Cayugad, When you say eating patches are you refering to burning through the patch?
Burning through and just general shredding. I do not have that problem with black powder so much, but in my cap locks I get shredded patches especially when shoot Triple Se7en. Also sometimes the addition of a simple wad will really improve the accuracy of your load. You just have to try them.
I've noticed that Dixie has a large selection of flints at what appears to be resonable prices. Should I stick with the agate style? Pros / Cons?
I get my flints from October Country or Muzzleloader Builders Supply but I would stick with the Black English Flints. Granted I had some excellent luck with agates but they are expensive and if they don't work and you only get 20 shots off one, that gets too costly. Besides you can not knapp an agate.
Why would the manufactures make a frizzen that won't hold it's roughness? Seem's to me that they should replace it if it doesn't work.
I am still on the original frizzen on my two T/C Hawkins so I do not know what to tell you.Whether they replace them I could not tell you. As for your powder charge, I will guess it will come in somewhere around 80-90 grains. I actually shoot 50 grains for fun plinking sometimes out of it. The accuracy is very good with even the light loads.
The poster
Roundball is an excellent source of information on T/C flintlocks. He was the one that offered a lot of the information I needed when I was trying to teach myself how to shoot them...