Flints keep shattering

[Thunder14]

Hi, hopefully someone can tell me what’s is going on,I keep shattering flints.I gap them 1/32 to 1/16 at half cock hammer, they are strait. I am using the T/C flints until get to Dixons for better ones but still they should not be shattering sometimes on the first shot.Im sure its me doing something wrong do to I’m new to the flintlocks.Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Zonie]

Most likely, it is not you that is causing the problem.

You didn't say what kind of gun your shooting but if it is a TC Hawken with the old original lock on it, the lock is the problem.

That first lock which was used on all but the guns built at the end of production was notorious for smashing flints.

The lock in the picture below shows the old style lock.
Notice the area right above the screw that holds the cock onto the tumbler. It has a relieved area that gives the cock an "S" shape.

Old-TC-Lock by James, on Flickr

TC revised the cock to fill in that lower relief ending up with a shape that looks more like a blob with the smaller shank of the cock coming out of it. They changed the angle the flint has with the frizzen to give the flint a more "slicing" attack rather than a head long "bashing" attack on the frizzen. They also changed the frizzen to work with the new cock.

For a while, TC would rework existing locks to replace these two parts but then S&W bought them and they stopped all of their support for the TC sidelock guns. They no longer make sidelock rifles.

I haven't seen anyone marketing replacement cocks and frizzens but maybe someone here will know where they can be found.

 

[rich pierce]

Can put a shim under the back of the flint to angle it down. Use a match stick.

 

[azmntman]

I believe the flint should strike frizzen about 2/3 way down and at an angle of 55-60 degrees.

Is this correct flinter experts? :idunno:

 

[Thunder14]

Hi Jim,Thank you once again for the help.Im going to Dixons tomorrow to get a new frizzed and better English or French flints.

 

[Thunder14]

Ok we will play around with the angle of the flint. Thanks

 

[Thunder14]

Ok we will look at the angle and adjust.Thank you

 

[jdw276]

Hope you are taking your rifle with you. Maybe someone would take a look after you get the new flints and give a quick piece of education if warranted.

 

[54ball]

In the late 18th Century Early 19 th many locks by design tended to bash flints. Example..... the M.1805 US pistol and the replicas there of.
One of the best if not the best production lock made today, the Chambers Late Ketland can bash a flint. It hits hard and nearly straight on.
Maybe it's just the time period. :hmm:
You can play with flint angle like Rich suggests. Good advice.

One thing that helped tre when the Ketland started bashing flints, ploshing the frizzen.
Some fine emery cloth especially smoothing out the chatter marks helped tremendously. Flint life improved greatly.
Too... there was a learning curve.

Now, you need the new cock with the new frizzen and it may not be a simple swap.

Guys have shot old TC s for years before the improvement.

Another option is a new drop in lock from L &R.
Before I tried to soup up an old TC, I would consider that option.
Before that I would play around with seeing what this lock likes. Real flints will tell a lot.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Hi Jim,Thank you once again for the help.Im going to Dixons tomorrow to get a new frizzed and better English or French flints.

If it's not too late, take the lock with you. Someone may have a fix or replacement that can help you. BTW, I have never heard a good comment about the 'flints' sold by TC.

 

[azmntman]

Flint sold by TC are awesome and spark forever in all locks.

 

[azmntman]

Cant say that no mo :blah:

***(I too dont find TC flints to be near as good as any others I have tried)

 

[Rifleman1776]

Flint sold by TC are awesome and spark forever in all locks.

Interesting to hear. I'm pretty well fixed for flints right now but the TCs might be worth experimenting with.

 

[Zonie]

I think we need a good "tongue in cheek" smilie.

That "wink" smilie doesn't quite cut it. Especially when someone forgets to add it to their post. :hmm:

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Have you tried knapping your own flints and harvesting flint from the wild?

Many here do so with great success apparently.

 

[M. De Land]

I had trouble getting a match grade, brand new flint pistol, that would not spark for sour apples, to work. After trying several changes to the frizzen, main spring and sear, I finally heated up and bent the cock forward several degrees to make it contact the flint to frizzen a bit farther down and "whalla" plenty of sparks.
It probably was an accumulation of all the factors done to the gun but things really came together when the cock was bent forward a couple of degrees.
I knapp my own flints and prefer them to any I have bought from TOTW. I've not tried any others.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I had trouble getting a match grade, brand new flint pistol, that would not spark for sour apples, to work. After trying several changes to the frizzen, main spring and sear, I finally heated up and bent the cock forward several degrees to make it contact the flint to frizzen a bit farther down and "whalla" plenty of sparks.
It probably was an accumulation of all the factors done to the gun but things really came together when the cock was bent forward a couple of degrees.
I knapp my own flints and prefer them to any I have bought from TOTW. I've not tried any others.

Congrats on that M.D. :applause:
However, a lot of folks do not have the expertise to diagnose, or correct, an incorrect cock angle. Personally, I find making flints impossible. I have tried and only end up with a lot of chips and cut fingers. Tom Fuller and Gunter Stifter are two of the most important people in my life avocation though I have never met either one of them.

 

[M. De Land]

What expertise, I just kept trying stuff until it finally worked! :rotf:
Sent it back first but it didn't change a bit when I got it back. In desperation necessity became the mother of invention and some of that invention was a lesson in what never to do again. :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Zonie]

Have you tried knapping your own flints and harvesting flint from the wild?

Many here do so with great success apparently.

I wouldn't know a flint if it reached up and bit me so, it's probably not surprising that I haven't tried knapping one to make a "flint".

I've seen a lot of volcanic lava, quartz, granite, petrified wood and some "Apache tears" ( obsidian ). I recognize these.

I've also seen rocks and whole mountains plus my fireplace made out of sandstone.

I've also seen a whole bunch of red rocks, gray rocks, tan rocks, white rocks, black rocks and even some rocks with copper veins in them but I don't think any of these would made anything that would knap into something that would make a frizzen spark.

That's why I'm not a great believer in the old,

"You can just find flints all over the place.
Just reach down and grab some rocks to keep your flinter shooting. Flints are just laying around so you will never have to worry about having a flint for shooting your flintlock."

I suspect many of the people that say things like this don't know a flint from a piece of sandstone.

 

[Zonie]

Have you tried knapping your own flints and harvesting flint from the wild?

Many here do so with great success apparently.

I wouldn't know a flint if it reached up and bit me so, it's probably not surprising that I haven't tried knapping one to make a "flint".

I've seen a lot of volcanic lava, quartz, granite, petrified wood and some "Apache tears" ( obsidian ). I recognize these.

I've also seen rocks and whole mountains plus my fireplace made out of sandstone.

I've also seen a whole bunch of red rocks, gray rocks, tan rocks, white rocks, black rocks and even some rocks with copper veins in them but I don't think any of these would make anything that would knap into something that would make a frizzen spark.

That's why I'm not a great believer in the old,

"You can just find flints all over the place.
Just reach down and grab some rocks to keep your flinter shooting. Flints are just laying around so you will never have to worry about having a flint for shooting your flintlock."

I suspect many of the people that say things like this don't know a flint from a piece of sandstone.