Replace battery/steel (aka. frizzen)?

[DaveC]

So the second-hand flintlock .69 caliber French-type frankenmusket I got not too long ago that was breaking flints like mad just broke. Turns out the battery/steel was a weird replacement where the original pan cover was cut-off and retained and then had a piece of hardened steel for the battery portion welded to it. Only the weld wasn't so good and a large void was left in. And that's where it snapped in two!

I know that the battery/frizzen requires no end of tweaking and hand fitting and judicious polishing by a good 'smith... I also know that the battery/frizzen has to be quite hard. Track of the Wolf apparently used to make small runs of cast parts. Dixie has them for the 1777 model French musket and the U.S. Model 1816. There are folks who tune and tweak locks, but they typically do not work with parts or have any parts for that matter.

Is this just a situation where a new lock in its entirety is the only realistic solution? Since frizzens/steels/batteries do wear out every now and then, I'd find it hard to imagine that these are simply unavailable?

I have gotten axes and small knives quite hot in order to quench them in oil and put a keen edge on them, but I frankly don't have the equipment or space or tools to do a soft frizzen in need of hardening. So I'd have to hire skilled labor to do any such work...

What do folks do when a new battery is called for on a flintlock?

 

[rich pierce]

I have a small pile of cast frizzens from which I can usually make something work. Though chancy to work with, The Rifle Shoppe has dozens of frizzens in their catalogue.

When picking one the distance from pivot bolt to frizzen face is the most critical. Then width and height. Then angle.


Without seeing the lock or knowing any dimensions it’s tough to say what may work.

 

[DaveC]

I have a small pile of cast frizzens from which I can usually make something work. Though chancy to work with, The Rifle Shoppe has dozens of frizzens in their catalogue.

When picking one the distance from pivot bolt to frizzen face is the most critical. Then width and height. Then angle.


Without seeing the lock or knowing any dimensions it’s tough to say what may work.

OK. I will measure the portion of the pan cover from the screw/bolt to the end. Basically, if the frizzen is an "L" shape, it now looks like _ l !
I'm in Texas, so maybe I can drive up to Oklahoma some time and pay the new Rifle Shoppe a visit...

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

Something I would add to Rich Pierce's excellent advice is to EXPECT the bottom of the Steel/Frizzen to warp a little during the heat treating process.

I should have thought about that the first time I reworked a Brown Bess Steel/Frizen before spending quite some time fitting the bottom of the Steel to the Top of the Priming Pan so there was almost no light between the parts, BUT after the heat treat, it was pretty wonky again. After that and before heat treatment, I just filed the bottom of the pan flat and so it was in somewhat close agreement with the top of the priming pan. Then after heat treatment, I used Emery Cloth (Sandpaper for Metal) wrapped around a flat file to get the bottom of he Steel/Frizzen flat and THEN fit it to the top of the pan by filing on the pan only.

Oh, besides Dixie and the Rifle Shoppe, there is another place you can get cast replacement Steels that I have used before and recommend, though I don't know where they get the parts from. It is S & S Firearms. I wonder if one of these might get you going?

http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=95S3

or
http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=16S33

or
http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=35S3

Can't remember if I ever used their M1795 Frizzen, but I used their M35/40 once and their M1816 three or four times and was happy with all of them.

Gus

 

[Artificer]

SHUCKS, I should have mentioned that before heat treatment and after I filed the bottom of the Steel flat and in general agreement with the top of the pan, you need to strongly clamp the two parts together and use the hole in the pan as a guide hole to drill the hole in the Steel. Then make sure the threads of the screw align with the lock plate before you harden the Steel.

Gus

 

[DaveC]

Thank you! I actually email S&S in New York. I've had great luck with them in getting stuff from the War of 1812-era and after, and they do make excellent .69 cal. wadcutter Miniés/Burton bullets and other stuff too for Civil War skirmishing and so on.

The U.S. Model 1795 might just work insofar as it was a copy for the most part of the French 1766...

 

[DaveC]

Damper... S&S doesn't have the part... Apparently the U.S. parts will not work either on the Pedersoli lock... I see a factory part from VTI for $105... if in stock...