National Museum of American History
Flints
Copp Family · 1825 - 1875
The Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut owned these three gun-flints for flintlock rifles. In a flintlock rifle, a wedge-shaped flint would be held in the jaw of the hammer. Once cocked, the trigger pull propels the hammer forward, the flint strikes the steel frizzen, simultaneously creating a spark and opening the pan to reveal the gunpowder. The spark ignites the gunpowder, firing the rifle.
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