Traditions/Ardessa

[fraungie]

I got a great deal on this rifle. It was in with some other stuff. It appears to be a Traditions Frontier rifle, 50 caliber flintlock. I cleaned it up and it looks like it was never fired. The frizzen looks like new. I think I put more scratches on it trying to get it to spark. I solved that problem with a shorter flint. I took the lock off got the touch hole liner out. cleaned it out well. I took the ram rod out and was having a hard time putting it back in. I got it back into the thimbles now I can't get it out. I am concerned with breaking it. Any suggestions? and what would be a good product to put on the touch hole threads to keep it from sticking? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Jim Evans]

Use one of these on the touch hole liner


As for the ramrod, remove the barrel and see if the ramrod retainer spring is messed up.

 

[TreeMan]

There is a retaining spring under the barrel mounted in the stock that holds the ramrod in place. It’s probably in upside down. Take the barrel out of the stock and look for it. Take it out and put it in correctly. It may need bent a little to reduce the tension.

 

[Jim Evans]

Here is what the ramrod retainer spring looks like

 

[crgator]

What TreeMan said. When I built my Traditions Frontier, I had put the spring in upside down. Took the barrel off, reversed the spring, and now it works like a charm.

 

[fraungie]

Thank you so very much. I will let you know how I make out.

 

[fishmusic]

Use one of these on the touch hole liner
View attachment 131926

As for the ramrod, remove the barrel and see if the ramrod retainer spring is messed up.

If the ramrod retaining spring is in upside down it will catch the ramrod.

 

[deermanok]

You should first unscrew the lock bolt, that will let the retaining spring drop free so you can remove the ramrod.

 

[Kansas Jake]

When I take the lock off a Traditions or Ardesa for cleaning I only pull the lock screw out enough to get the lock out and then put some masking tape over the screw head to hold it and that darn ramrod spring in place. It saves a bunch of aggravation when reassembling the gun.

 

[deermanok]

When I take the lock off a Traditions or Arsenal for cleaning I only pull the lock screw out enough to get the lock out and then put some masking tape over the screw head to hold it and that darn ramrod spring in place. It saves a bunch of aggravation when reassembling the gun.

That's a good idea. I always end up tipping the stock some kinda way and that screw falls out onto the floor along with the spring.

 

[fraungie]

When I take the lock off a Traditions or Ardesa for cleaning I only pull the lock screw out enough to get the lock out and then put some masking tape over the screw head to hold it and that darn ramrod spring in place. It saves a bunch of aggravation when reassembling the gun.

Thank you all so very much. I put the ramrod in after the lock was removed. Because of the brass nose cap I could nt take the barrel out. I slid the nose cap up and still could not get the barrel off. I could not get the thimbels off the under rib barrel. I ended up cutting the ram rod in half. Every thing came apart and I got the spring and ramrod out.I would have replaced it any way. I never bought a muzzle loader yet with a descent ram rod. First one I bought witk a spring to hold the ram rod in, Thanks again. I hope it shoots well. It really throws a shower of sparks, Thanks again for all the help.