Author Topic: Traditions flintlock...any good? (Read 1653 times)

ironfoot · « **on:** March 03, 2004, 07:31:28 PM »

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Saw a Traditions flintlock, Shenandoah rifle, without most of the typical brass furniture, advertized for about $212.00, new. Are they made in Spain? Are they any good? Dependable? Accurate with patched round ball?

38-55 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2004, 01:31:56 AM »

They don't shoot too bad but they are not a high end rifle. Many of them seem to have a soft frizzen, which works fine at first, but then starts to give miss fire probelms. If you can get the frizzen hardened, it should be reliable. Get some good english flints also.

jgalar · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2004, 01:59:34 AM »

Thats the lowest I have ever seen one for. Where did you see it advertised?

Eric N. · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2004, 06:25:43 AM »

www.gunsnstuff.net

Will Bison · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2004, 09:54:02 AM »

An after market lock and glass beding wil improve performance.

wallynut · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2004, 10:18:22 AM »

The traditions flintlocks are okay for the money, you just have to keep in mind that they are what they are. A lot of folks buy these and then base a bad decision what a flintlock is. The locks are not that good and no amount of tuning can change that. If you want a flintlock, I would suggest saving your money till you can justify a good one.

KING · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2004, 11:10:42 AM »

:-D I have several Traditions rifles. I think that they shoot great and also work well( talking about frizzen here). I remove all of my frizzens and reharden them with Kasonite or by heating with leather scraps then water quenching. Are these guns the best......no...................but they are far from the worst and mine seem to work well enough to keep me happy. Stay safe.......King

crow_feather · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2004, 06:25:08 AM »

If you shoot it and you like it and it is accurate - it is a great rifle. Rifles should never be valued on the opinions of others. You might have the exceptional one and give it away based on some one elses problems.

C F

gerry@fundy.net · « **Reply #8 on:** April 19, 2004, 03:31:14 PM »

I just bought a Traditions Flintlock rifle and it worked great, until I ran out of black powder. It won't work with Pyrodex. I have some fff that I have been using to prime but only had enough ff for about 10 shots. After numerous attempts with Pyrodex, I tried putting a small amount of fff down the barrel before the Pyrodex. It worked a bit better that way. The manual recommends Pyrodex or BP. I live in New Brunswick, Canada where it is very difficult to get black powder. There is some available in Maine, an hour away, but I don't think the US authorities approve of aliens buying explosives these days. Has anyone else had a problem using Pyrodex in flinters?
Gerry

buckbeast · « **Reply #9 on:** April 20, 2004, 07:31:40 AM »

Quote

They don't shoot too bad but they are not a high end rifle. Many of them seem to have a soft frizzen, which works fine at first, but then starts to give miss fire probelms. If you can get the frizzen hardened, it should be reliable. Get some good english flints also.

Wow.....sounds exactly the the problem I have been having with my "buckskinner". I'm glad I stopped in here today. Thanks guys.

Buck

lostid · « **Reply #10 on:** April 20, 2004, 02:00:48 PM »

Maybe we'er a bit different here in Minn.,,but I've never seen a Traditions flint lock "rifle" actually function beyond holding up a tomato vine!
If they are far from the "worst" what is??

Sure hardening the frizzen helps, but what about the wobble and fit?

Now afour ya git yer dander up, my young son has a Traditions capper St. Louy (lefty). I had to clean the inlay of burrs, stone the lock just to take out the rough spots,and deepen the drum groove just so it fit without twisting the barrel and we use hotshot nipples for reliable ignition. Now it's a shooter!! He loves it!!

Sure, replace the lock,,have it bedded,,,does it make sence to put $200 of "custom" into a $200 dollar gun..?

I'd say the Traditions arms are a good value for gents that have experiance, are somewhat handy, and have to hand some or most of the tools and knowhow too "tune" BP arms.

Gotta face it guy's! Traditions arms aren"t "beginner" freindly arms,,sure gramps could buy one as a first gun for the grandkid,,but ya need ta figger about 20 hrs tunnin it so the child enjoys the experiance.
And yes their Spanish,,but that's no problem.

Black Jaque Janaviac · « **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2004, 05:08:29 AM »

I kinda follow Lostid's opinion.

Here's my thoughts. If its a Tradition flintlock on someone else's shelf with a price tag on it - leave it there. If it's a Traditions flintlock on your shelf and you enjoy it - KEEP IT.

Traditions and CVA have to be vying for "bottom-of-the-line". When I think of it, I just can't think of a "worse". Fortunately, this is not the same as saying they are completely useless.

Here's the rub: it's fairly easy to make a cheap caplock that functions well and reliably, but there's a whole lot more art and science that goes into making a flintlock function well and reliably.

All the caplock has to do is hit the cap with enough force to make it go boom. You have control over the quality of cap, nipple, and powder you use, and adjustments in these will go a long way to making a caplock function. CVA and Traditions can at least do this.

With a flintlock it's function depends on many things:

Metallurgy of the frizzen - just hard enough to make good sparks - not too soft, not too hard.

Geometry of the cock and frizzen. If the flint strikes the frizzen at the wrong angle the sparks will go flying everywhere except in the pan. OR, the lock will eat flints causing them to go dull quickly which makes for more frequent misfires.

Size of the lock. Tiny locks tend to throw less sparks which won't ignite the pan as reliably.

Balance of springs. A flintlock has two springs, one for the cock, and one for the frizzen. The tension of these two springs should have some balance between the two. If the frizzen spring is too strong, the frizzen won't pop up as easily and will eat flints or maybe even slow ignition. If the frizzen spring is too weak the frizzen can bounce back after opening and smash the flint all to pieces. If the mainspring is too weak you will have slower lock time.

Placement of touch-hole liner. If the touch hole is set too low you will get more hangfires as the pan-charge acts as a fuse. You can replace touch hole liners with after-market ones that are better, but you can't do much to correct the placement in relation to the pan.

There are just more problems that can go wrong with a flintlock than a caplock. The way to resolve these problems is through careful craftsmanship. I just don't find that level of craftsmanship in CVA and Traditions.

filmokentucky · « **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2004, 09:19:19 AM »

Black Jacque is absolutely correct. A proper flintlock is a finely tuned machine and a very sophisticated one. That's why a good one-say a Chambers or a Davis- costs what it does and why it's worth it.
Learning to shoot a flint lock well and consistently is one of the most satisfying experiences available to a shooter. And trying to shoot a poor flint lock is a frustrating experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. This is a case where you definitely get what you pay for. I'd hold off buying until I could afford a good quality used gun. At least you can get your money back if you decide you don't like shooting a flinter. And putting a high grade lock on a low grade gun makes no sense.