The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi,

I have a couple of questions if I may.....

Does anyone still use them?

Are they easy to get in the UK?

Can you sharpen them with a diamond stone?

And finally, are they any good?

Tried them a few times over the years and never really got of on them, no benefits to me over "flint" and found them a bugger to sharpen in comparison to a few taps of a "hammer".

Also they used to be more expensive and harder to get, they never really got much of a following that I have noticed (except perhaps with johnny foreigner), so that says something.

Best thing is to buy a dozen or so and see how you get on. Mind I want to watch, could be entertaining.

dromia wrote:Tried them a few times over the years and never really got of on them, no benefits to me over "flint" and found them a bugger to sharpen in comparison to a few taps of a "hammer".

Also they used to be more expensive and harder to get, they never really got much of a following that I have noticed (except perhaps with johnny foreigner), so that says something.

Best thing is to buy a dozen or so and see how you get on. Mind I want to watch, could be entertaining.

Something different to try......the internet is a wonderful thing when bored

They can be very hard on frizzens (lock geometry critical) so if you fit one be vigilant at every shot and cease use if there are signs of wear/gouging.

dromia wrote:They can be very hard on frizzens (lock geometry critical) so if you fit one be vigilant at every shot and cease use if there are signs of wear/gouging.

I have ordered just the one to see how I get on.

The normal English flints work exceptionally well, just thought I would have a try of something else.

I will take note of the wearing of the frizzen, something I had not even considered, so thank you!

Failing that, I know a good gunsmith who does work on flintlocks

I used them on a Brown Bess. I found them easy to clamp, because the top and bottom were perfectly flat and parallel. The sparks from the original steel were large but more red than yellow / white, perhaps the agate was digging in too deep. I epoxied a strip of old power hacksaw blade to the frizzen and this improved matters a lot.

This was all many years ago, if it happened now I would probably case harden the steel surface or maybe even experiment with titanium.