Touch hole / vent liner

[Thunderhawk1828]

I just purchased a Lyman Great Plains Flintlock - .54 caliber and took it out for our monthly club shoot.
Had some problems with quick ignition (numerous flash.............bang) and after changing the factory flint to a "normal" 5/8 flint had better ignition but not great by any stretch even after cleaning the touch hole after evey other shot. Powder: Barrell - 2F and priming with 4F.

As such I want to enlarge the touch hole. Problem is I am not what anyone would call "hands on" around / with tools. I do have an electronic hand drill and have seen others "drill out" the touch hole and have ignition greatly increased. So the question is how do I do it? drill bit size? How far into the barrell without hitting the breach / barrell?

Also I have read of a touch hole liner? what is that and the advantage / use of it?

I have shot percussion for many years and while it is great, I relly enjoy shooting, handling, etc the flintlock. So any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks for any / all responses.

Thunderhawk 1828

[Bigsmoke]

Best advice I can think of is to get a numeric drill set.  That is instead of 3/32, 5/16, 7/8" etc, the drill bits are numbered 32, 57, 15 whatever.
Find the numbered bit that just fits into the touch hole, and then go up a size or two and using your portable drill, open it up to that size.  Best done at the range on a slow day.  Then fire off a few shots to see what sort of results you get.
As far as drilling too far into the barrel, I don't think that should be a problem, but to be sure, hold the drill bit so that it is at about center of the barrel/bore and put black tape around the bit at the point where the edge of the barrel is.  When the drill bit gets to the tape, you have gone far enough.
The rifle is equipped with a touch hole liner already.  It is probably still pretty clean.  I would take it out of the barrel and coat the threads with some sort of anti seize compound to keep it from getting welded in place.  Choke lube is good for this.  What the touch hole liner is, is the stainless steel bushing that mates up with the flash pan of the lock.
Let us know how this helps the performance of your rifle.
The nice thing about having touch hole liners doing this is that if you do drill too big a hole, the liner is easily replaced.  Replacements can be gotten from Lyman, Dixie, Track, etc.
Caveats:  The larger the touch hole is, the more it is going to spit when fired.  Be especially considerate of people standing to the side of the rifle.  Also, the larger the touch hole, the more gas is going to be spit out the side, thus slowing the velocity of the ball.  It is not much, but it will make a slight difference.  If you are just shooting offhand, it is no big deal.  If you are shooting serious bench rest, it might matter.
Wishing you more satisfaction with flinters than I ever had.  For the life of me, I just cannot become one with a rock lock.  And I have surely tried.
John

[Semisane]

Thunderhawk, I have a .50 and a .54 GP flintlock and know what you are going through.

Lyman flintlocks have factory installed touch hole liners that are have a slot for a flat blade screwdriver. Take it out and replace it with a hex socket liner from RMC and your ignition problems will be solved. The RMC liner uses an Allen wrench for installation. The correct size wrench comes with the liner.

RMC Flintlock Touch Hole Liner Replacements

For one thing, the hex socket liner is easier to remove and reinstall if you wish to take it out when cleaning the gun (or if you need to trickle some powder behind a ball that you mistakenly loaded without powder). For another, the RMC liner is simply a better more efficient design. The hex socket acts as a funnel directing flame to the main charge. Plus, the back side of the liner is coned, which aids ignition.

If you haven't removed the factory touch hole liner before, you might want to put a bit of Liquid Wrench or some other penetrating on it, and let it sit for an hour or so before taking a screw driver to it. Be sure to use a well fitting flat blade screw driver.

[Hanshi]

In the past I've always drilled out the liner hole with a 1/16" drill bit and had excellent and fast ignition.  You don't actually need to replace the liner unless something is wrong with it or if you've made the vent hole too large.

[Thunderhawk1828]

Thanks guys - I will take all of the advice.  I'll get the proper drill bits as well as get a replacement touch hole and go with whatever is best.

While not a gifted "fix-er" person, need to learn sometime.

Thanks again.

Thunderhawk1828