Bouncing Frizzin; No Sparks

[Ray-Vigo]

Having trouble with a Siler lock on a pistol project - not getting much in the way of sparks and breaking flints. Also having the frizzin bounce back rather than staying open. The frizzin surface turns away a file so it seems pretty hard. Flints do not make deep gouges in the frizzin (actually seems to be very minimal wear even after using it a bit).

Any thoughts on these issues? Is the frizzin too hard? What about a fix for having the frizzin bounce rather than stay put in the open position after firing?

 

[hawkeye2]

The frizen bouncing back could be what is breaking the flints. If the flint were tilted down too much it could be striking on the top front edge of the flint which will break the edge off but that isn't likely with the lock you have. I was tuning a troublesome Italian lock many years ago and bent the cock too far ending up with that situation.

 

[Davemuzz]

Is your flint bevel on the down side of the jaws, or the upside? If on the downside then flip it. You will get the flint to hit the frizzen up higher and (maybe) allow the frizzen to stay open.

 

[MSW]

surprising that a Siler lock would have this problem - they usually have an excellent reputation; all of mine are very solid. Your situation may be driven by the orientation of the flint. In the 'perfect world' (insert hysterical laughter here) the flint edge should be about an eighth to a sixteenth of an inch from the frizzen face with the lock at half cock, and the flint should hit the frizzen surface squarely about two thirds of the way from the base, or heel, of the frizzen.

Unfortunately, this is often just a sort of 'starting point,' and you will have to tinker with your setup. If it's not sparking at all, and the face is hard (it sounds as though this is the case), I would suspect that the angle of the flint is wrong. Try turning the flint over (bevel up vs. bevel down). Sometimes, you may have to adjust the flint front to back, which might involve cutting into the flint leather so you can back up the flint, or advancing the flint towards the frizzen.

If none of this works, you might want to contact Jim or Barb Chambers. If they made the lock, they will definitely make it right and if not, they may be able to provide some good suggestions as to how to fix your problem.

Good luck with your project!

 

[Dane]

There are a lot of "Siler" locks. The quality depends mainly on who assembled the lock.
If it's a Chambers lock, call them. If not, try to find out who's it is. They should warranty it.

 

[Scota4570]

Did somebody weaken the frizzen spring?

It also should cam over pretty soon in the travel. Siler geometry should be good as made though

Try sanding horizontal lines into the frizzen with coarse sandpaper or a diamond file to get more sparks. Is the flint new and sharp? Dress the edge and make it sharp.

 

[Vaino]

My first build had a small Siler and the first thing I noticed was that flint length was ultra critical and the cock in the half cock position didn't allow a long enough flint....after some flint wear or knapping, the frizzen wouldn't toggle over.

I finally manually ran the cock down w/ the flint point at the bottom of the frizzen, marked the toe position on the frizzen spring and w/ a small grinding wheel in a Dremel, ground a .010 high "hump" or cam on the frizzen spring. The high point of the "hump" was at the mark. Haven't had any trouble after that.

Later on I read an article that the small Siler's half cock position didn't allow a long enough flint. Don't know if Chambers corrected this later on. His new Deluxe Siler allows a much longer flint to be used VS the original large Siler.

No sparks might be caused by a frizzen that's too hard......or a dull flint....Fred