would you have a pic of one that looks as it should after you've knapped it?
I have the totw brown bess knapping tool, would that actually do the job?
To Flintlock or Not?
- Thread starter Suka
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would you have a pic of one that looks as it should after you've knapped it?
I have the totw brown bess knapping tool, would that actually do the job?
I just got into muzzle loading this year i love it !!! i decided to get a flinter so i aquired a .54cal lyman deerstalker it was quite the learning curve had a good teacher!! Takes alot of getting used to. I was flintching alot when i was shooting it,due to the flashing of the pan. Once i got used to the pan flashing it was very accurate. i use ffffg powder in the pan and 120 grains ffg for the charge. As for misfires i shot it about 30 times and it only missfired once this was my fault because i never cleaned the touchhole( should be done every 2nd shot). As for the flint I had to change it out once. Gotta have patients when your doing this stuff. But thats also the joy of black powder !! enjoy 
acey, I think we are at about the same point in the curve and shooting the same gun give or take a few thou in the bore size, Something that I found added an extra tickle was to get it shooting with ffg in the pan. Seems every time it gets simpler it gets more fun.
Don't know if I'd face a line of british bayonets or call in an elk with the ffg prime but it is getting closer.
Don't know if I'd face a line of british bayonets or call in an elk with the ffg prime but it is getting closer.
After a while you don't even see the flash although funnily enough I do see the sparks or lack of sparks if the pan does not fire;
In answer to the question about knapping, I will post a photo tomorrow. I used a agate flint today just for that reason.
cheers mooncoon
Its been a busy week but I finally got off of my bum and took a couple of photos. The first one shows a sawn flint with one end knapped with the brass drift that I use for driving flakes off at that end
The second photo shows the flint from the side with my mallet like short starter and the brass drift (about 3/16" diameter by 3" long). The drift is about the angle that I would drive it at
This particular flint was positioned bevel up because it was too long for the lock geometry. That makes it easier to drive flakes off buy you can drive them off the other way. Its important to only engage the very edge of the flint regardless of what kind it is
cheers mooncoon
Mooncoon thanks for the pics, especially the second angle one. Very helpful.
IMHO 'misfires' are just natures way of improving your shooting, nothing like a gun that doesn't go boom to show you a thing or two. Biggest favour is a few misfires in a row when it does lite up you'll be right on target. Kinda the solo version of your buddy handing you a possibly loaded rifle to ID a flinch. Every cloud.....
IMHO 'misfires' are just natures way of improving your shooting, nothing like a gun that doesn't go boom to show you a thing or two. Biggest favour is a few misfires in a row when it does lite up you'll be right on target. Kinda the solo version of your buddy handing you a possibly loaded rifle to ID a flinch. Every cloud.....
the flint is just one of the standard sawn agate flints you can buy commercially.
I think that most people just tap away at the edge of their flint with the back of a knife or one of those various tiny hammers you can buy. While it does leave a sharp edge, I don't think that it drives flakes off angling back to the bottom of the flint
cheers mooncoon
Saw your post re flintlocks. i have a reproduction "Brown Bess"--75 cal. I would like to try hunting with it but it is unreliable. How do you tune a lock mechanism as mentioned previous?? And what can i do to the frissen to make it more reliable & shower better sparks?? No black powder clubs in my area so any input would be appreciated!
Most reproduction flinters are made in Italy and more or less obviously use italian locks. These locks are made with case hardened mild steel and the case hardening can wear through fairly quickly. Two things which relate to frizzens; one is that after a lot of shooting, they develop ridges or ripples across their surface. Those ridges slow the flint down and reduce or prevent sparking depending on how deep they are. If you grind the surface smooth on a fine 6" wheel, you eliminate that concern. On a mild steel frizzen, you will also have removed the hardened surface that made it spark so that whether ground or not ground, recase hardening the surface with Kasenite should make the surface "sparkable" again. I would use a clock and keep the part red hot with molten Kasenite for at least 3 minutes before quenching. I would also draw the temper to brown before using. I think that a frizzen can be too hard.
Perhaps I should have said that a flint has to be sharp for the frizzen to spark at all, so before all else, use a new flint or knap the old one.
Final suggestion is that if the flint is moving too slowly, it will not spark well. Most of the replica bess locks that I have seen, have had fairly strong mainsprings but if you feel yours is weak, then heat it red hot and open it up a small amount then retemper back to spring temper. That means heating to red hot then quenching in water which will make it brittle hard. Finally warm it and immerse it in molten lead at roughly 720 F to bring it to spring temper. keep it in the lead for 2 or 3 minutes after it appears to have reached temperature. If you don't have a high temperature thermometer, float a THIN piece of steel on the surface of the lead as it is heating up. When the metal goes from dark blue to grey, pull the plug. I would suggest putting the spring in the lead as it is melting so that by the time you have pulled the plug, it should have reached the same temperature as the lead.
hope this helps
Almost forgot; for about $120 or so you can buy a L&R lock which is a close copy of the lock in your gun and replace the italian lock with a quality american one
cheers mooncoon
Perhaps I should have said that a flint has to be sharp for the frizzen to spark at all, so before all else, use a new flint or knap the old one.
Final suggestion is that if the flint is moving too slowly, it will not spark well. Most of the replica bess locks that I have seen, have had fairly strong mainsprings but if you feel yours is weak, then heat it red hot and open it up a small amount then retemper back to spring temper. That means heating to red hot then quenching in water which will make it brittle hard. Finally warm it and immerse it in molten lead at roughly 720 F to bring it to spring temper. keep it in the lead for 2 or 3 minutes after it appears to have reached temperature. If you don't have a high temperature thermometer, float a THIN piece of steel on the surface of the lead as it is heating up. When the metal goes from dark blue to grey, pull the plug. I would suggest putting the spring in the lead as it is melting so that by the time you have pulled the plug, it should have reached the same temperature as the lead.
hope this helps
Almost forgot; for about $120 or so you can buy a L&R lock which is a close copy of the lock in your gun and replace the italian lock with a quality american one
cheers mooncoon
