help -- flint POI on frizzen, general flint problems

[jweston]

I am almost through my second can of Goex 3g. I use as small agate mortar and pestle to grind down for priming -- I get a bit to much lag when I use the 3g for the pan.

 

[faw3]

That lag can be as I found out from to much powder, since I coned min with a 1/16 drill bit and aim he knife edge at mine it will go of in a split sec ith just a ? 1/2 or 1/3 cap o a 22 cal short case, with 2 or 3 F, to much makes a fuse out of it. Fred :hatsoff: All your answer's you need are up here, have you tryed any and what happened if you did? Fred :hatsoff:

 

[jweston]

I haven't had the chance to do any firing based on the EXTENSIVE and HELPFUL advice that I have gotten. I hope to do some shooting today, but we'll see.

 

[mike alexandre]

Just a word of caution on the setting of your flint. Some time ago when I had just started flinting I set the flint VERY close to one of my flint rifle frizzens. When I closed the pan after priming there was enough slack/over travel in the lock for it to touch the flint and naturaly the gun did the rest. It was good that I was following good safety training and the gun was pointing down range.

 

[d.thomson]

Good call I didn't think of that. F.K.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Good call I didn't think of that. F.K.

I never place my flint close enough to touch the frizzen at half-cock. It's usually somewhere between 1/16 and 1/8 inch away. Of course, I use a hammer stall on my frizzen, so if it touches that it slightly opens the pan and I can lose my prime if I'm moving. I'd highly recommend that you use a hammerstall if you ever walk around with your pan primed.

Also, the real key on getting the flint to work correctly and to last a long time, is to get it to strike the frizzen at a 55°-60° angle. That way it slices some white hot slivers off the frizzen when it hits it. If you set it at to low an angle it will crush the edge of the flint as it hits the frizzen and if you set it at too steep of an angle it'll break a big chunk of the edge off the flint. It needs to slice the frizzen.

It's the goldilocks effect - not too little, not too much, just right. You'll know when you've got it because the flint will shower sparks reliably and at the correct angle it is virtually self-knapping, so you don't have to keep sharpening it.

Hope this helps,
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[Bill Bryan]

Looks like you got a lot of responses. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't.
I've found that a sharp flint(don't over knap) held tightly in the jaws(I use a flattened lead ball) will work when almost everything else is out of alignment. Also I open the vent liner to at least 1/16". If that doesn't do the trick you really do need someone to look at your gun while you fire it.

 

[Runner]

Put a sharp flint in the lock with the bevel down with the face about an eigth off the frizzen. Go into a dark area and watch from the side when the lock goes off. Does it spark well? Do the sparks land in the pan? Turn the flint over and try with the bevel up. Try different spacings between it at halfcock and the frizzen. Try it with the flint wrapped in lead and in leather. See which way puts the most hot sparks in the pan and set the lock up for best results. If it sparks and the sparks land in the pan, the pan will go off every time. If the pan flashes and the gun still doesn't go off, then try picking the vent between shots after it is loaded. Tip the gun away from you as you lift it to shoot which puts the prime away from the vent. You will find the way.