Tuning up the flintlocks...

[Adam Helmer]

While I have too many flintlock and caplock muzzleloaders, I tend to lean toward the flinters. Several articles in the NMLRA magazine "Muzzle Blasts" give many good tips to "tune" the flinters. To wit:

1. After taking the barrel off for cleaning, put a two-inch strip of black electrical tape inside the stock and just behind the lockplate and just below the level of the priming pan to prevent loose 4F powder from dribbling down behind the lock.

2. Occasionally toss the removed lock from a flinter (with flint and leather removed) into a pan of boiling hot soapy water to clean off the gung. Let it air dry, lightly oil and reassemble.

3. Occasionally use a piece of medium grit crocus cloth and polish the face of the frizzen to extend flint life by letting the flint hit a smoother frizzen.

4. Use a finish nail or small diameter drill bit to torque down the frizzen screw by placing the nail or bit into the hole in the flint jaws screw head and prevent having a screwdxiver slip and mar the screw head. Toss the finish nail into the possibles bag to make changing flints less of a chore.

Thats all for now.

Adam