Harpers Ferry/ range update

[ridjrunr]

I stumbled on a 1807 marked HF pistol in .58 cal. and am curious what others ended up with for a load. Specifically ball size. Its got the shallowist rifleing I have seen. I went through my molds and the closest I have is .530 and will try that Sunday with a thick patch.
It is a Pedersoli made pistol.
Thanks for any help.
Ridjrunr

[AxelP]

I'd start with a .570 ball and whatever cloth patch will allow you to ram it home.
My 58 rifle with a Rice made 31" barrel seems to like a .570 ball and a .015 patch but it has deeper rifling probably.

My 50 cal rifle has shallow .008 rifling and it seems to prefer a bigger ball and a thinner patch.

Good luck!

K

[ridjrunr]

I will checkat cabelas tomarrow to see if they have a box of .570’s. My .530 will most likely be too small. Thanks Axel

[ridjrunr]

I have been working alot and hadnt gotten to trying this out until yesterday. I bypassed my idea of trying the .530's and my good friend Pick had some .575 rb he gave me.
Right out of the gate I had good results with a FF load of 30g and .008 patch. At 5 yrds standing, shooting 2 handed I had 3.5-4" group consistantly.
The touch hole is a bit low and forward and some of the shots were quite delayed and I did have a few clatches but never messed with flipping the flint around.
So the first outing was not too bad with a little room for improvement, clean up and polish the lock internals for one. I shot around 15-20 shots,all off hand.
I did try one shot with no patch and it put the ball about 6" or 7" high and rt of the group @1:30
One last thing, the geometry of hammer to pan and where the flint ends up isnt the greatest, but from what I understand that is true to design on both the HF pistol and 1803 rifle.

[Hank in WV]

ridjrunr, try taking a drill bit in your fingers and spin it lightly in the touch hole. It will cone the hole a little and may speed up your ignition.

[rollingb]

ridjrunr, try taking a drill bit in your fingers and spin it lightly in the touch hole. It will cone the hole a little and may speed up your ignition.

Another thing,... ignore the hogwash rumor that says having the pan's priming up next to the touch hole causes a "fuse effect" and slows ignition, that has been proven (by timed tests) to be a 20th. century "old wives tale".

Have you opened the touch hole up to 1/16", and are you usin' plenty of priming? I like my pan(s) about 2/3rds. full. Plenty of "heat" and a larger area of priming to "catch a spark".

You might try the things suggested, and if you're still getting "a few clatches" it could very well be a "spark problem". 

[ridjrunr]

ridjrunr, try taking a drill bit in your fingers and spin it lightly in the touch hole. It will cone the hole a little and may speed up your ignition.

Thanks Hank, I thought of my options and am concerned if I coned the outside and it didnt help that the cone angle maybe to far on the outside of the dia of a flashole liner put in the correct spot. If that makes sense. The length or geometry of thie hammer isnt helping any as after fireing, the flint is way forward of the pan , compared to other flintlocks I own.

[ridjrunr]

ridjrunr, try taking a drill bit in your fingers and spin it lightly in the touch hole. It will cone the hole a little and may speed up your ignition.

Another thing,... ignore the hogwash rumor that says having the pan's priming up next to the touch hole causes a "fuse effect" and slows ignition, that has been proven (by timed tests) to be a 20th. century "old wives tale".

Have you opened the touch hole up to 1/16", and are you usin' plenty of priming? I like my pan(s) about 2/3rds. full. Plenty of "heat" and a larger area of priming to "catch a spark".

I think the hole is 1/16 or more allready as a round toothpick slides right in with play. I will measure hole dia today. Another issue I have to watch is where the breech face is in relationship to current flashhole.

You might try the things suggested, and if you're still getting "a few clatches" it could very well be a "spark problem". 

[rollingb]

A toothpick is bigger than 1/16" so your vent hole is plenty big. 

Among the "timed tests" Pletcher has done with his high tech equipment, he also did some tests on various vent hole locations, and found them NOT to be as critical as once thought. 

If you're getting GOOD sparks, I'd try tilting the pistol to the "left then back" before pulling the trigger, and see if your problems disappear.

I have a couple of flinters too, that the flint edge points to the forward edge of the pan and they still fire reliably. I think sparks are landing in the priming powder before the cock even finishes it's complete travel, so I don't worry about it. 

[ridjrunr]

Agree on all accounts, and I think its most likly a combo of a couple things but it could use to have more spark for sure.

[rollingb]

it could use to have more spark for sure.

That narrows it down alot, and the 2 main things that create GOOD sparks are,.... a good
sharp flint, and a properly hardened frizzen.

I think that is where I'd concentrate my attention. 

[Winter Hawk]

That narrows it down alot, and the 2 main things that create GOOD sparks are,.... a good
sharp flint, and a properly hardened frizzen.

My thoughts also, and hardening the frizzen with kasenite might be worth a try.  I have head rumors that some of the imported locks have softer than appropriate frizzens.

-Kees-

[Bigsmoke]

I have kept out of this discussion as any input I might have would prove of no real value.
But FWIW, I recall having one of those pistols.  It was truly unpredictable.  This was about 1975 or so.  It was a surprising pistol.  Surprising in as much as if it ever fired, it was very surprising.  i think the record it had was between 45-50 hammer falls. 
So, if you are getting more shots than mis-fires, Dan, comparatively, you are doing great.  IIRC, I sold that pistol at a big loss, just to get rid of it.  And yes, I told the guy how unpredictable it was.  He was fine with that.  Never did hear if he was able to get it shooting or not.  Oh well.
John

[ridjrunr]

You input is always appreciated Bigsmoke, but that would hurt a little.40-50 clatches🤕 Luckily this one actually shot better than I was thinking it might considering the position of the touch hole. The lack of qc not normally what I expect from a Pedersoli.