cannot get my flintlock to ignite the powder

I think I have figured out the problem........

REAL flintlocks do not have coil springs... :hmm:

It's a tension spring not a compression spring. Shortening it a bit, to a point, makes each coil under more tension thus increasing cock strike.Think of a screen door spring with a droop in it and how it won't close the door and then tighten it up, removing the droop so it will close the door. Tightening it puts each coil under more tension. Same deal here.
I can easily wind a new coil spring out of heavier stock around a mandrel in my lathe if this doesn't work out.MD

Good to know. When you get it working you won't believe how much fun you will be having.

You added to your post as I typing. With the screen door spring you are pulling the door closed, with the lock you are not pulling but rather pushing. Does that make a difference? I don't know I'm just asking.

Jim

Good point but this one was designed for a coil spring and if they will work there is no comparison to longevity. I actually have spent some time wondering if I could somehow convert it to a flat V spring which are faster.MD

I have the exact same pistol(caliber and barrel length) in cap lock as well. I really want to get this puppy shooting. First gun I've ever owned for two years and never fired a shot through it.
Always wanted to learn about flintlocks and now have the proper set of circumstances to learn on.
This thinking serves me better than getting PO'd about the deal. MD

"Worst that can happen is I have to order some new parts ..."

Click to expand...

:thumbsup: This is the best spirit to have! Go for it.

But I disagree V springs are faster than coil springs. I also don't exactly agree with your analogy of cutting the coils off to make it stronger. While we are on the subject of bending the cock to meet the frizzen 2/3rds up, is fine. As long as the angle it meets at is nearly 60 degrees, OK. Meeting the frizzen at 90 degrees but still 2/3rds up would not be a good thing.

I will also make another prediction, you didn't get the frizzen too hard.

This lock works on a tension coil cock spring not a compression spring. When I tune revolver actions and need to lighten trigger pulls on compression coil springs I clip coils until I get it right. Tension coils will usually touch one another at rest were as compression coils have to have room to compress and are wound to leave space between the coils.
I make both in my lathe by hand from piano wire wound around a mandrel and tensioned from a feed in the tool post.Compression coil springs are made my determining the coil spacing and gearing up for the equivalent thread, engaging the half-nut and turning the head stock by hand.This will very neatly coil a perfectly spaced compression spring.
When making a tension coil spring one wraps the coils against one another and the gear thread feed is not needed.
Tension springs tightly wound increase coil load as they are pulled apart just as a compression spring loads each coil as it is compressed. MD

Out of curiosity, what kind of gun or lock do you have?

Except for a few underhammers, I've never seen a flint or percussion lock that uses an extension type coil spring to power the tumbler or the sear.

Yazel flint pistol. MD

MD,
I know Mike and own one of his percussion pistols. If the lock is a problem, I'm sure Mike would take care of it. He's one of the good guys.
regards,
Pletch

I did send it back last spring and when it came back it didn't spark any better than before I sent it to be repaired. I need to learn how to work on these anyway so just figure it will be a very good problem to solve and learn something.I am using the English flints from TOTW an am told they are very good.
I'm wondering if perhaps I can just pull the cock off and the frizzen and strike the two by hand at different angles and see if I can get it to spark like a flint and steel. If I can get that to happen then I will know it isn't the frizzen hardness that is the problem.
If it will spark for me in this manor then I will be reasonably sure the frizzen spring geometry is the problem. MD

You can check the hardness of the frizzen by trying to file it.

A sharp, new file should skid across the frizzen leaving at most a minor scratch or bright area.

If the frizzen is too soft the file will bite into it and the flint will do its best to gouge out deep cuts.

At the correct hardness, the flint will scrape off a small amount of steel leaving a visible scratch but not a deep gouge.

It resists a file very well but I did note that where the flint first meets the frizzen it was cutting in a horizontal line clear across.
I stoned and sanded all the scratches and gouges out before I did the third and very thorough Kasnite job on it last week,in my heat treating furnace so I'm sure it is about as hard as I can make it.
I'll eventually get her figure out and find this very humbling as mechanical things usually are quite simple for me. Not so on this rascal :grin: PS It will probably be one of these deals when I finally get it. MD

Like I suggested earlier, you didn't get the frizzen too hard. And if you surfaced the frizzen to remove flint marks, you also removed the Kasenite as it is a very thin layer at best.

I resurfaced and then re-hardened.I'm going to remove both the frizzen and cock from the gun and see if I can get them to spark by hand, if not then I may make a shoe of some spring stock and solder it on the frizzen face and try it again.
I'm going to learn about these buggers no matter how long it takes. :grin: MD