Bending a Flint "Hammer"

[tumbleweeds13]

Hello gentlemen, I need your help. I have a Pedersoli Harpers Ferry replica flintlock pistol. I'm having a really hard time getting any sort of ignition let alone consistent. I use a good quality flint, but it won't even set off the pan powder. It seems to me that the geometry on the hammer/frizzen relationship is off. My understanding is that the flint should point to the center of the pan when fully down. Mine, (and I think all the Pedersoli Harpers Ferry's) points to the front of the lock plate roughly. The flint meets the frizzen at almost a 90 degree angle as well, which is hard on the flint and frizzen. I was thinking that I need to bend the hammer down, but with the reinforced hammer leg that the Harper's Ferry pistol has, I'm not sure how to approach it. Should I bend just below the double leg or cut away the front leg, bend it and just smooth things out. I'd really like to get this pistol into service. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Wildcat :master:

 

there are a couple ways to go here if bending is the salution. some guys i know cut the front the width of a saw blade bend and re weld, others just work on the jaws and then re tap the jaw screw threads .
maybe i am miss understanding you here though .are you not saying the flint is striking now at a 90 deg angle yet not centering in the pan?
so if you bend it cock up to center in the pan this will place you flint striking at say 95 or 100 deg to the frizzen "not good "
or if you bend it down your flint may strike true but will now end out of the pan "not the best "
is that what you are saying is and would be happening ?
the problem may not be in the cock

 

Wildcat,
Before doing reconstructive surgury to the hammer, take some fairly thick tooling leather to hold the flint and skive it so it is thin at the tip of the bottom jaw and the back of the top jaw. This will angle the flint downward similar to bending the hammer. If this solves your problem then you can decide either to go ahead and bend the hammer or just keep useing the modified leather.

Cody

 

mmmm good idea cody , never thought of that :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Get Pedersoli to fix it for you

 

[gordy]

If this a new purchase item,it would seem that Pedersoli would be glad to make the correction.They(Pedersoli)charge somewhat higher retail prices for Their products than other production replicas such as T.C.,Traditions,Deer Creek and others.Even if it were a used gun They should be glad to assist You with information on how to correct the problem.I have never owned a Pedersoli product but those that I've handled seemed to be well made and of good finish. :imo: ::

 

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh nope wrong ooooooo, don

 

[robinghewitt]

Post deleted by Squire Robin

 

Robin, your device is good but the hammer in question is a double throat reenforced type and the device will not work on this type.

This lock has an engineering flaw that has never been corrected and the flint often throws the sparks well outside the pan.

The most common "fix" is to saw a slot at the front of the throat opening, removing enough metal to line up the flint. Press the circle closed again, with the flint at the proper angle, and weld or soulder the throat closed.

You can do the cut and bend, even if you cannot weld, and take the hammer to a shop that does tig welding for the weld. Should be easy enough to clean up.

A replacement hammer is not available that corrects this problem, that I know of. The hammer Pedersolli sends you will be a duplicate of the one you have. They are all like this! It is a design flaw.

:sorry:

 

[robinghewitt]

Robin, your device is good but the hammer in question is a double throat reenforced type and the device will not work on this type.

Okay, I'll delete it ::

 

[tumbleweeds13]

Thanks gentlemen, I appreciate your input. Ghost is right. The situation is a design flaw from the original guns. Since Pedersoli does an exact copy, the design flaw carries over to us. I did as suggested, (cut the front leg heated and bent and then brazed the front leg again). Just have to clean it up and try it out, but everything looks good. The flint now strikes the frizzen at a much better angle and it points directly at the center of the pan. Once again, thanks to all for their suggestions.
Wildcat :master: eace:

 

[Tim]

From my own experience you want the flint to strike the frizzen as close to 120 degrees as possible when measured from the bottom of the flint to the face of the frizzen. Another way to think of this is your flint's edge is trying to shave off a piece of the frizzen not gouge out a chunk. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Rebel]

Same here. When it comes to customer support you can forget Pedersoli. Been there, done that. No results.

 

You want you flint to cut not hammer the frizzen. The flint should strike at less then 90 deg to the frizzen and about 3/4 of the way up the face. If you let the cock down slowly you should feel the flint scrape the frizzen and end up pointing into the pan. Center is ideal but I have had some that strike the frizzen true but end up at about 3/4 pan, that

 

[tumbleweeds13]

Hello again gentlemen, Well I got to the range on the weekend, and I'm tickled pink with the results of my little project. Before, it wouldn't ignite the pan powder at all. Now, it fires every single time. I put about 40 balls through it and not a single misfire. Thanks again for your help. Happy trails.
Wildcat