New flintlock arrived: Signs of frizzen rebound?

[cjsoccer3]

Hey everyone,

I received a flintlock back from a known popular builder after an 18 months wait or so. At the front of the jaws there was an ever slight polish that was small enough to over look on arrival, after a couple dry fires it’s slightly more pronounced.

After every dry fire, the frizzen opens and stays open as expected. When slowly dropping the cock / hammer, I don’t see any window of opportunity for the jaws to touch the frizzen. I’ve attached a photo below of the jaws / flint at the beginning and end of the frizzen.

I’m guessing (since this is a first flintlock) that this is not from the jaws striking the frizzen or from a too short of a flint, but rather frizzen bounce. The lock is made by Chambers, so I don’t think those typically give issue.

When I close the frizzen with a dropped hammer / cock, it appears to exactly coincide with where the polishing / peening is taking place on the top jaw. I suspect the frizzen is bouncing back and then off of the jaw resting in an open position as can commonly be seen in various online slowmo firing videos.

Is this supposed to be happening and what should I do? I’ve kindly inquired of the builder. I haven’t got much a clear answer, so trying to learn / see here what next steps might ought to be.

 

[brianpa40]

Flip your flint in the jaws with the bevel down that might help.

 

[smokepolehall]

Do you have a hole in the leather with the flint pushed back into the jaw screw. If not do so. Flint should be not touching the frizzen when Cock is at rest. Looking at pics, looks like the flint is hitting hard n bouncing back. Should be flint scraps down the Frizzen

 

[TDM]

Hey everyone,

I received a flintlock back from a known popular builder after an 18 months wait or so. At the front of the jaws there was an ever slight polish that was small enough to over look on arrival, after a couple dry fires it’s slightly more pronounced.

After every dry fire, the frizzen opens and stays open as expected. When slowly dropping the cock / hammer, I don’t see any window of opportunity for the jaws to touch the frizzen. I’ve attached a photo below of the jaws / flint at the beginning and end of the frizzen.

I’m guessing (since this is a first flintlock) that this is not from the jaws striking the frizzen or from a too short of a flint, but rather frizzen bounce. The lock is made by Chambers, so I don’t think those typically give issue.

When I close the frizzen with a dropped hammer / cock, it appears to exactly coincide with where the polishing / peening is taking place on the top jaw. I suspect the frizzen is bouncing back and then off of the jaw resting in an open position as can commonly be seen in various online slowmo firing videos.

Is this supposed to be happening and what should I do? I’ve kindly inquired of the builder. I haven’t got much a clear answer, so trying to learn / see here what next steps might ought to be.







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You may be right about the frizzen bounce. And the top jaw shouldn’t be quite so close to the frizzen face either. I would definitely contact the builder for an explanation and help.

 

[rich pierce]

Longer flint, or flip the flint over. Put lipstick on the bottom of the frizzen pan cover. If the top jaw is contacting the frizzen face, no lipstick. If lipstick, it’s rebounding.

Secret: most flintlocks rebound.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Your flint is too short: move it out a bit so the edge of the flint is almost touching the pan, like this. That way you don't rely solely upon inertia or gravity to bring sparks to your priming charge.

 

[SDSmlf]

Could you post a photograph with the lock at half cock and the frizzen down on the pan?

 

[Art Caputo]

I concur that your flint appears to be set up too short. Adjust(or reolace) your flint to hit higher on the frizzen.

 

[oldwood]

Don't see any grease on the frizzen lobe. It will snap open , properly , with some lube. Grease the inside moving parts of the lock mechanism. I'm not sure why folks are prone to ignore the most basic duties of lock maintenance.

 

[TDM]

I agree @oldwood, and I hope the OP will post a photo at halfcock with frizzen closed to confirm how close the jaws are to the frizzen.

 

[oldwood]

Years ago , I remember fixing a lock , where I had to take a little off the top flint jaw to keep it from touching the frizzen inappropriately. Can't remember what lock it was.

 

[cjsoccer3]

Half cock with frizzen closed

 

[TDM]

Half cock with frizzen closed

The hammer jaws looks fine to me. The flint needs to be longer, or brought forward in the jaws, and/or placed bevel down. Try and see if it makes a difference.

 

[smo]

A little thicker leather in the jaws wouldn’t hurt either..

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Don't see any grease on the frizzen lobe. It will snap open , properly , with some lube. Grease the inside moving parts of the lock mechanism. I'm not sure why folks are prone to ignore the most basic duties of lock maintenance.

Grease inside a lock will slow it down.

 

[oldwood]

Telling folks to " Grease the Lock " is a bad idea. unless you're a good mechanic , and knows the appropriate place to put a tiny amount of grease , bad advice. My apologies.
I have a neighbor with a 30 yr.old custom flint rifle. It amazes me how badly he treats the rifle , and how well it still works. About every two months , he brings the gun to me for service on the lock. No matter what or how I tell him to lubricate his lock , he can't seam to grasp the concept of any kind of lubrication. LOL

 

[cjsoccer3]

Thanks for helping this newbie (myself). The flint is pretty smaller. Here’s is a 7/8th beside it.

Once I placed it in the lock, I put lipstick on the top jaw checking for contact, I didn’t see any get removed.

On the opposite end, I then put lipstick on the bottom of the frizzen. None showed up on the jaws after firing. Seems like a larger flint helps here.

Similarly seems to get longer deeper streaks across the frizzen. Digs in a little deeper in the beginning.

This look better? I’m nearing 95% sure this larger flint may have fixed the problem. I’m just a hair unsure since I couldn’t trace out how it could have possibly contacted on the downstroke / dropping of hammer.

This flint also protrudes enough where the flint itself would catch the frizzen bounce. The flint is at least masking the frizzen bounce if it was that.

Should I sweat it about the markings on the jaw? Maybe I can touch it up with one earcleaner’s worth of Birchwood Casey plumb brown and some heat. Feels like one of those 1911 reassembly scratches (hah).

 

[smo]

No don’t sweat the marks ,,, that’s normal.
The flint removes metal causing sparks.

Now, try the flint bevel up & down and see which gives you the most sparks directed at the pan…

 

[oldwood]

STOP..........No heat on the frizzen.!!!! Frizzens are heat treated , so they will spark properly If you want to darken the shiny frizzen , use Birchwood-Casey cold bluing liquid. It is selenium dioxide ,and darkens steel , brass , etc. w/o heat.

 

[TDM]

Maybe I can touch it up with one earcleaner’s worth of Birchwood Casey plumb brown and some heat

Lord, I missed that @oldwood. Please follow oldwoods advice. No heat, keep the frizzen face clean and wipe it with alcohol before a shooting session.