lead or leather flint clamp

[20's plenty]

Took my kentucky smoothbore out clay shooting and threw a flint on the first shot. Had spares but only had the one leather clamp which remained in the vice luckily. What do you find grips best- lead or leather, or even a combination of both? Mine uses the smaller 1/2"-5/8" flint which do not seat that well due to their shape.

[acmsarh]

Well the old way was to hammer a lead ball flat and use that.

[enfield2band]

I have tried both and I prefer using leather. I think the extra pressure you have to put on the flint when using lead does not help the life of the flint and puts excessive pressure on the hammer screw threads.
That is just my opinion, I suppose it is down to what you are happy with and what you think works best.

The life of a flint is unpredictable, you can get as many as 50 shots from one flint and another one will shatter after a few shots, so it is a good idea to keep a few spare ones with you.