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Hooked Breech Plug Flintlock Question

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cannonball1

cannonball1

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I am making a 58 caliber flintlock. I have purchased a hooked flintlock L&R breech. There is a 3/8" vent hole cavity. When the breech is in place this leaves a ledge from cavity to the .58 inside of the barrel. My question is do most leave the ledge or taper the barrel side of the breech so the powder flows to the bottom? Does it matter?
 
I have notched a breech plug like you suggested to have a direct path for the powder to flow to the touch hole. This notching is pretty common. I got my measurements just a little off when I drilled my touch hole for a liner and ended up with a slight "ledge" with the breech plug installed like you have in your gun. I made my notch at about a 45 degree angle from the center of the breech face to the touch hole, I used a small round file. I marked the material to be removed with a sharpie while the breechplug was in.

You will have to make sure your liner is short enough to not get into the barrel and bottom out on the plug threads.

A friend gave me this gun before he died, Apparently the touchhole was drilled for the liner while the plug was in place so the notch was drilled into breechplug. The gun goes off like a percussion gun so I left the protruding liner just like it was when my friend gave it to me.

large barrel.JPG
 
Last edited:
@cannonball1, yes, having the notch in the breech face matters. You need to have the full flow of powder to the touch hole as you can get. Historically, notched plugs were common. You should get a wire brush for cleaning the tips of welders or airbrushes to wipe the touch hole to remove fouling that can collect there. As a benefit, the notch directs powder to the touch hole and improves ignition.
 
If you're talking about a chambered breach plug then I would say yes. Once again photos would make things clearer.
 
@cannonball1, what you are proposing is fundamentally sound and will improve the flow of powder into the chambered breech. You will still need to keep the chamber clean. Usually this is done with a brush the size of the chamber and a blast of compressed air through the nipple. You might be able to avoid clogging the touch hole with fouling by not wiping between shots. Accuracy may fall off slightly during a target shoot but won't really matter in hunting situations or shooting at reactive targets. You could also use a turned down jag for wiping between shots. The reduced diameter jag and damp patch will pass over the fouling and the patch will gather up on the jag and pull fouling out. The pressures from shooting tend to keep the flash channel clear and you are not pushing fouling into the chambered breech.
 
cannonball1, nice sketch, a perfect illustration of the question. The slight bevel on the mouth of the chamber makes good sense. One thing to be careful of is to keep the outside edge of the bevel a little inside of the top of the lands. If you make the outside edge of the bevel to wide you would leave ledge on the backside of the lands that could grab a cleaning patch and pull it off the jag.
 
Makes sense. In research, it looked as if most times they didn't even worry about the taper. What worried me is if the taper is to gradual a jag could get stuck if pushed hard. Thanks Ya all for your input.
 

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