Tom Fuller English flints?

[iainofulva]

Are Tom Fuller English flints good?

Thanks!

Jon

 

[Rebel]

Yes they are. You can get them from Track Of the Wolf, or from October Country for probably the best prices.

 

Yes

 

[musketman]

Chipped Black English Flint from Brandon England are the most popular and the most traditional flints available. These flints come from the same cliff that was used in the 1700's...

Track of the Wolf states: "Tom Fuller's English Gun Flints are the best in the world!"

 

[iainofulva]

Those were quick and decisive replies..

Followup.. what size flint would some of you recommend for an L&R? I've heard 5/8" and 3/4". Track of the wolf has a good article on sizing flints for your rifle (and even use an L&R for illustrative purposes), but if extensive field testing and experience dictate some other size, I'd rather go with that.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[musketman]

Those were quick and decisive replies..

Followup.. what size flint would some of you recommend for an L&R?

No wider than the width of your frizzen, measure it and order the one closest to, but not exceeding the width...

If it's wider than the frizzen it will break the flint and mark up the barrel when it hits...

 

[Rebel]

Which L&R lock do you have. I would guess it probably takes a 3/4", but not certain if all L&R's take the same size.

 

[iainofulva]

Which L&R lock do you have. I would guess it probably takes a 3/4", but not certain if all L&R's take the same size.

It's just stamped "L&R". My gunmaker told me he believes it is "competition grade", but I know it has been chewing up flints.

Now that I'm not balancing my 2 1/2 week old son in one hand, breakfast in the other and trying to type... the frizzen is just over 3/4" at the base and the distance from the top jaw screw to the frizzen is 7/8".

So did I just anser my own question?

Y'all are a big help.. many thanks.

Jon

 

[Jack Walker]

I use french blond flints from Bob Winters. He also has English flints and both of the highest quality. One thing, if you go with French blondes, make sure you have a good hard frizzen. :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

Chewing up flints huh? Sounds like you got one of those same L&R locks that a couple of the other guys here got. Get a few shots with sparks and then no more sparking. Maybe one of those guys (hint hint) will speak up and tell you how they got theirs fixed.

 

[musketman]

the frizzen is just over 3/4" at the base and the distance from the top jaw screw to the frizzen is 7/8".

I would say you did, the 3/4 inch flint will work fine and will throw as many sparks as the stars in the sky...

 

[iainofulva]

Chewing up flints huh? Sounds like you got one of those same L&R locks that a couple of the other guys here got. Get a few shots with sparks and then no more sparking. Maybe one of those guys (hint hint) will speak up and tell you how they got theirs fixed.

Well, I've been using 5/8" flints on some apparant bad advice from a shady sutler. My gunmaker just put a brand new frizzen on thing and hardened it a couple weeks ago. I shot it for the first time yesterday with the new frizzen and got off about 20 shots in a couple hours (a sopposed to 6 shots in 3 hours two months ago, before the new frizzen), but went through two brand new questionable flints and had almost as many misfires as sparks.

I'm wondering if the fact I was using a flint that was too small has anything to do with all of this.

Jon

 

[Dave K]

I sent my lock to W.C.Young. What a great guy to get this lock working as it should. Ok, I took the hint!

 

[musketman]

Something else to ponder...

Some locks like bevel up, others like bevel down, no way to tell but to try the two ways and find out...

Also, if the flint is set too far out in the jaws, it will bottom out in the pan and chew up the flint quickly, lower the hammer (cock) to full fire slowly and see if the edge of the flint touches the bottom of the priming pan...

If it does, set it back a bit in the jaws, when I was new to flintlocks, I went through a few flints before I realized this was the trouble...

 

[Rebel]

Thanks Dave, i figured you would be lurking around these parts sometime soon. ::

 

[Rebel]

Also gefore firing with a new flint, make sure that it is far enough over that the inside edge doesn't strike the barrel.

 

Hey Reb - I've only got 2 L&R locks, and both are incredible sparkers with flints lasting 50 and more shots.
: I wonder if people actually count ALL of the times they fire the lock off - like the 20 to 30 times before going out shooting when practising holding, or am I the only one who does that?
: Recently, I shot 50 rounds in the .45 with a split flint (2-tone)and replaced it only when I got home because it was only 1/2 the width of the frizzen. I had used that flint the time before, when it split in 1/2 after only a few shots due to a fracture or mineral line. It probably went 70 or 80 shots all together before I threw it into the box for making into a pistol flint for the other lock as it was still OK.
: On top of that, my bro uses a lot of L&Rlocks on his custom rifles and likes them very much. He also uses Chambers and Davis locks, and sees little difference between the lot when they are all set up properly.
: For one, I really like the water-handling system they use on many of the L&R locks. Semi-waterproofing I guess it could be called. The fit of frizzen to pan is perfect. Nice Locks.

 

[Rebel]

Daryl,i have never owned an L&R lock myself,just going by the experience of Dave K and others had with some of them. May have just been a certain batch that had bad quality control. The people that had problems with them are experienced flintlock shooters. They had problems getting L&R to fix the problem and ended up sending them to W C Young to have them fixed right. L&R may have got the problem taken care of now.