Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Traditional Firearms => Flintlock Long Guns => Topic started by: KDubs on October 22, 2023, 10:37:36 PM
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Sometime back I sighted in the the ol' gal ( ginger) my .54 woodsrunner. using a .530 ball and .018 ticking spit patch, I tried a few different lubes also but i really think spit is the way to go at least for me. anyway shooting from a bench I had her shooting minute of deer out to 50 yds and i was happy.
Using the original french amber flint that came in the lock i got off approx 45 shots without touching that flint. no tightening the jaws, knapping, nothing.
I replaced that flint with another similar french flint 3/4" and i shot the new flint maybe 4-5 shots and after a cleaning put her up .
Fast forward to today, our monthly club shoot, surely ginger would rule the day, oh how i was wrong.
Now don't ask me why but when I packed my stuff for the shoot i packed .535 balls and for whatever reason i grabbed a bag of precut .018 ticking patches soaked in bear grease. dumb dumb dumb. I had to beat on the short starter to get that combo to seat in the muzzle. It rammed OK with no swabbing in between until the last shot #20. that ball went halfway down the tube and locked up. we ( about 3 of us) rammed on the ramrod and got it down, all was well. it went bang.
MY flint troubles were another issue, 3 flints to shoot 20 targets, all french amber 3/4". one broke in the lock, the flint snapped midline across the flint, jammed the frizzen about 1/2" open and dinged up my shiny pan. I fixed that and the next flint, 1st shot took a chunk out of the center of the leading edge, too big to knap back so onto flint #3 .
That lasted the last few shots ,chipped a corner and was loose in the jaws after each shot. ugh grand total 5 outta 20. should have followed the 6 P's , proper planning prevents piss poor performance.
are 3/4" the best size for this lock ?? seems to be too far from the frizzen to me, really hammers these french flints. I can get my finger between the flint edge and the frizzen at half cock.
Oh and lets not forget those bear grease patches. I used a wool haversack style bag today, also another change from my usual small leather pouch. couldn't find anything, and those patches found their way out of the plastic bag and onto and into everything in the bag including my priming horn, short starter, etc. what a mess. everything was slicker than cat S*&$. The little plunger on my priming horn clogged up so I finished priming from the horn. (from now on I might add)
Just a fun, miserable, had a great time anyways kinda day. a lot of hard lessons learned today.
I realize this is all my fault, all of these changes for no reason etc etc.
I don't feel I can blame the gun, I need to look at these flints closer and shoot more to get settled in on my loads and such.
I let the pressure of competition and all the changes I made throw me off my game as far a routine goes.
I am going to my room now to think about what I have done and in the future try to make better decisions !
thanks for sharing in my misery.
Kevin
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Thanks for the report Kevin. :bl th up
Those amber flints may have had some fractures that were invisible to the naked eye, which caused them to break as you described.
However, the gap between the edge of your flints and the frizzen seems excessive.
Have you tried flipping them over (bevel down) to see if you get less gap?
What did the flint that came with the rifle measure?
I much prefer spit for shooting matches myself, and only use a bear oil / bee's wax mix lube when hunting where few shots will be taken. Spit cuts heavy bore fowling LOTS better/easier than anything else I've tried as a lube. :bl th up
I hope your next date with Ginger goes a lot smoother. :laffing
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Well after yesterday in ready for a divorce from ginger.
Not sure a on the flint measurement that broke but it was a standard 3/4" French amber. I bought a dozen from a well known dealer.
I did the flint flip, not much change, I have to pinch the flint in the lips of the cock to get it close to the frizzen where it should be.
I'll be back on the nipple for a while as I try too figure this out.
Kevin
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Maybe try the Black English Flints / Track of the Wolf should have some... They've always had a good reputation. :shake
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This all brings up a question I have had for a l-o-n-g time: what is that a measurement of? From the Track of the Wolf catalog, it appears that it refers to the width of the flint, not how long it is. However, other references seem to say it refers to the length. So I can order 5/8" x 5/8" long or 3/8" x 3/4" long English flints, while the French only have 5/8" x 3/4" for the CVA. All are listed as 5/8". Dixie only has the nebulous 5/8", 3/4", 7/8" etc. which seems to be the width. I've been confused on this since I got my first flintlock 30+ years ago, and am still that way! Because of this, I buy from Track only since I can at least get flints of a length I can use. ;banghead;
~Kees~
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I always understood it to mean width.
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Here my flints in the lock
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And my frizzen
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Kevin
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To me, it looks like your flint(s) are slamming into the frizzen way to much and not sliding down to give a "more" smooth angle of shaving the metal... You may want to try shimming up the (lower back bottom side) of your flint with some leather to give you a better striking angle. :shake
As a side note, you may need to have the face of that frizzen dressed... I'm not sure who does this, but I bet someone here knows. Right now you got kind'a of a pot-hole on that frizzen (for lack of a better word).
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I think I'd contact Kibler and get his thoughts on what's going on. :bl th up
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Thanks for the responses.
The dings in the frizzen face look worse than they are.
I'm still learning towards my naivete with this contraption that is causing my problems.
As I noted, 45 or so shots with original rock and no problems so it's gotta be me .
I have a current offer for ginger of 40$ from a club member.
Not ready to go that route just yet.
Kevin
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Kevin,
I'd go $50 and pay the shipping.
I am sure I could convert it to percussion and save all those problems. :luff: :luff:
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John,
Hmmm, 50$ you say... Hmmmm. Let me chew on that.
The weather is threatening to turn from rain to white this week and I have Friday,Saturday and Sunday to chase elk with a gun so ginger will get to rest while my TC nipple gun comes out of retirement.
I'll give ginger a try with these English flints in the near future.
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This is the angle of attack , look normal ??
Kevin
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Kevin, I'll give you $75, Pay shipping and throw in a can of caps!! I'll even keep her Name!!
Never could resist a bidding war!!
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Well the price is going up, I tried out the English flint today , 10 shots, all went bang on the first try , 2f in the pan from the horn.
Interesting thing though
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I had the red thing experience again.
But no rock issues, I did notice in the original pic of my lock
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I had my replacement French flints bevel up .
Maybe my issue.
Kevin
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Kevin, I'm not interested in bidding on that long barreled Kibler. I've wiped out too many ceiling lights, vases, and lamps with them long barrels. But I will bid on that TC Hawken. Not nearly as dangerous.
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John,
Hmmm, 50$ you say... Hmmmm. Let me chew on that.
The weather is threatening to turn from rain to white this week and I have Friday,Saturday and Sunday to chase elk with a gun so ginger will get to rest while my TC nipple gun comes out of retirement.
I'll give ginger a try with these English flints in the near future.
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This is the angle of attack , look normal ??
Kevin
That's not bad Kevin, as over time (usage) the leading edge of that flint (any flint) will lower the impact on the Frizzen face giving it a nice shave of metal sparks as the flint gets dressed down / back, through usage. Then you can move it (the flint) forward and do it all over again.
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Maybe it's the angle at which the photo was taken, but to me it seems the touch hole is way low. Not that it will make any difference with where the rock hits the frizzen, but it could slow down the ignition time if the prime covers the hole. :o
~Kees~
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Now that you mention it Kees, it does look low... Almost like one would get a "fuse" burn ignition rather then the preferred "jump" ignition... It also looks as if the priming pan on the lock - the bottom appears to be at kind of a downward "sled" angle to the touch hole... Maybe it's just camera angles???
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OK, final offer - $100, i pay shipping, and I will throw in a can of rws caps in a tin, with the original little red tape wrapped around it, not the phony plastic container.
How's that sound???
John
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John you're missing a 0.00 after the 100.
Yep I'd guess the camera angles are causing an obstetrical illusion ( nursing joke) . the pan sits flat , IDK about the touch hole , that's the way it came. Haven't had ignition issues.
I was more interested in the red oxidation that came out of it.
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This has got to be worth more than 100$.
She's (they) whatever, is even getting a patina !
Kevin
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You are right, it is worth way more than a thin, dead Ben. But then, it is a flinter and I would have to convert it over to percussion and such, so.......
Frankly, I would not worry much about the red residue after you shoot it. try a different can of powder and see what happens. I imagine that will take care of the problem.
John
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Are we still Bidding? I thought Kevin changed his mind and is keeping Beautiful Ginger.
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I'm sticking with her for now.
Ya know how it is, young girlfriend, gotta break her in.
I'm still committed to elk hunting with ginger this w/e. Hopefully she won't let me down.
Kevin
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Good luck Kevin. I hope you and Ginger can harvest a big one. Then you can do like Darren, and write a story for all of us to read
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Thank you and I'm not a writer. But. We'll see what happens
Kevin
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Best of
luck SKILL with slaying a beast this weekend!
~Kees~
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The red stuff is sulfur from the powder. It shows up when the humidity is just right.
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It was a bit humid that day. I was racing the rain .
Kevin