Replacement frizzens

[NORD]

Howdy,

I am new to shooting flintlocks and I am enjoying it. In this process I have been purchasing a few items I think I need. :hmm:
My question is how many shots will a frizzen last, and is it necessary for me to purchase a replacement frizzen for my flinter while it is in production? I am shooting a Pedersoli flinter.

Thank you!

 

[Zonie]

It should last for thousands of shots.
There really isn't too much to wear out on a frizzen if it is one of the more recently made ones.

Years ago some of the frizzens were made out of low carbon steel and they needed to be case hardened to work correctly.
These case hardened frizzens could "wear out" but the actual wear was simply the scraping off of the hardened steel layer. The Spanish guns like CVA's and Jukers were notorious for this. Also some of the Japanese guns.
These case hardened frizzens can be re-carburized and re-hardened to work as good as new.

The more recent guns use high alloy through hardening steels which will last the life of the lock.

 

[roundball]

Just as an FYI thinking about parts...

I have to drive a 60 mile round trip for shooting at my range...and about the same distance to a couple places where I hunt...don't want either of those activities disrupted by a lost part or a part failure.

I figured the stock and barrel would withstand most anything but as soon as I could skip enough cheeseburgers to set aside the money, I bought a 2nd complete lock assembly and keep it in my shooting box so its always with me at the range or in the truck parked where I'm hunting.

 

[Ridge]

The more recent guns use high alloy through hardening steels which will last the life of the lock.

I didn't know that. I assume that the Silers (Chambers) locks built in the last decade or so are like that?

 

[Zonie]

Yes they are.
Their frizzens are made of an oil hardening steel.

 

[renovato]

Sound advice Roundball. I have spares for my Austin & Hallecks and my T/Cs. My shooting spot is only about 15 minutes from home so my reasoning was if I broke a lock, the gun wouldn't be down while I looked for parts. It never dawned on me to take a spare lock when I go hunting though, and that's when a lock failure would have the biggest consequences. Something we should all think about. :thumbsup:

 

[Swede50]

I bought a spare Frizzen for my TC from TOW

 

[J.D.]

It should last for thousands of shots.

Depending on how deep the factory case hardening is. The older Ped flint guns, and especially the bess were notorious for thin case hardening on the frizzens.

The more recent guns use high alloy through hardening steels which will last the life of the lock.

In my experience, the only high carbon frizzens are on American made locks. Davis, Chambers, L&R, for example, but foreign made locks still insist on using case hardened mild steel.

 

[NORD]

In my experience, the only high carbon frizzens are on American made locks. Davis, Chambers, L&R, for example, but foreign made locks still insist on using case hardened mild steel.

hmm...so the Pedersoli frizzen I have on my flinter must be case hardened?

So...maybe I should purchase another frizzen?

 

[Leatherbark]

My Pedersoli frizzen is worn half way through and it still sparks fine.....They must have screwed up and made one right. But the dern thing is wearing out where it pivots now and the frizzen can wobble or slide away from the barrel exposing the touchhole and priming if I dont knock it back over toward the barrel occasionaly.....Need to modify it or find out if the frizzen pivot hole is worn oblong or the screw it pivots on is worn......My Large Siler had to be re hardened after a few hundred rounds, but it was probably not hardened correctly by the person who built the fowler so I'm not knocking the actual maker of the lock..........Does OK now..............Bob

 

[roundball]

"...or the screw it pivots on is worn..."

Just an FYI, in rebuilding a couple of TC locks when I was getting started with Flintlocks, I was shocked to see that in both of them, the frizzen pivot screw was worn half through where the frizzen pivot hole rotates, got some new screws of course.

But more interestingly it caused me to start doing something that I've done religiously after every time I've fired one of my rifles...and that is when cleaning the lock, I remove the frizzen screw and the frizzen...clean them and the pivot areas, plus the top of the spring. Then I lube all those areas with Shooter's Choice grease that comes in a syringe, and reassemble everything.

Only take a couple minutes and every time the frizzen operates through a 50 shot range session for example, its operating in a fresh, clean, lubed environment...have a few thousand shots on each of 2-3 locks now and the pivot screws still look like new...and the locks just keep working so well trip after trip that I'm not about to change a thing.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Thanks for the tip Roundball. Hadn't thought of that.

 

[roundball]

Its very easy on a TC lock...I got the smallest 1.5" c-clamp from a hardware store, I put a stick on felt piece on each jaw so not to scratch the finiah on the frizzen spring, and gently tighten it right up close against the frizzen tail...BARELY enough to just START taking some spring load off the frizzen...DO NOT pinch the frizzen spring too to much or it'll break.
:redface:

After you do it once you immediately see what I'm talking about...then remove the screw, use a q-tip and pipe-cleaner in all the obvious places...then the lube in those same places, then reassemble, remove the clamp

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I've worn out one frizzen on my Pedersoli-built Pennsylvania Rifle. Since I'm color-blind, rehardening it myself wasn't an option. I found it just as cheap to by a new one from Dixie Gun Works as it would be to pay someone to reharden the old one. IMHO

 

[NORD]

Thanks for all the information guys!

I think I am going to buy a replacement frizzen and frizzen screw just to be on the safe side. :thumbsup:

 

[rudy parnell]

Good idea.

 

[juancho]

I have a Ped pensylvania, and had worn my frizen to the point that it was not sparking all that well anymore.Bougth two spares and refinished the old one and sent it for case hardening to max depth max hardness.Since I use this heat treat place very offen for work, he didn't charge me for that.
After that the old one outperformes any new one.
It would be nice if they came like that from the factory, but is not all that difficult or expensive to take care of that yourself.

 

[bingo1952]

I use pretty much the same method as you are except that I have found that opening the frizzen and then putting on the clamp and just snugging it down and then closing the frizzen keeps me from overcompressing the spring. Ask me how I know this. :wink:

 

[roundball]

You're right on the money...I've actually evolved to that as well...tip it back far enough so the cam depresses the spring as much as it can then clamp it, close the frizzen again...just need to take tension off the screw so it'll back out.

Some might think that's a lot of extra effort but as you know it only adds 3-4 minutes to the cleaning process...I just hate the thought of putting up a muzzleloader with any amount of BP residue on it what-so-ever

 

[LRB]

L&R, Chambers, and Davis frizzens are NOT high alloy, oil hardening steel. They are 1095 steel. A simple shallow hardening steel, and although listed as a water hardening steel, should be oil hardened in a heated thin oil quench, or you run a high risk of it cracking. The lock internals are of 01 tool steel, which is a deep hardening, high alloy, abrasion resistant, oil quench steel. Although 1095 is a shallow hardening steel, it will through harden in something as thin as a frizzen, if brought up to a proper heat with a few moments of soak time before quench. 1500°, to 1525°, being ideal. That heat is a noticable shade of color beyond non-magnetic.