angles and distances important to a flintlock.

especialy this table shows the figures for different types of guns:
http://www.feuerwaffen.ch/HTML/HTML%20Flintschloss%20Theorie%20mini/sld022.html

if you need a translation of something special ask me

 

[squirejohn]

On a Chambers lock probably "forever". On some of the India imports about 500 or so before re-harding.

 

[NORD]

Thank you for the information! Greatly appreciated!

As you can see I am very 'green' when it comes to shooting a flint lock. All I own are percussion locks right now. I have shot flinters some but have no idea how to set them up properly. I have always wanted a flintlock and now finally have the money to do so. I really like the York Rifle and really enjoy building my own rifles so I thought I would go with a Jim Chambers kit.

Please keep the info coming if you have something more to share.

Thank you! :hatsoff:

 

[dlemaster]

Herz aus Stahl
Very interesting!
I am going to have to use my sons German to English dictionary.
I think there maybe some valuable information in those dimensions and lock geometry.
Thanks for posting it.

Regards, Dave

 

[Harddog]

On a Chambers lock probably "forever". On some of the India imports about 500 or so before re-harding.

This all depends on how much you shoot.I have a nice little .45 caliber rifle that I have shot for years. I have no idea how many shots I have put thru her, but probably well over 100,000. It has a Siler lock, (now Chambers/Siler) and I have worn the frizzen down to the point that the edges were razor sharp and I replaced it. In fact I have replaced the frizzen twice for the same reason.

Don't anybody read this wrong. The frizzens I have replaced are smooth with no ripples, gouges, or washboard effect in the face, but just worn thin and therefore needing replaced.

In answer to the original question, I would think that a frizzen on any of the better available locks, Chambers, Davis, L&R, Hollenbaugh, etc, should last the average shooter for a lifetime.

Randy Hedden

 

[NORD]

This all depends on how much you shoot.I have a nice little .45 caliber rifle that I have shot for years. I have no idea how many shots I have put thru her, but probably well over 100,000. It has a Siler lock, (now Chambers/Siler) and I have worn the frizzen down to the point that the edges were razor sharp and I replaced it. In fact I have replaced the frizzen twice for the same reason.

Don't anybody read this wrong. The frizzens I have replaced are smooth with no ripples, gouges, or washboard effect in the face, but just worn thin and therefore needing replaced.

In answer to the original question, I would think that a frizzen on any of the better available locks, Chambers, Davis, L&R, Hollenbaugh, etc, should last the average shooter for a lifetime.

Randy Hedden

What brand or type of flints do you use?

 

[Harddog]

Nord,

I have always used black English flints.

Randy Hedden

 

[NORD]

Thanks for the information on the flints! :hatsoff:

 

[krasnayaznamya]

That german site is excellent! Appreciate the link to that!

 

[WRussell]

Excellent stuff, Herz aus Stahl. Thanks for sharing that.

 

i seen frizzens wear out in 50 shots. t/c frizzens were terrible, they would wear out quick. they would get gouges in them in no time. i dont know if they improved them or not. i cant believe roundball got that many shots out of a t/c frizzen.t/c frizzens were junk.

 

[roundball]

i seen frizzens wear out in 50 shots. t/c frizzens were terrible, they would wear out quick. they would get gouges in them in no time. i dont know if they improved them or not. i cant believe roundball got that many shots out of a t/c frizzen.t/c frizzens were junk.

Yes, you can believe it...TCs previous lock problems are all old news...the operative word you used is "WERE".

TC made significant design improvements to their Flint lock asembly 5-6 years ago, most significant of which were the hammer and frizzen.

The hammer is much taller with a better angle of attack into the frizzen and flint life is outstanding...plus they hardened the frizzen so they give a lot of sparks with no grooving.

I'm in my 5th year of shooting one of my TC Flintlocks basically every weekend year round...the new Flintlock design is simply 100% outstanding...fast, reliable, etc

It's normal to go through a complete 50 shot range session on a Saturday morning with a flat 3/4" black English flint, and usually shoot the following week's 50 shot session on the same flint...have never had a lock failure yet.

PS:
They redesigned their vent liner as well and they give extremely fast ignition, seems like it's instantaneous.

 

[windsor]

I'm a newbie to flint lock shooting as well. I asked a long time black powder shooter friend of mine the same question. His reply was, "If you ever wear out a frizzen, then you'll know something about black powder shooting."

I thought that was kinda slick.

 

[roundball]

I'm a newbie to flint lock shooting as well. I asked a long time black powder shooter friend of mine the same question. His reply was, "If you ever wear out a frizzen, then you'll know something about black powder shooting."

I thought that was kinda slick.

:thumbsup:
Like the worry of "shooting out a barrel"...I should live so long !! :grin: