Hello All,
Although this is my first post, I have been visiting these forums for a few weeks now, and have been sponging off you guys like crazy. I'm new to flintlocks, so go easy on me.
I recently purchased a Traditions Kentucky rifle, and it's been keeping me pretty busy. Let me dive right in - When it came out of the box, there was substantial friction between the cock and the lock plate, which I removed by adding a small metal washer in between the two. Secondly, the lock was not inlet far enough, as there was a 1/16" gap between the pan and barrel. I removed some wood and now it fits snug. Unfortunately, this has led me to my current problem: The 5/8" english flints I use are a hair too wide, and they will either hit the barrel (I test for fit before dry firing) or they will hit the outside edge of the pan, breaking off chunks of flint, effectively killing it. What to do? Right now, I'm thinking I can Dremel-cut some metal from the outside edge of the pan (~1/32") and that should keep the flint from crashing into the pan. Has anyone else had this problem? It's costing me $1 every time I bash up a flint; because the mainspring is so strong it's kind of a rock basher.
My second question is this: I have been playing around with the spark on this gun, and although I have gotten it to spark, how much spark should I be seeing? In a well lit room, I can see 5-6 cherry red sparks fly off the frizzen, and in a dark room it looks like there is a "pop" of red right in the pan area. I have some 4f, but haven't actually gotten around to test firing a pan. Since I'm going to do some work on the lock anyways, what can I do to improve the quantity of spark? I believe the frizzen to be OK. I filed and smoothed the frizzen spring and frizzen foot to as mirror polish, and it breaks at ~3lbs. The angle of the flint/frizzen at half-cock is about 60deg. My buddy's custom rifle gets a "shower" of white/red sparks that's quite impressive compared to mine, which makes me wonder.
Thanks in advance for your help, I'm trying to get this thing tuned for a hunting/shooting weekend next week.
Although this is my first post, I have been visiting these forums for a few weeks now, and have been sponging off you guys like crazy. I'm new to flintlocks, so go easy on me.
I recently purchased a Traditions Kentucky rifle, and it's been keeping me pretty busy. Let me dive right in - When it came out of the box, there was substantial friction between the cock and the lock plate, which I removed by adding a small metal washer in between the two. Secondly, the lock was not inlet far enough, as there was a 1/16" gap between the pan and barrel. I removed some wood and now it fits snug. Unfortunately, this has led me to my current problem: The 5/8" english flints I use are a hair too wide, and they will either hit the barrel (I test for fit before dry firing) or they will hit the outside edge of the pan, breaking off chunks of flint, effectively killing it. What to do? Right now, I'm thinking I can Dremel-cut some metal from the outside edge of the pan (~1/32") and that should keep the flint from crashing into the pan. Has anyone else had this problem? It's costing me $1 every time I bash up a flint; because the mainspring is so strong it's kind of a rock basher.
My second question is this: I have been playing around with the spark on this gun, and although I have gotten it to spark, how much spark should I be seeing? In a well lit room, I can see 5-6 cherry red sparks fly off the frizzen, and in a dark room it looks like there is a "pop" of red right in the pan area. I have some 4f, but haven't actually gotten around to test firing a pan. Since I'm going to do some work on the lock anyways, what can I do to improve the quantity of spark? I believe the frizzen to be OK. I filed and smoothed the frizzen spring and frizzen foot to as mirror polish, and it breaks at ~3lbs. The angle of the flint/frizzen at half-cock is about 60deg. My buddy's custom rifle gets a "shower" of white/red sparks that's quite impressive compared to mine, which makes me wonder.
Thanks in advance for your help, I'm trying to get this thing tuned for a hunting/shooting weekend next week.