This is a retype by hand from an old pamphlet written by Joe Vollrath of the Muscogee Long Rifles.
I have had it in my collection for many years, & I feel like this forum is a good place for it. As I type,
of course I am listening to "The Gael" from The Last of the Mohicans.

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1) Invest in a good lock. Inexpensive locks are soon trouble, usually on match day! I personally
favor the Siler, Davis and L&R Locks. I'm also confident that those produced by Jim Chambers
will be very good. Some of the import guns have sorry locks.

2) Most locks will benefit from tuning; even the high quality ones. I believe a well made flint
lock, properly assembled and tuned will perform as well, if not better, than a percussion lock.
This belief assumes a correct vent hole on the rifle. ( I would like to add some more information
here to what Joe has stated - open your bloche up as much as possible from the inside to allow
some of the main charge to be pushed up as close as it can to the outside of the vent hole )

3) Use the right size flint. With the lock at half cock and the frizzen closed, the flint should
almost touch the frizzen face; a clearance of up to 1/32" is okay.

4) The striking edge of the flint should be sharp. It should point towards the centerline of
the pan when the cock is down. If not, the cock needs some work.

5) If your frizzen does not snap "open" completely, the flint may be too long or improperly
clamped. The main spring could be weak or the frizzen spring too stiff; Also, the frizzen cam
and spring might need some attention. The frizzen face should be "file hard".

6) For optimum performance, the inside surface of the lock plate should be flat and smooth.
This is best accomplished by draw filing and polishing.

7) Friction between the lock plate, mainspring, tumbler, and sear should be minimal. This
applies also to the tumbler and bridle fit-up. Do not tighten the screws going through the
bridle to the point where they bind the tumbler.

8) The frizzen cam should have a well formed nose. It should be free of burrs or casting
marks and be polished. I polish the frizzen spring in the area of cam contact. A clearance
of several thousandths between the moving portion of the frizzen spring and lock plate
will also help. All internal lock parts should be smooth and free of burrs. The firzzen
should not wobble on it's own screw.

9) The sear should engage both notches in the tumbler "crisply" with a definite and
firm "click". The edge of the sear and the face of the full cock notch should be
parallel at let off. If the sear to notch engagements are correct, the lock should hold
at full cock with the sear spring removed. Do not stone too much off of the sear or
tumbler notches..... It's hard to put metal back on !

10) Fit-up between the bolster and the barrel should be tight. If not, you could get
powder into the lock mortise. This could possibly allow the lock to be blown out
of the stock ! If not, you will find that the inner parts of the lock "crud" up real fast.
The inner edge of the frizzen should not scrape or touch the barrel.

11) When you finish shooting for the day, thoroughly clean your lock and oil the
moving parts. I remove my lock from the rifle to clean it; be careful not to misplace
the lock screws. I disassemble, clean, and inspect my lock after a few trips to the range.

12) Do not over prime. You will slow up ignition as well as waste powder. I like to put
a touch of powder on the outside edge of the pan with a tail pointing at the touch hole.
This allows the flame to "shoot" at the touch hole. Keep the touch hole free of fouling.

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I will make one other addition here, and that is what I use for a cleaning solution. I
have never found anything else that can compare to it. It's fast, powerful, effective,
and not too awful messy.

Murphy's Oil Soap
Rubbing Alcohol (70 % will be ok)
Hydrogen Peroxide

Pour a 1/2 cup of each ingredient into a large glass jar or jug that you can put a lid on.
Stir it up & shake it well. Store it out of the heat & direct sunlight. Use it on a patch
to swab between every few shots. If you shoot a charge after wet swabbing and
then dry swabbing, that's perfectly fine.

What you do NOT want to do is swab your bore with it and then put your gun away for
a few days, even if you run a few dry patches thru after the wet swab. You MUST run
some kind of oily patch thru after the last dry patch if you want to have a barrel that
does not rust. I prefer Rustlick 631. I have never had a barrel even think about rusting
when I use that stuff.

For some of the easiest cleaning you will ever do, make or buy yourself a flushing
nipple. It fits in the touch hole or you can screw it into your powder drum after you
remove the nipple. Put the cleaning solution in a small plastic bottle with vent holes
in the top of the bottle. Run a hose to the bottom of the bottle, and put the other end
of the hose on your flushing nipple. Run a wet patch down to the bottom of the
barrel. Screw the flushing nipple on to the touch hole or the powder drum. Slowly
pull the wet patch until it is almost out of the barrel, and then push it back down
to the bottom of the barrel. Do this a few times and your barrel will be perfectly clean.
Remove the flushing nipple when the wet patch is at the bottom of the bore. Run
a bunch of dry patches down the barrel. Lastly, run 2 oily patches down the barrel.

Have fun !

Good tips.  Eric Bye's book on the flintlock is worth having.

BTW, we use the same formula for moose milk at Whittington Center.