• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Economy is

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Apr 4, 2010
Messages
973
Reaction score
370
So if a flint is good for 20 average shots and they sell for 2 to 2.50 per flint ... this is from8 to 10 bucks per 100 flash's whereas caps sell for 6.50 for 100 and cheaper for quantity and i get ignition EVERY TIME with no flash in the pan
 
Some flints can be turned around, real flints can be knapped and sharpened again, Learn to knapp and you can pick up a rock and make a flint for free.
 
Percussion also uses two to three grains of powder less per shot, but I fail to see the point. I don't shoot a rock lock because it is cheaper. If I wanted cheap I'd shoot an air rifle. I shoot a flintlock because it is way sexier, I enjoy the challenge and the 1700s interest me more than the 1800s. Percussion is a superior ignition history has already shown that, but agin if I wanted better I'd shoot cartridges and smokeless. We all have different reasons for why we shoot what we shoot no one is wrong or better unless of course it isn't a flintlock :blah:
 
bigted said:
So if a flint is good for 20 average shots and they sell for 2 to 2.50 per flint ... this is from8 to 10 bucks per 100 flash's whereas caps sell for 6.50 for 100 and cheaper for quantity and i get ignition EVERY TIME with no flash in the pan
Twenty shots out of one flint? That isn't very many. What's going on here? How come your flints don't last for forty or fifty shots, or more? :confused:
 
I agree if you are only getting twenty shots per flint, there is a problem with the lock.
 
Eric Krewson said:
I get a lot more than 20 shots out of a flint.

Same here, but it varies with the source of the flint and with my methods. I expect to get something north of 50 shots from most flints. If a new source can't match that, I switch "brands."
 
I shoot flint because I am from PA and our late season requires it. I could warm up to cap's if we were allowed to use them. Flint is quite expensive now but I bought a 100 pc. bag 20 years ago and they were much cheaper. I doubt I will use them all before I go to the happy hunting ground.

The old TC locks ate flint rather quickly but the newer hammer/frizzen lock is not nearly as bad and sparks better too. The Lyman lock I have is pretty good to for a coil spring lock. I don't count but would guess 40 shots per flint would be a fair estimate. I use the bottom of the frizzen to knap real flint if it needs it. I do shoot agate a lot and wish I had bought a bunch of those when they were much cheaper. I do like agate.
 
I’ve had a cap or two fail to go off over the years. And more then one cap fail to set off the charge or give me a hang fire. Caps ain’t fool proof as this fool can prove.
I’ve had flints shatter, but in general I get more like fifty shots from one. And living where chert grows wild I get a few free flints every year.
I go out to a general range pretty often, and I’ve seen folks with the scary looking non assault non automatic guns that go by funky sounding names. In a few minutes they toss a hundred dollars down range. I’m thinking my rock in the lock is still cheaper.
 
Ok so it were a cheap shot, and i admit it. Was curious at how many shots i should be getting with my RE Davis old English lock. Seems like im not getting that many shots with the track of the wolf flints (English) that i bought.

Iim a very new newby to flintlock and just casting about for answers to stuff. There is def a learning curve here and at 61 years old i think sometimes my thinker is getting harder and harder to get new stuff to sink in.
 
So if a flint is good for 20 average shots and they sell for 2 to 2.50 per flint ... this is from8 to 10 bucks per 100 flash's whereas caps sell for 6.50 for 100 and cheaper for quantity and i get ignition EVERY TIME with no flash in the pan

My flints in just my bess, last at least 70-100 shots. My rifle, the flints can last the same, since it has better geometry, but then again the flints are smaller too, so if they wear at the same rate, they are spent sooner. I also bought my flints in bulk, so I'm not paying $2.50 for a rifle flint.

The cheapest I can get my caps, and that's buying 1000 at a time, is $6.50 per hundred. Then I have to store them where moisture wont damage them. Drop the cap on the damp ground or into the snow, gone. Funny thing about a rock..., it never goes bad. Have a buddy who ordered some original Bess flints from IMA coming out of Nepal. Almost two centuries old and still spark.

Who said a flinter was more economic than a caplock anyway? It's more economic than a modern BP firearm that uses a substitute for black powder, a shotgun primer, and a sabot bullet...by far.

LD
 
If all your getting is 20 shots out of a flint then your lock needs a doctor. Alot of my flints have gotton 80 to 100 or so shots. Learn your lock. It will tell you what kind, position an bevel up or down that it favors. To do this you have got to burn some powder an plenty of it. It takes awhile but really improves one's confidence in your guns lock KNOWING its gonna go off no matter what
 
good sawn (agate usually) flints should be in the conversation- the most readily available being the TC "Premium" ones.

They are easily good for 250 shots. They are also somewhat easier to knap in some ways, though I just use a coarse diamond stone when I get home.

One of the biggest disservice to BP shooting is the nearly complete lack of info on how to properly keep a sharp flint. Learning to keep a sharp flint eliminates 99.9% of flintlock woes people have.
 
I have kept flints for 100 shots (just to show it can be done). Most often I have no real count and just go by looks.

If I get less than 60 on a flint I am disappointed. 15 & check or knap as needed, 30 & flip. Then repeat. If it gets short put a piece of twig behind it in the jaws.

Then it goes into a jar in case I have to stretch more use or freshen it for a smaller lock. ;-)

Parsimonious - that's me.
 
2nd vote for track of the wolf's flints. Never buying them again.

The ones I got from the dixons fair easily last me 70 shots in a 1990s lyman GPR. Tracks 20 is the average. Some 30 a few 10. And they don't knap too well, look milky, and fracture deep.
 
Wood Crafter's has diamond files, stone's. But I would imagine any knife shop would have one.

I have one about the size of credit card, that I bought at Wood Crafters. Great for sharpening, axes, knives, wood working tools, etc.

Mine is just diamond dust on a piece of metal, that has the feel of sand paper.
 
Back
Top