How many shots per flint

How many shots should I expect to get out of a
rifle flint? I haven't had any luck re-knapping the
edge. How do I tell if the frizzen on my large
Siler lock is hard enough?

On my large Siler I expect to get at least 40 to 50 shots per flint with some going over 100 shots.
That's with the black English flints.

Took me awhile to get the hang of knapping a flint, too. It comes with a little practice.

They say if you can't knick it with a file that the frizzen is hardened. Haven't put that to the test myself. If it's sparking well it's probably hardened right.

If the frizzen is hard enough a file will skate across the face of it and not leave any marks if it leaves marks it needs hardening.

The black English flint currently in my Great Plains has over 80 shots on it. The one I had in before this split in two after 5 shots. Most go 50 to 60 in my particular lock.

The only flinter I own so far is an Austin & Halleck. Like Bill, I generally get about 50 shots per English black flint. A couple have gone 70-100 shots.

From the Silers I get from Jim Chambers I usually get 60 to 100 shots per flint, just depends on the flint & lock. The regular large Silers are easier on flints than the Deluxe or Golden Age locks, in my experience. However the Deluxe & GA locks normally give more sparks per shot because they hit the frizzen harder.

For years I had trouble knapping, & then realized it was because I was waiting too long to knap the flint. Now I knap one soon as it starts to dull or about every 5-10 shots. I don't let it get very dull, as then when ya knap it big flakes come off or it could shatter as it takes more force to knap it.

:thumbsup:

I generally can go to the range twice with one new flint installed. If you aren't getting 50 shots per flint something is wrong. Your flint should be shaving a tiny amount of metal off of the frizzen, not striking it head on.

I've never seen a "shower" of sparks off of the frizzen on my rifle as I've heard from some other folks. You only need a few good sparks right into the pan.

I haven't seen a modern made flintlock that needed the frizzen rehardened.

In a properly tuned flintlock, with Black English Flints, I expect to get 80-100 shots per flint. Sometimes you find a void in a flint that no one, including the flint knapper who made the flint can possibly know about in advance. Those things will shorten the life of your flints.

I have an article on Shooting and Tuning Flintlocks. It can be found under " articles " at the top of the index page to this forum, under Member Resources. It will give you information on how a lock should be tuned.

As for knapping a flint, just lift the frizzen up, so that the edge of the flint will strike the bottom of the face of the frizzen- the Achilles Heel, if you compare the frizzen to a human foot-- and hold the frizzen in place with the outside edge of your left thumb. Then, cock the hammer back to full cock and pull the trigger. The flint will strike this lowest spot on the heel, chipping off a straight-across, even and square to the frizzen line of flint, sharpening the flint, and removing any metal filings or chips that were clogging the edge before you do this trick. Knapping tools take off WAY TOO MUCH flint edge, and shorten the life of your flint because of that. They also don't give you a flat edge across the width of the frizzen. The smoother the frizzen face, the more sparks you are going to get from your flint. If ruts, or gouges, or chatter marks show up on the face, the angle that the flint is striking the frizzen IS WRONG! and it needs to be changed. It should hit at about 60-66% above the bottom of the frizzen, and at a 60 degree angle to the face. That give you the optimum shaving of steel by the flint edge, from the face of the frizzen to give you lots of sparks, throw them quickly into the pan, and give you a new edge on the flint for the next shot.

PM me if you want help in tuning your lock.

I use Mr. Vallandigham's method for knapping the flint on my rifle and it works like a charm. I got over 120 shots from my last flint. I use Tom Fuller black flints and a Large Siler lock on my .50 caliber Cabin Creek Yorktown.

I use Mr. Vallandigham's method for knapping the flint on my rifle and it works like a charm.

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Yup! Been there - do that.

The British Army during the Rev war shipped tons of bullets, powder, and flints to their armies in the field. They counted on 15 to 18 bullets per flint in a Brown Bess musket. With my Bess I often go a whole parade box of 24 rounds on one flint, but most times I have to change on the march. The flints I pull out I clean, maybe re-knapp and usually use in the next parade.

Hey guys, Thanks for all of the advice. This is my first flinter and I'm still learning the ropes.

The best English flints come from Brandon in suffolk .www.brecks.org/shared/pdfs/AxetoFlintleaflet.pdf