Flintlock fustrations, To many flashes in the pan, Questions

[Captchee]

mark , you need to learn to napp  your flints . you should be getting 50 to 75 and sometimes over 100 good solide shots from every flint

[mark davidson]

Cap, Yeah, I know I need to learn to napp. I have been showed how but I stink at it. Sometimes I get a few more shots after napping and sometimes I just make it worse. At only a dollar or so per flint, I just figure that is part of the expense of shooting these things. If I get 20 shots per flint, that is still pretty cheap shooting. I will however try to learn to napp and do a better job but when I go hunting that baby is going to have a new flint in it. :-)

[graybeard]

I had the advantage of some good advice from veteran flintlock shooters but still it was a hard way to learn.  However, now I rarely fire a cap gun and find my flintlock grows more reliable every outing.  graybeard

[bluelake]

Has anyone here ever done a pictorial tutorial on knapping (kind of like a build-along)?  I have knapped some arrowheads a bit, but I have never tried doing my own flints.  It might be a helpful service to flintlock newbies (I know it would help me).

[forest]

And helpfull to me also

[nessy357]

This might be of some help.

[Captchee]

yep thats about it .
 the only thing i would add is to remember  when you sharpen a flint , the material comes off the bottom side . as such if  your lock prefers bevel up  then the flint will need to be flipped  every now and then .
 i also know a couple folks who carry small diamond  files to touch up the edge .
But personally , what Nessy shows is  the basic simple way  to start

[tg]

Lastmohecan, there may be an issue with the placement of the liner and the breech plug and there may be some work done there to insure a clear channel, you cannot do anything with a loanner but if your new gun does not work sometimes a V has to be cut into the face of the plug to connect the charge and the vent. This would not be a real issue, just tell Jackie to double check this configuration in case he has helpers doing some of his smithing

[Lastmohecken]

I checked the vent again, by sticking a 1/16" drill bit in the hole, and that is what it is, as I just slipped it in by hand, and it would pass all of the way to the other side of the barrel, so it is clear.

I have not had a misfire since I switched to 3f for primer powder, and except for one failure to fire the pan of powder, and that was caused by a dirty flint,  I believe. I hope to go hunting or at least find some time to shoot it some more, this weekend.

If it was mine, I would probaby take it out  to a #51 at least, but I recond I will leave it alone since I intend to send it back.

I may get some 4f and see how that works, but for now, I am stuck with 3f.

[tg]

You may find the 3f works as well, I like it particularly in damp weather but I made my vent hole  5/64  and coned a bit on the inside, with large sparky locks many use this size hole or maybe a size smaller, some a size bigger.

[hawkeye]

All my touch holes are 5/64" except my Brown Bess which has a 3/32" hole. In a musket, the most important thing is to go off every time. Of course, I use 2f for both primer and main charge during reenactments. For range/hunting/target shooting, I use 2f main charge and 3f prime.

[James Kelly]

While I'd like to use FFg in my main charge, with my .40 Pedersoli I get fewer flash-in-the-pans when the main charge is FFFg.

More convenient to prime w FFFg, don't have to mess with separate horn.
However, Swiss NulB is the fastest prime I know. On humid days, down by the Clinton River in SE Michigan, my pan fouling can get pretty moist, may affect the NulB

But to minimize Flash-in-pan I find loading with FFFg good, also prick the touchole with a sharp copper wire until I feel it grind into the charge.

The prime is going to bank or not, however it feels, IMHO, as you move around with the primed rifle.