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- May 24, 2021
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Some time back there was a post "Smashing Flints".
This post and the input of several members proved to be most informative and educational.
The main idea put forth was the lightening of the lock's main and frizzen springs was indeed an effective solution to the smashing of flints.
For me what was missing was a specific amount of material to remove from the mainspring and frizzen springs or final cocking and opening forces.
As this will be different for each lock i decided to try to quantify the spring lightening process using the lock of a traditions ky rifle and a traditions deerhunter. These rifles use essentially the same lock.
First the main springs. The leafs of these measured 0.090" thick. using a 1" wide belt sander i slowly removed material of the lower leaf from the bend that divides the upper and lower leafs to the knuckle at the other end thats starts the hook that engages the tumbler and polishing away any scratches left by the sanding process. At the same time i lightened the frizzen spring by gently squeezing it repeatedly and then reassembling the lock and testing it. This is trickey....squeeze less and repeatedly.
For my traditions locks the following values worked well for me.
i removed 0.020" from the mainspring lower leaf as described above ending up at a thickness of 0.070".
This is about 22% material removal. I only have a fish scale to measure the resulting cocking force and the result was 4.7 lbs. on one lock and about 4 lbs on the second
Since i did not remove material from the frizzen spring I sort of backed into the solution by squeezing the spring until the flint was no longer being shattered but still sparked well. i installed my flints bevel down. i hooked the fish scale around the frizzen at that point where the flint strikes it. This read between 2.5 and 2.7 lbs on the first and anout 2.3lbs on the other to get the frizzen to snap open. There are probably more combinations of main to frizzen spring weights that work so go slow and check often.
For me this worked well for my traditions rifles.
they fire consistantly and no longer shatter flints. If these values seem way too light to you i would suggest that you remove less material from the main sping and adjust the frizzen spring to suit. In any case it appears the the springs on these traditions locks are a bit stout.
if you do this , again, work slowly...your milage may vary.
i hope this helps those with traditions guns, but i believe the process is valid for all guns. i was surprise at the comparably light spring weights that still produced good sparks.
This post and the input of several members proved to be most informative and educational.
The main idea put forth was the lightening of the lock's main and frizzen springs was indeed an effective solution to the smashing of flints.
For me what was missing was a specific amount of material to remove from the mainspring and frizzen springs or final cocking and opening forces.
As this will be different for each lock i decided to try to quantify the spring lightening process using the lock of a traditions ky rifle and a traditions deerhunter. These rifles use essentially the same lock.
First the main springs. The leafs of these measured 0.090" thick. using a 1" wide belt sander i slowly removed material of the lower leaf from the bend that divides the upper and lower leafs to the knuckle at the other end thats starts the hook that engages the tumbler and polishing away any scratches left by the sanding process. At the same time i lightened the frizzen spring by gently squeezing it repeatedly and then reassembling the lock and testing it. This is trickey....squeeze less and repeatedly.
For my traditions locks the following values worked well for me.
i removed 0.020" from the mainspring lower leaf as described above ending up at a thickness of 0.070".
This is about 22% material removal. I only have a fish scale to measure the resulting cocking force and the result was 4.7 lbs. on one lock and about 4 lbs on the second
Since i did not remove material from the frizzen spring I sort of backed into the solution by squeezing the spring until the flint was no longer being shattered but still sparked well. i installed my flints bevel down. i hooked the fish scale around the frizzen at that point where the flint strikes it. This read between 2.5 and 2.7 lbs on the first and anout 2.3lbs on the other to get the frizzen to snap open. There are probably more combinations of main to frizzen spring weights that work so go slow and check often.
For me this worked well for my traditions rifles.
they fire consistantly and no longer shatter flints. If these values seem way too light to you i would suggest that you remove less material from the main sping and adjust the frizzen spring to suit. In any case it appears the the springs on these traditions locks are a bit stout.
if you do this , again, work slowly...your milage may vary.
i hope this helps those with traditions guns, but i believe the process is valid for all guns. i was surprise at the comparably light spring weights that still produced good sparks.
