Flintlock won't spark - help! (2025)

Hello gents, I would like some help diagnosing a lack of sparks in a flintlock I just purchased. So far I believe my frizzen is hard - I can skate tool steel off of it. I am thinking maybe a mainspring or lock geometry/flint issue. Can anyone help diagnose with these pics and video? I have been able to get sparks every so often, but not consistently enough to enjoy shooting!

Thanks in advance
Winston

Phil Coffins said:

First thing I see is a dull flint and the shape of the frizzen is suspect.

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Good to know - I will get to knapping that. As for frizzen shape, do you think it is too curved?

Sam squanch said:

Is that one of the Hy - Hunter pistols? I don’t think they were made to actually fire.

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I think it is, I had not heard about this before, sadly! It does have a flash hole I should mention.

If that was one of the ones made in Japan then the frizzen sparking surface needs to be hardened. They did not harden them from the factory. Plus some versions did not have the hole in the barrel drilled out for the flash pan to ignite the charge in the barrel.

I got one like that ages ago and after hardening the frizzen it sparked fine then. But I need to reharden the frizzen from time to time still as they use a chrome steel alloy that only lets you harden the surface in a very thin layer. The flint actually wears it down after so many shots.

Yeah that flint itself looks a little on the dull side too.

This how a frizzen should look, yours leans back a lot more.
A81D6EC8-D7D5-4205-92AF-5651E1BA5548 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

I went back and looked at the pics again. I did not see a hole in the barrel drilled to let the flame from the flash pan get to the powder charge inside the barrel. I also saw that it said it was made in Germany. Of course that could just be for the lock action though. It is usually stamped on the barrel as to where it is made. I surmise they did like the Japanese made ones and did not harden the frizzen or drill out the flash hole.

Some of the Brown Bess locks or frizzens could be used to replace the existing one. If you cannot harden the frizzen face.

You ought to get a gunsmith to check it out as the barrel may not be shootable. It may be made for decoration only,

Phil Coffins said:

This how a frizzen should look, yours leans back a lot more.
A81D6EC8-D7D5-4205-92AF-5651E1BA5548 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

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love that Vise Grip spring clamp...........LOL

I have come across a number of these locks. The plate is usually some form of white brass or ??, not steel. The mainspring is a bent piece of flat steel. The rumor I heard decades ago was that these were constructed using original parts (cock, frizzen, frizzen spring) for a film. Some have "made in Germany (in english) stamped into the plate. Some of the problems are as follows.

The mainsprings are a joke, with some effort a chambers large siler can be made to work. The frizzen spring has ni pin locking it into place (its held by the lockplate screw), this can be remedied by filing the back side and leaving a pin and drilling the lockplate. The frizzen itself is a steel (sometimes) that will harden but doesn't have enough carbon to spark well. This may be why they weren't used. I was able to remidie this with Kasenit. Cherry red should work but you may need to put a sole on it. Hope this helps.

Phil Coffins said:

First thing I see is a dull flint and the shape of the frizzen is suspect.

Click to expand...

Agreed…..flint is really just a chunk of rock at this point.