Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: jbullard1 on July 05, 2008, 10:49:21 PM

Title: Flintlock speed
Post by: jbullard1 on July 05, 2008, 10:49:21 PM
Do flintlocks inherently have a delay longer than a caplock or do I need to do some tuning. I have a Durrs Egg and since I changed to R. Pierce flints I have not had a misfire, Just seems like I hear the hammer fall, and whooosh Bang. Just hard for me to hold steady during all this
Thanks
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Post by: FG1 on July 05, 2008, 11:18:01 PM
You will need to play with the amount of prime in pan and position of prime. Most times its around just enough to cover bottom of pan and just outside of funnel area of pan .
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Post by: Hank in WV on July 06, 2008, 06:57:29 AM
What size is your touchhole? Most rifles shoot best with a 1/16 or 5/64 hole.
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Post by: Two Steps on July 06, 2008, 08:28:37 AM
JB1...I have a Durrs Egg that I have opened the touch hole to about 5/64s.  Hank in WV can tell ya that if I close the frizzen, it will self prime and is plenty fast.  Now, if only it could help me see the targets  :oops:
Like FG1 said...try different amounts of priming and don't pile it up..
Al
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Post by: Ohio Joe on July 06, 2008, 08:55:27 AM
The small John Bailes lock I have is the closest I have to a Durs Egg, but I guess they are similiar enough to be called a "baby" Durs Egg and Manton...

I have found that the 5/64ths touch hole works best for all my flintlocks.  I've developed the habbit of "pick and prime" with each shot and don't experience any "swoosh-bang" it seems to go right off even if I do get a bit to much prime in the pan.

For those that are use to shooting percussion, if I recall when one is making the transition to flint, you do have a tendancey to notice a small delay in ignition.  However, the more a person shoots a flintlock that small delay seems to disappear as we develope a familiarity with the flintlocks working system.  Stay with it.  :shake
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Post by: jbullard1 on July 06, 2008, 09:57:02 AM
Joe
what do you mean by pick and prime?
As to the touch hole I havent measured it but its what came in the liner. This is the first flinter I've been around, and in my transition from centerfire to caplock I had to relearn to shoot, same thing with a flinter it looks like, good excuse to shoot more  8)
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Post by: Ohio Joe on July 06, 2008, 10:17:01 AM
Morning Jerry,

Two ways to pick and prime;

#1 - Before loading powder you could stick a feather quil or vent pick in the touch hole, then load powder patch & ball - remove the feather quil or vent pick from the vent hole and prime, then take your shot... or...

#2 - Load powder patch & ball - then take your vent pick and pick the vent hole before priming - then prime and take your shot.

Either way should ensure a clear vent hole to the main charge with the priming powder.

Before opening the vent to 5/64ths, take some more shots with the pick and prime method(s) and see if this helps.  If not, then it may be time to get a 5/64ths bit and see if the vent hole needs to be enlarged.

Hope this helps my friend! :shake
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Post by: jbullard1 on July 06, 2008, 10:45:38 AM
Thanks Joe
Will give the pick a try
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Post by: MikeC on July 06, 2008, 10:48:24 AM
The Durs Egg Lock is inherintly a fast lock.  Make sure you have a good flint properly seated and tight in the jaws.  I have opened all my liners to 1/16 and experience no problem.  I wouldn't go bigger unless you absolutely feel that is necessary.

Joe is correct there is a curve that needs to be overcome when switching from percussion to flintlocks and only shooting takes care of that.

Position of prime shouldn't make a difference since you don't check it while carring the gun before taking a shot, amount of prime does make a difference and I found less is better.  A properly setup flintlock should fire when shot upside down.
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Post by: Bigsmoke on July 06, 2008, 11:03:21 AM
Jerry,
Going into the "Pick and Prime" thought a little deeper, the real thing you are doing there is not clearing the vent hole.  In actuality, prior to picking, the surface area that is being looked at is whatever can be accessed through the vent - not much.
However, when you use the pick, you are actually opening up a conical area in the compressed powder which greatly increases the surface area the flash has access to.  Hence, the ignition characterics of the firearm are increased.
Regarding hole size, personally, I like to protect the threads of the touchhole and that's about it.
It should not go click, whoosh, bang.  If you can identify those various steps, it's toooooo slow.
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Post by: mike rumping on July 06, 2008, 11:22:09 AM
How long is your hammer fall for the Cock also?  this can make it seem forever to set off.  also if hunting, always clean eveything thouroughly with 91% alcohol, then dry it, and let sit overnigt, do not reoil!!!  you'll never have another misfire when in the woods if you protect the lock w a cows knee and put a davb of wax on the barrel channel in front of the lock and around the pan as well.  ALWAYS PUT IN A NEW FLINT  Sorry, I know this wasn't really the question, but in hunting, i've lost a couple bucks before this dawned on me.
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Post by: jbullard1 on July 06, 2008, 11:22:59 AM
Thanks that makes sense John. Normally a grain of powder blocks the hole. I just checked the hole and its right at 3/64" not quite 1/16. I will work with the prime and pick a while before drilling to 1/16. I guess I need to lower the charge some until I get this worked out. 90 gr ffg and a .690 rb pretty rough on my old shoulder. Should be good load for the hog hunt coming up
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Post by: FG1 on July 06, 2008, 12:28:19 PM
Another little tidbit , after carrying while afield , when raising rifle for a shot give the gun a tipping to the right to clear any powder that may have stacked against touchhole before shouldering. Any powder stacked there will fuze or may even cause a charcoal blockage to hole. That ruins any chance of a follow up reprime . I lost out on a nice antelope from a hasty shot try. It just walked out of site while I was trying to clear the vent . :oops:
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Post by: Ohio Joe on July 06, 2008, 01:22:48 PM
Quote from: "mike rumping"
How long is your hammer fall for the Cock also?  this can make it seem forever to set off.  also if hunting, always clean eveything thouroughly with 91% alcohol, then dry it, and let sit overnigt, do not reoil!!!  you'll never have another misfire when in the woods if you protect the lock w a cows knee and put a davb of wax on the barrel channel in front of the lock and around the pan as well.  ALWAYS PUT IN A NEW FLINT  Sorry, I know this wasn't really the question, but in hunting, i've lost a couple bucks before this dawned on me.

You bet!!! :lt th
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Post by: sniper68 on July 06, 2008, 01:28:31 PM
delete
Title: flash
Post by: ken on July 06, 2008, 01:37:29 PM
Jerry another way that I look at pick and prime is that just before you fire you want the touch hole to be clear from the pan thur the touch hole to the power charge so the flash can set off the power charge without having to burn its way to the power charge,
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Post by: the Black Spot on July 06, 2008, 04:17:57 PM
i have had only two flinters. one you had to put just a little prime in the corner farthest from the touch hole. the one i have now, it has to have prime all across the pan just below the touchhole. my 2 pennies.
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Post by: Minnesota Mike on July 07, 2008, 03:13:42 PM
For my new (and first) long gun flinter - found that putting prime charge away from touch hole sparks the ignition vice fuzing the ignition if prime charge was laid against the touch hole.

Biggest shock to me has been the amount of fouling left in barrel after shooting a couple of shots. But understand that shooting it with shot is always more fouling that with patched round ball.

r/
MM
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Post by: SquirrelHeart on July 15, 2008, 10:06:24 AM
For those of you not familiar with Larry Pletcher's work with priming powder placement in the pan, you should find this very interesting.

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/featured-articles/pan-vent-experiments.php

If you look on the right side of the page you will find all kinds of interesting links on lock ignition, high speed videos, etc.

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/featured-articles/ultra-high-speed-flintlock-movie.php

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/featured-articles/index.php
Title: Re: Flintlock speed
Post by: Hawken on May 01, 2016, 12:51:54 AM
There are three very important  things shooting a flintlock will teach one:

Trigger control

Follow through

Maintenance of sight picture and hold!

If these three things aren't adhered to....you may as well buy you a dart board!! :USA