Hitting low on Frizzen

[Meangene1969]

I acquired a lyman great plains flintlock and it appears to me the cock is hitting to low on the frizzen. I'm looking for recommendations on how to adjust the cock without causing damage. I have search the forum and most suggest bending the hammer but that was on cap locks not flint.

 

[Gtrubicon]

Install the flint bevel down, it will raise your point considerably.

 

[Meangene1969]

Thank you! didn't even cross my mind.

 

[mrd]

That's how I fixed mine.

 

[Meangene1969]

Tried it and it helped. Thanks

 

[WALT53]

Tried it and it helped. Thanks

You could put a thick piece of leather under your leather and flint to raise it worked for me .

 

[M. De Land]

I acquired a lyman great plains flintlock and it appears to me the cock is hitting to low on the frizzen. I'm looking for recommendations on how to adjust the cock without causing damage. I have search the forum and most suggest bending the hammer but that was on cap locks not flint. View attachment 293332View attachment 293333View attachment 293334

I've heated and bent a couple of cocks then re-hardened them. I have discussed/argued with folks that cocks are not hardened from the factory but my tests with a spring loaded prick punch and measuring the dimple with a caliper reveal that they are harder than annealed mild steel.
It's never the best practice to bend any structured steel cold.
The strike pattern looks a bit low to me as my preference is contact well above the half way point on the frizzen then and uninterrupted scrape pattern off the bottom of the frizzen.

 

[kyron4]

I might be the odd man out here, but before doing anything I would shoot it first. You might find it will fire perfectly fine as is, without modifications.

I'd be careful about bending the cock, you can get the geometry out of whack and then you got a bigger problems.

 

[IanH]

That thing needs the neck stretched about a quarter inch and tilted down a few degrees. The angle of the shield....sheesh, what were they thinking?

 

[Trot]

They definitely hit low, but actually work pretty well, much more reliable than the old CVA flintlocks I had. Put the flint bevel down and shoot!

 

[Grenadier1758]

Yes, install the flint bevel down to raise the edge and fire the rifle.

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

Also, maybe install a match stick in the back of the flint to give it a more downward angle.

 

[Poguetx]

You can also put a small dowel between the back of the flint and the jaw screw, if turning the flint upside down does not help. Oops, just saw Hatman said the same!

 

[M. De Land]

They definitely hit low, but actually work pretty well, much more reliable than the old CVA flintlocks I had. Put the flint bevel down and shoot!

Another factor in setting up a lock is spark focus into the pan, which a low strike does seem to encourage. The more directly a sliver of ignited steel can impact the prime without bouncing around the more efficient will be the pan prime ignition. Each spark bonce off adjacent lock mass before pan prime contact is bleeding off heat energy thus reducing prime ignition efficiency.
The arc of the cock, curve of the frizzen face, frizzen carbon content and balance of the frizzen and cock spring all have an influence on spark production focus.
My guess is that this directional focus of the spark production has at least a much to do with reliable and fast ignition as does volume of spark production. The challenge is to corral and balance all of these accumulative , necessary functions into efficiently focused ignition mated up with longevity of both flint and frizzen. Considering all of these interrelated function movements a good lock must incorporate gives one some idea of the challenge of getting the most out of a given lock design.
I have always thought that continental style serrated frizzens may have some thing to contribute to lock efficiency although they would seem to be rather consumptive of flints.

 

[Meangene1969]

Thank yall. I love this site, thanks for the help

 

[westrayer]

If you have a bench vice, take a round ball and flatten it on the anvil portion of the vice until you reach the shape and size you need to place under the flint.

 

[Rat]

I might be the odd man out here, but before doing anything I would shoot it first. You might find it will fire perfectly fine as is, without modifications.

I'd be careful about bending the cock, you can get the geometry out of whack and then you got a bigger problems.

Well, the whole design of those locks are out of whack. I mean, the geometry of them are/is bad to begin with.

 

[Rat]

One other thing, the closer you can move the flint forward in the jaws, the sooner it will strike the frizzen. (or a little higher up) A high quality lock will strike the frizzen at least halfway up, but more like 3/4.

Ooops I see from your pics that your flint is about as far-forward as it's going to get. Yes, geometry, there isn't much with those locks. Either the cock should be sitting further forward on the lock plate (un-fixable) or the frizzen should be sitting further back. Have you heard of L&R replacement locks?