How many shots before a frizzen needs to be replaced?

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Further to my July9th/2023 post IT dependes entirely upon Who made your HAMMER.(Correct name fo what you call a frizzen)..Your hammer is a COCK..
I know My maths is pretty good, I've been at it for almost 90 years. OLD DOG /1934..
 
Like shoes, a worn out frizzen can easily be re-soled if a replacement is not readily available or one wants to keep the original. I have done a couple for self and friends.

on eBay I bought a clock spring of appropriate width and cut off a piece of appropriate length. A smear of JB Weld on the frizzen and the spring is clamped. I use three narrow nose vice grips to clamp the centre top and bottom till the JBW has cured then with the dremel take off excess spring material until profiled to the frizzen.

They are still throwing lovely sparks and if they do wear out a torch will melt the JBW, clean it up and repeat the process. Just remember where you put your clock spring!
Hey Pablo try some of Brownell's Hi Force 44. been using it for years. Melts with a propane torch.
 
How many shots can a flint lock take before the frizzen needs to be replaced or rehardened? I've never fired one enough for it to be a problem, but I've probably put 2k rounds through my Kibler SMR and am curious how long it will realistically last. My lock still functions flawlessly and sparks great.
Depends. I have an old Robbins lock, shot quite a lot. The frizzen is dished and the edges are almost knife sharp. That one died long ago. I don't count rounds fired, so I have no idea how many rounds went through it, but it was a LOT. Case hardened frizzens sometimes have to be re-cased every couple of years, and an L&R Early classic lock went dead within a year. The frizzen on a friend's Kibler Colonial broke after only about 50, or so shots, due to a casting flaw. So it depends.

I will say that Jim replaced that frizzen within a week, after only one phone call. That's good service.

I suspect that frizzen on your SMR will last nearly a lifetime. That said, if you shoot that much, it might be in your best interest to buy a replacement frizzen, so's you will have it on hand, if the original one, unexpectedly, goes dead.
 
For a Pedersoli KY rifle...about 6000-6500 shots as seen below.
I tried hardening the frizzen once with TOTW hardening materials & did NOT achieve success.
Therefore, I gave the TOTW compound stuff away and now simply replace the frizzen.
The frizzen can be replaced in less than 5 minutes and then I'm off shooting.
I'll never fool with hardening one again.

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Not that everyone here shoots at Friendship but I heard they do not allow a “ shoed “ frizzen to be used. Is this true?
 
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