flint and frizzen

[Tin sandwich]

picked up a flintlock pistol at a pawn shop. dont know nothing about it. i know percushion BP but this is new to me. my research tells me i need a flint and possibly a frizzen as this one seems scored up pretty good. idk it may be normal wear.ive dissassembled it . it was heavily rusted and now is soaking in aerokroil. how do i know what kind of frizzen and flint i need ? the lock seems strong and operates as it should i think. the wood seems heavily soiled with not much finish left. dont know the caliber either. was cool looking.

 

[TDM]

Got any photos?

 

[waarp8nt]

Take some pictures and post them. It will help folks determine what you need to do.

 

[wiscoaster]

Don't spend money on a new frizzen until you get the lock cleaned up and a new flint and leather installed, and you can see if it sparks or not.

 

[tenngun]

Just as wide as your frizzen and when wrapped in thin leather just short of the frizzen on half cock

 

[Commodore Swab]

Cherry red will harden most any frizzen IF it needs it. Strong springs tend to destroy flints, the new cheaper ones as found at kibler and veteran arms tend to hold up best.

 

[Tin sandwich]

Ill get some pics up after i clean it up ..... dont know what leather is for .

 

[TDM]

Ill get some pics up after i clean it up ..... dont know what leather is for .

A leather wrap around the flint allows the jaws to fully tighten and secure the flint.

 

[Tin sandwich]

Aaaaah gotcha !

 

[Rifleman1776]

Judging from the beautiful wood, I would surmise you might have a quality lock on that gun. Don't do anything with the frizzen until you get some flints and try it. If they spark and ignite you are good to go. However, wear on the frizzen is normal. It ain't a sin to sand the face a little smooth about once every two decades or so.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Judging from the beautiful wood, I would surmise you might have a quality lock on that gun. Don't do anything with the frizzen until you get some flints and try it. If they spark and ignite you are good to go. However, wear on the frizzen is normal. It ain't a sin to sand the face a little smooth about once every two decades or so.

Oops! Those pics weren't your post or gun. Advice unchanged however.

 

[TDM]

Oops! Those pics weren't your post or gun. Advice unchanged however.

It is a pretty lock.

 

[Tin sandwich]

Ill post pics later today as gun is still in parts .a few question first , should i purchase a mainspring vise and is it even necessary to disassemble whole lock ? Also what info should i provide because im sure ill need parts " flints, leather possibly a frizzen " i have no info on this gun .

 

[wiscoaster]

You mentioned it was pretty well rusted. Complete disassembly would be best. Yes, get a mainspring vise. Since it's a pistol, also get a frizzen spring vise. I found that a mainspring vise is too large to use on the smaller frizzen spring on a pistol.

 

[Tin sandwich]

Frizzen is 3/4 wide . Inside barrel diameter looks like .481 ... frizzen looks bad . I know ill need leather and flint to shoot it . Where would i locate the right frizzen ? Springs look good . It cocks and locks . Inside barrel has some gouges near the muzzle but otherwise clean inside . I put alot of elbow grease in this one .

 

[wiscoaster]

To be brutally honest, your lock looks in really great shape. Including the frizzen. At this point, based on your pics, I wouldn't do any more until I found out how well it sparks. Your bore is another matter altogether, again, based on just the one pic. But that bore appears to need some serious and aggressive polishing. It probably needs recrowning, too, but I'm a little concerned that gouge will affect your accuracy anyway. But, hey, if it's just to shoot for fun, maybe you don't really want to put that much work into it. It isn't going to affect function.

 

[BEP]

Must be missing something here. I don't see a problem with that frizzen. Those grooves were put there at the factory with the intention ( I think) of making that frizzen spark better. Don't know if it works or not but I've seen that feature on several different models of flintlock locks over the years. I know you're trying to be proactive but your best course of action is to try that lock with a proper fitting knapped flint held in place by leather as described in several above posts and see what happens. If you see a good shower of sparks you're looking for a solution to a problem that isn't there. Good luck.

 

[Tin sandwich]

Yes im just going to shoot for fun .... internet search indicated a worn out frizzen would have a " washboard " look . Im taking yalls advice and see if it sparks first . Question , so im needing a 3/4 inch british style flint ? Does thickness matter ? Also , how should i go about polishing the bore ?

 

[BEP]

That "washboard" look would go across the frizzen, not from top to bottom and doesn't necessarily mean a worn-out frizzen, just a well used one - often with a lot of life left in it.

 

[wiscoaster]

...? Also , how should i go about polishing the bore ?

There's at least a couple threads here discussing it - just use the search function. Also multiple YouTube videos. I'd recommend the one by duelist1954 if you want to look for that in particular. Track of the Wolf has flints and leathers. You can email them to find out what you need. They're also sold on ebay. But I'd stick with either English flints or French flints. Be sure to post pics when your "project" is done!!