Along with smithing, I'm a blackpowder enthusiast. I have a non standard flintlock on my rifle and would like to make replacement springs for it. Any suggestions for materials and processes would be helpful.

well.... ive made a few springs for blackpowder guns and it kinda is a tough subject to sum up.. are we talking main spring or ... how heavy does it need to be? what do you have for steel? ive seen small springs made from steel banding material .. ive also forged some from garage door spring .hardening and temper depends on thickness how much spring is needed travel and what steel you use..last few ive made of a batch of 4 i had one failure.. made um for a underhammer pistol .... the originals were too weak and wouldnt snap a cap consistently.. but i think that particular spring may have been overheated in forgeing or.... i made 4 cause i figured ide break one along the line (order was for 3) .good luck!

When I need stock to make springs I usualy get it from... springs. They are avaiable in an almost infinite variety of sizes, and I tend to save all I find, as there are many other uses for spring steel as well.

If you insist on forging it your self then go to your best local hardware store and ask for music wire. That is a specification for a particular type of spring steel 1095. Really should be called music quality spring wire as Quenchcrack says.

Any way it is available in sizes up to 1/4 round. Have you looked in Brownells.
They carry a large variety of flat spring stock as well as many premade springs Brownells - World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools

If case you are not familiar with the name. They are THE supplier to America's gunsmiths.

Piano wire is however given its spring qualities by cold drawing it. If you heat it up you will destroy the cold drawing properties by essentially normalising it. I would assume that music wire would be taken to be piano wire. If you have to make a spring out of piano wire you must do all of your forming cold. No heat treat it is ready for use.

Piano wire is however given its spring qualities by cold drawing it. If you heat it up you will destroy the cold drawing properties by essentially normalising it. I would assume that music wire would be taken to be piano wire. If you have to make a spring out of piano wire you must do all of your forming cold. No heat treat it is ready for use.

Yes and no. Music wire is, yes, ready to bend and make springs out of.
No it doesn't lose all its properties when heated, only those imparted by cold drawing.
It is a 1095 high carbon steel that if heated, forged, normalized, hardened and tempered makes an excellent spring.
Since it is widely available in 1/4 inch size for reasonable cost, it is one choice among many. The one thing that makes music wire a little special is that it is free of internal defects. Making the particuliar spring he is talking about can be a frustrating experience.

If my best friend were to ask me to make that spring at my forge I would use flat stock purchased from Brownells, shape half a dozen and hope that one made it all the way to the finish line.

Thanks to all for your replies. What I would like to make is what is called the Sear Spring which is realatively thin and not all that long. Again thanks!!

aha thin small spring ide get the spring steel stock from brownells for that form it to shape includeing fileing so the indexing piece fits . heat and harden (use oil quenchant) and temper in a oven (toaster oven will work ) as high as you can get it to go (ameing for 550 degrees or so) make a few at a time so if one fails you have another to try..