Lock "tuning"

[M. De Land]

I too had to heat and bend the cock at a greater downward pointing angle to get any spark generation along with Kasniting the frizzen three times, increasing the cock travel and strengthening the main spring..Just kept at it until finally the incremental combination of things finally caused it work.
In thinking about it though I'm sure that bending the cock angle to far forward will make it break flints faster and cause spark generation to begin to diminish. It will also make the top of the cock jaw hit the frizzen at the bottom of the travel as the flints wear short. Mike D.

 

[Larry Pletcher]

It's fairly easy to take a picture of your lock's spark production with today's digital cameras. It's a good way to see where the sparks are going.

I took pics of a friend's lock and found that the sparks were landing in front of the pan. Changing the length of the flint helped some. I think he eventually had the lock tuned by a pro.

In slow motion video, I can see the sparks "roll" down the frizzen ahead of the flint edge. Maybe the frizzen angle when the sparks get to the bottom helps determine where the sparks are directed. This would make it a timing issue. My gut says this would be one of a raft of things controlling spark direction.
Regards,
Pletch

 

[Dphar]

This lock is very fast and reliable

This lock is probably the fastest most reliable lock I have ever used.

The frizzen face is a little flat, but its been pretty heavily faced since I came to the conclusion it was cast from 4140, there was no way I could harden or case harden it and have it spark for more that 30 shots.
So long as it strikes in the upper 1/3 of the frizzen I don't think where the flint strikes is important. Also very end of the frizzen on some locks is obviously not intended to be struck by the flint.
Both these locks are copies of English designs from about 1780 for the pistol lock and 1820 for the rifle lock.
Dan