Hatfield .36

[burch]

My first day at range with my new Hatfield .36 cal. was an experience at best. Since this is my first flinter I did pretty good considering i`m a cap lock man. My test range was 25yrds.  I ran different load charges from 18 to 30 grains of FFF Goex. I was using a .350 ball and .010 and .015 patches and the normal spit lube. I first noticed the front sight was bent to the right and the rear buck horn sight notch was very shallow. When I got home I straightened the front sight and opened up the rear sight so my blind eyes can now see everything. Anyhow, My range report is: very inconsistent groups at all load differences and using the .015 patch helped out some. Since this is my first flint lock i`ll blame some of the inconsistancy on that. It should shoot better with the sights now fixed but that`ll have to wait until next weekend. I will say that shooting a flintlock caused a lot of smiles and I think i`ll be hooked in the near future. I do have a couple questions. Does the pan charge need to pretty consistance because I was just kinda wingin it but tried to stay at about half of the pan. I used the same FFF I was loading with.
                    Burch  

[graybeard]

Your priming was okay, imho.   You probably should shoot from a rest the next several rounds to see where the balls are going with you out of the equation.  Flintlocks are addictive, but hard to shoot at first.  graybeard

[Three Hawks]

Not knowing how much "half the pan" is I'd still guess that you're overpriming.  Start with just a sprinkling of powder in the pan, roll the rifle so the priming charge is away from the flash hole,  and see if it lights the main charge. try this several times.  If it's inconsistent, increase your prime very slightly testing several times at each increase until you get consistent ignition.   It is Anti intuitive to have the prime at the far end of the pan, but in my flinter that's where it worked best.   The tiny amount needed for consistent ignition is amazing as well.  Using more that needed only wastes powder, causes you to flinch and sets fires.  

A new flintlock is like a new girlfriend, you have to try lots of things until you find where to touch her to make her squeal.  A little patience and you'll soon have her making sounds only dogs can hear.

Three Hawks

[Bigsmoke]

A new flintlock is like a new girlfriend, you have to try lots of things until you find where to touch her to make her squeal. A little patience and you'll soon have her making sounds only dogs can hear.

 :shock:  :shock:  

For some reason, I never quite thought of it like that.  But, it is an interesting concept.

[burch]

Not knowing how much "half the pan" is I'd still guess that you're overpriming.  Start with just a sprinkling of powder in the pan, roll the rifle so the priming charge is away from the flash hole,  and see if it lights the main charge. try this several times.  If it's inconsistent, increase your prime very slightly testing several times at each increase until you get consistent ignition.   It is Anti intuitive to have the prime at the far end of the pan, but in my flinter that's where it worked best.   The tiny amount needed for consistent ignition is amazing as well.  Using more that needed only wastes powder, causes you to flinch and sets fires.  

A new flintlock is like a new girlfriend, you have to try lots of things until you find where to touch her to make her squeal.  A little patience and you'll soon have her making sounds only dogs can hear.

Three Hawks

  Well put !!

[Sir Michael]

My experience in working up a load for my .36 after having the breach rebuilt and the rear sight replaced is that you might want to start walking the 30 gr. load up 2.5 gr. at a time while shooting at least five shot groups at a target no more than 25 yds away from a solid bench using sand bags.  Mine settled down to very tight groups at 40 gr.  

As for priming I use a small cylindrical priming flask similar to the one that TOW sells it says it drops about 3 gr. I've never measured it so I can't say but it seems to be a reliable priming charge.  As for placement of the charge, Larry Pletcher has just published a very interesting article, the fifth in a series, on priming and his results indicate that putting the charge as close to the touch hole as possible produces the most fire into and through the touch hole.  However, you do need to have the powder spread over as much of the pan as possible so that where ever the sparks hit they can light powder and get things started.

If you are interested here is a link to Larry's site.

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/featured-articles/part-5-timing-powder-locations-in-pan.php