The Kyper flint

[Nobade]

I saw these things advertised on Ebay, and they were cheap enough I jumped in and got one.

I have a Dixie squirrel rifle that I bought with a worn out lock, replaced it with a L&R RPL, and have been fighting it ever since. The geometry of that lock is just wrong. It destroys flints, sparks very weakly, and misfires often.

So, I figured the Kyper flint might be the ticket. Sho' enough is! That thing throws a tremendous shower of sparks and as long as fouling doesn't build up on it too bad it keeps working every time. I know it looks kind of silly and is in no way "traditional" but heck, I can shoot my rifle now instead of cussing it! So if you have a low quality flintlock that you have been fighting with, one of these things might be useful to you in order to get it shooting. Be careful though, it WILL fire the rifle without any priming powder in the pan, sometimes.

-Nobade

[drhall762]

Zippo lighter technology. Flintlocks work by small pieces of the frizzen being scraped off by the flint and the friction ignites them. That is why, if you have a soft frizzen, you will never get sparks. The Kyper does away with that. The unit rolls on the frizzen but the flint and steel are in the unit. Here is a good information source: http://www.google.com/patents?id=gB8vAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA2&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

[fouronesix]

The technology predates the flintlock but what the heh! Just call it a "Biclock". :)

[Nobade]

Yep, pretty much. Turns your rifle into a cigarette lighter.

-Nobade

[drhall762]

It is wheel lock technology adapted to the FL form. It would be easy to duplicate on an individual basis.