No spark from my flint

[napolean]

Sorry to hear of this most recent woe. Good luck on the vent liner installation.
Jon

 

[J.D.]

IMHO, the cock needs to be replaced. Look at the enlarged photo in the first set and it can be seen that the bottom jaw is too short to properly hold a flint, especially with a thick leather wrap, as in the top photo of the second set.

IMHO, the top jaw screw is set too close to the front of the jaws, restricting how solidly the flint will be held in the jaws.

Using a thinner leather wrap, similar to the one in the first set of photos, or cutting an oval out of the rear of the thick wrap, to allow the flint to set farther back, might help. However, the rather thick top jaw screw, in combination with the distance from the back of the cock extension, will continue to cause problems until it is fixed right.

IMHO, the screw holes can be filled and a new top jaw screw, of the proper diameter, can be relocated, or the cock replaced.

IMHO, it would be easier to replace the cock.

As to the issue of the number of flashes in the pan, some of these cheap pieces had a weird flash channel that made a turn inside the breech. Another problem with this type flash channel is that it's too small, all the way through.

An acquaintance had a cheap, un-named piece, with a similar lock. Once we got the lock working, the small diameter flash channel, combined with the turn, made ignition rather...erratic.

Even with enlarging the diameter of the outer flash channel, the small diameter of the inner flash channel, after the turn, caused problems.

I don't know if this piece is made with the off the wall flash channel, but it might be something to check.

God bless

 

[Zoar]

fredrader---Yep, you sure are having a whale of a good time and I assure you other people are enjoying this thread too. I'm in the same league as some of the others--the photos showing the flint in the jaws indicates bad angle and a hammer/cock that probably does not belong to that gun. While it may work, you really want the flint to line up parallel with the jaws. Your flint is pointing down and not close to parallel with the faces of the jaws. There are a number of primers on how to place the flint in a jaw and how it should just touch the face of the frizzen when at half cock. But again if your hammer/cock is NOT for that gun, then that may be impossible to do. However, it appears from the photos that this hammer-to-frizzen geometry is what some of us affectionately call a "rock-masher". The angle that a perfectly placed flint will strike is virtually head on with the frizzen and the result will most likely be a few like 5-8 good hammer strikes and then your flint will go dull. So, in so many words, even if you get new flints and get the flint in the jaws parallel, you will most likely get the same results----a few good sparks in the first 5 or so hammer falls and then no or very little sparks. However as you said you are learning alot about hammers, flints, flint placement, black powder fineness, touch hole size, etc... Moreover, I would pick out or tap out that drill bit that is jammed in the hole now and play some more. And yes buy some 4F Black Powder asap!!!

Also, as someone else pointed out that screw through the jaws seems far too big and too forward and is causing you much misery and is preventing you from getting the flint deep enough in the jaws. I would get a new hammer/cock. My guess is someone replaced the original screw, DRILLED out the old threads and replaced the screw which a much larger one and cut new threads for it... (Closeup of your hammer/cock reveal that the screw is askew and far too fat for that hammer.)

Have FUN! And please keep posting. This is an enjoyable thread!

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Appears the flint is a bit long in the tooth, and angle of the dangle for the cock is a bit off.

But, the first thing I would do is take a small file and check the hardness of the frizzen. If can be filed, tis way too soft.

 

[fredrader]

The frizzen is plenty hard,I get excellent spark EVERY time I drop the hammer and it lights the powder in the pan EVERY time I drop the hammer..I tried angling the flint up a little but it just knocked the frizzen open and didn't spark..
The only trouble I was having was it wasn't igniting the powder in the brl so I tried to drill the touch hole out to 1/16" and broke the tip of the drill bit off..I'll it fixed this weekend and let ya all know if it fixed it..

 

[fredrader]

Ok,I got it back from my buddy and he used an end mill and got my broken bit out and made the touch hole just a little over 1/16"..I put it back together and took it out back and shot it 3 times and it worked great every time :applause: ..I am going to try it a few more times today but it seems to be fixed.. :thumbsup:

 

[napolean]

YEA! You got a good friend there. I'm glad it all finally worked out. Now ya just need to work up a load and have fun shootin. If it gives ya any more troube you should trade er off at one a them gun shows. By the way you are lucky to have gun shows so regular. Down here in The Permian Basin there are maybe 3 or 4 a year and very little Muzzleloader stuff at anything near a reasonable price.
Jon

 

[fredrader]

Thanks,I took it back out and shot 3 more times and worked great..I guess it's fixed :thumbsup: