Looking to get back into muzzleloading again and naturally, because I am poor, I am eyeing Traditions guns. However I have heard the locks on Traditions flinters can be hit or miss in quality and often require work to bring them up to snuff. Is this in fact the case?
Traditions Locks
- Thread starter AtlatlMan
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I have 5 Traditions flintlocks. I bought all of them new. Two of them, the trapper pistol and hawken rifle, I had a real problem getting decent spark right out of the box. I changed the frizzens on both and had no more problems. The other three rifles have worked well from day one. In my opinion some of the Traditions flintlocks have improperly hardened frizzens and if you get one of those you'll have trouble.
Fortunately a new frizzen for them is under $30, but it does suck to have to change parts on a new rifle. I haven't had any other problems with the locks through a few thousand shots.
Fortunately a new frizzen for them is under $30, but it does suck to have to change parts on a new rifle. I haven't had any other problems with the locks through a few thousand shots.
Frizzen replacement I can deal with. I had read about some having to completely disassemble the lock and do some filing, and that is more work then I'd like to put in. The Trapper in particular seems to be a bit jank from what I've seen for some reason, might just be sample bias. I had thought about picking up one as a kit and de farbing it.
Are all Traditions locks sized for 5/8 flints?
Hermanoshawken
36 Cal.
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Hello. The lock that Ardesa (Traditions) puts on the Pennsylvania rifle is the best of the ones they make, as it has a wider frizzen and the lock has a fly and bridle. He also uses that same lock on the "Pirate" model pistol, but on said pistol he does not place either a fly or a bridle. It also uses that lock in the modern designs of the Pennsylvania carbine that is intended for use with Pyrodex or other substitutes for black powder, which do not exist here in Spain. Spare parts being very cheap, I recommend putting a bridle and fly on all models, for example on Kentucky rifles and pistols, as this improves the gun and makes it possible to fine tune the trigger much more. Cordial greetings from Spain.
A friend of mine gave me a flintlock Trapper pistol. I've only fired it 20 or 30 times but it went off every single time and I'm a total amateur when it comes to flintlocks.
Is the Pirate model no longer manufactured, or at least no longer exported? I can't find anyone in the US that sells it anymore.
hanshi
Cannon
More than likely yours will perform fine out of the box. But if there's a problem you have plenty of help right here on the forum.
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I can only speak of the Trapper that I have and since I replaced the frizzen soon after I got it due to the poor spark problem I talked about earlier it's become probably my most reliable flintlock. Very seldom does it misfire and it's also very easy on flints. Several times I've gotten over 100 shots out of a flint with it and I'd guess the average flint life is 75+ shots. Nothing has been done to the lock other than the frizzen change.
The Trapper pistol and the 4 Traditions rifles I have (Deerhunter, Hawken, Mountain and Kentucky) all use the same #1721 friizzen and 5/8 flints. However my son has a Traditions Pennsylvania rifle and it uses a different #1722 frizzen and 3/4 flints.
I recently acquired a Traditions Shenandoah rifle. I haven't shot it yet, but the spark is very generous. My go-to rifle is a CVA Mountain Rifle with a Colerain barrel. CVA was made in Spain from the same company that now makes the Traditions. I eventually took the lock apart and polished all the bearing surfaces with the result that the trigger pull on the front trigger is so light that I removed the rear "set" trigger. It was not that hard to do. Just make sure not to lose the fly, although that is not really needed for a single trigger (it IS for a set trigger).
As far as converting to flint, I believe that the drum is made to thread into the off side of the breech plug, unless that has been changed. The result is that you can't just screw a vent in its place. I understand that CVA actually hacksawed the drum off lfush with the barrel flat to make the vent for their flintlocks. The lock plates for both the flint and percussion are the same so there should be no problem changing ignition once the vent problem has been addressed.
As far as converting to flint, I believe that the drum is made to thread into the off side of the breech plug, unless that has been changed. The result is that you can't just screw a vent in its place. I understand that CVA actually hacksawed the drum off lfush with the barrel flat to make the vent for their flintlocks. The lock plates for both the flint and percussion are the same so there should be no problem changing ignition once the vent problem has been addressed.
