Flinter pistol

[Slow Hand]

Took my new purchase, an Indian 1733 .62 cal smoothbore flinter out last week. Fun but frustrating! Had lots of non firing issues. I could see sparks coming off the frizzen even with sunglasses on, but not lighting the powder in the pan. tried 4Fg and Cartridge grade Goex, didn’t seem to make any difference. I’m doing some reading on making locks more reliable. Accuracy was pretty crappy for the most part, but I honestly think that was due to my frustration over reliability. I had three of ten shots fairly close to point of aim, so I’ll consider those the ones I had a good trigger pull on. Definitely need some more experimentation! I have some wads and a bullet mold on order and a good bit of pure lead to cast up. I’m also looking forward to trying some shot loads, but that will come with reliable ignition.

 

[Slow Hand]

 

[BigRed]

Very cool!

 

[2in1evtime]

I have flintlocks, never had ignition problems as long as i had spark, you might try setting your flint out or in in depth so it makes the frizzed open at spark time just saying!

 

[Leadeye]

I've heard that modern flint grinding will help with spark, but don't know anybody who uses that method. Have a friend that does a good job with knapping,

 

[MrSmitty]

The frizzen might not be hardened right, or enough, also the flint could be knapped wrong, show us the flint, and the frizzen....

 

[Reale1741]

Those Indian guns can have problems with improperly hardened frizzens. I've always rehardened mine in a forge with Kasenit and they work great. You could probably use a map gas torch in a pinch.

 

[Ark]

I never got motivated enough to do it, but this may be worth a shot if simply changing flints, playing with the engagement angle, and keeping the screw tight isn't working for you.

 

[Frontiersman]

Have you tried putting a feather through the touch hole and leaving it there until you are ready to fire. The air gap through the touch hole causes a hotter and faster flame to shoot through to light the powder. Or is the flash pan not lighting at all?

 

[Slow Hand]

Have you tried putting a feather through the touch hole and leaving it there until you are ready to fire. The air gap through the touch hole causes a hotter and faster flame to shoot through to light the powder. Or is the flash pan not lighting at all?

Pan isn’t lighting.