Shatterin' Flints?

I built a reproduction, (near as I could figure it), of an 1820s Hawken .54 cal. flintlock from parts I got at Track. I love the gun and it shoots great, but the flints only last about 20-30 rounds, then they shatter. I had filed down the spring to lighten the tension, and I'm not comfortable takin' it down any more. I was wonderin' about heatin' up the frizzin and puttin' more of a curve to it so the flint would be landin' at more of an angle.

I'm sure someone with more experience has delt with this. What's the right solution?

Thanks,
Will

It might be the frizzen spring, not the mainspring. If the frizzen rebounds and smacks the front of the flint, it can break the flint. The frizzen needs to snap open and stay open.

Will - it will help to know:
1) Brand/make of lock
2) Type of hammer - gooseneck or double throat
3) What flints

The answers to above will help. It sounds like the flint is striking too straight on - the fix for that is usually bending the hammer rather than frizzen.

While the springs ??MAY?? be too stout I find that it's usually the "bad" geometry of the lock
that is more often the culprit.
IMO lightening the springs can be a "quick" fix, but more often than not it's bad geometry or bad timing that is more often the cause. Bad geometry can include not only the hammer/flint to frizzen angle, but the frizzen timing might need to be adjusted by re-shaping the frizzen's heel, the part that rides on the spring - if "off" the frizzen won't open properly, including bouncing back as noted above.
FWIW - I've been shooting flinters for better than 45 years, which by no means makes me an "expert" but I do have a lot of experience with many different flinters, all of which have been good quality repros or originals, including a Joe Manton double flinter that had very stiff springs, but didn't eat flints.

As always others mileage WILL vary..

BTW - howdy from your ole stomping ground Durango - we just got 18" of the white stuff here south of town and plenty up in the mtns to help break the drought......

Try thicker or softer leather before you go to all that other trouble.

Hey Chuck,

Thanks for the info, and the update on the home range. Last time I talked with my buddy Dave up on Florida Mesa, (just after Christmas), you guys were still plenty dry in the lower Anamas Valley, but gettin' a pretty good pack in the peaks. Eighteen inches is good news, but by now you probably need over twice that much to come out well in the spring(?).

I'm gonn'a be fine tunin' my lock so I can get out next deer season. Maybe I'll come by Durango and we'll drop some elk.

Will

Will,

Chuck has some good advice here, but before you do anything drastic. Try flipping your flint upside down in the jaws.

Sean

You got your flint bevels down? (edge up) I have found they tend to self destruct this way. When the hit the frizzen, they are striking the same way as when you are flaking off the edge.

Hey guys,

I'm gettin' a lot of good sugestions. Currently, the long flat of the flint is on the bottom, so the angle of the beveled edge is slopin' up and away from the frizzen. The frizzen isn't bouncin' back against the flint after it falls.

First, I'm gonn'a notch-out the back edge of a flint and see if scootin' it back in the jaws will reduce the angle to 60 degrees. If that solves the problem, I'm a happy boy. If not, I'll start workin' on the more involved solutions.

Right now, I've got my hands full with other projects, so the .54 will have to wait its turn. But when I have time to work on it, at least now I know where to start!

Thanks!
Will

Do you know who the lock maker is?

That is kinda unusual, breaking After 20-30 shots. Usually if they are gonna shatter flints they just start breaking them from the get-go.

Now ya say the frizzen is not coming back & hitting the flint ? Usually you cannot see them do this when this is happening. With a slow motion video I have seen them come back & hit a flint 4-5 times per firing. Normally when they start chipping away or breaking the flints after some firing, the frizzen is flopping back & slapping the flint & then the frizzen is going back to the open position.

To remedy this you heat, bend & retemper the end of the frizzen spring so after it cams over it goes just off the edge of that bend to relieve the spring a tad & it will then stay open. You don't want it too much as to where the frizzen flops, but just barely riding on the spring in the all the way ope position. If you look at a Chambers Deluxe Siler you will see the spring on it is already bent this way, and that is because the main spring hits the frizzen so hard in a Deluxe you need that lil bend to keep the frizzen from coming back up & slapping the flint. If ya decide to mess with the spring I would buy an extra one & use it for a gauge & then you can see how far to bend it.

Also insure the flint is not hitting the bottom of the pan, as if it is the flint is too long.

My oldest son was in town last weekend, and wanted to shoot the muzzleloaders. So, I smoothed out the frizzen on the .54, cut a hole in the flint leather, nocked out the rear edge of a new flint and set the flint in the jaws about 3/16" rearward. The flint was striking only about a sixteenth of an inch lower on the frizzen, but it was throwin' a whole lot more sparks.

I only dropped the hammer on it a half dozen times or so, but the flint looks as sharp as when I pulled it out of my flint wallet.

The lock is an Ashmore double throat I picked up at Track. I'm usin' Tom Fuller hand knapped 7/8" flints. I would have to put quite a few more rounds through the rifle before I would know if I've solved the problem. But, I've got plenty of time to work on it before the weather warms up.

Thanks for all the input guys,
Will