.20ga. Virginia Smooth bore

[Hoyt]

Got through putting my .20ga. Virginia smooth bore together yesterday and went today to give it a try and work up some gobbler loads.
I staked it down on a pile of clothes and ran a bungie cord across the barrel..put another bundle at the base of a pine tree for the stock to recoil into.
Tied a string to the trigger and got behind tree. It was not even a flicker of hesitation between the lock and main charge..worked perfect.
I later had some miss-fires but was the flints causing them. Something is not right with my flints..TOW.. Tom Fuller English Flints. Supposed to be for a Large Siler, (3/4"x7/8") which I have..but they don't come close to butting up against the jaw screw see picture

and I can't get them screwed down tight enough to keep them from moving when they strike the frizzen..any help on this would be appreciated as today is the first time I ever shot a flintlock.
Got a good gobbler load worked up though and rubbed some dirty patches on the hardware to try and get some of the shine off..that color stock blends in pretty good with the leaves, etc. Gun and target
Target

 

[Rebel]

Looks like you need a larger flint. It isn't setting back in the jaw far enough to tighten it good. When you say 3/4"x7/8" is the 3/4" the width? If so is it as wide as the frizzen? You may need to go with the next larger size flint. Nice looking gun though. Looks like a prety good pattern. Did you try it with rd. balls?

 

[fatboy]

Nice looking peice you got there! cant tell by the pic but do you have a pc of leather around the flint? You can flatten out a ball and trim and shape to fit for the flint too.

 

[Hoyt]

The flint is 3/4" wide..same as frizzen is..and 7/8" long. For me to get it as close as it should be to the frizzen..almost touching..it leaves about 3/16" from the back of flint..leather..to the jaw screw. I'm using the size TOW recommends for the Large Siler..but think I need to go with 7/8" wide by 1"long and just let it extend a little past the right side of my frizzen.
I didn't try any roundballs..got some .610's but no patches.
The turkey load I decided on..is.. 80grs. of ff, (primed with fff) 1 thin over shot card, 3 1000 plus Wonder Wads..of which one is inserted into a glued roll of post-it. I then used 100grs. by volume nickle plated no. 6's poured into the post-it and then 20grs. by volume nickle plated no. 4's on top of the 6's. I precut the post it about a 1/4" above the shot. Eased the paper cup of shot down the barrel and one thin over shot card on top..makes for a small crimp with the 1/4" extra paper cup.
It held a good pattern with good penetration out to about 35 long steps.

Yes..It has a pc. of leather..I thought about maybe cutting a pc. of wood and putting it between the flint and jaw screw.

 

[silverfox]

Hoyt: Beautiful Gun and that would be one dead turkey. Your not alone I just started with the flint thing and glad to see we have the same problem almost. My flint is just to long so will get some shorter ones, but I can't get them to stay tite either. One shot tighten, and realine flint so come on guys help us out. How tite is tite and how many shots should you expect without having to check the flint for position and sharpness.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[No Deer]

on my fusil I can get at least 15 shots before i worry about the flint becoming loose. I regularly shoot well in excess of 20 shots without having to knap it. Also, can shoot all day without swabbing the bore, one of the nice advantages of a smoothbore :imo:
No Deer

 

[Rebel]

I normally get 15-20 shots before i have to worry about the flint loosening up. I use a fairly thick piece of leather, and torque it down pretty tight. If you have bad humps on the flint it makes it hard to get then to tighten down right. A Mizzy wheel in a Dremel will grind the humps off in just a few seconds. I can shoot all day without wiping the bore with the loads i use. That is a pretty stout shot load you are using. 120 grs by volume is about 1 5/8 oz of shot.

 

[Bob J]

You're probably aware but I'll mention that, to effectively make the flint "shorter", you can cut a slot in the leather that wraps the flint where it butts against the screw (so that it will slide back further).

 

[Hoyt]

That is a pretty stout shot load you are using. 120 grs by volume is about 1 5/8 oz of shot.

Yeah it's 1-5/8oz...I kinda eased up to it. It's what Roundball uses in his .20ga. smooth bore only he uses all No. 6's and he said his load was good to 40yds. I think he uses a little different shot column than I did today.

 

[musketman]

I can't get them screwed down tight enough to keep them from moving when they strike the frizzen..

I noticed that your jaw screw has a hole through it's side, use this and a round steel bar to torque the padded flint into place instead of the screwdriver slot in the top of the screw...

You can get more leverage this way...

 

[Hoyt]

I used a big pair of vice grips today..I'm afraid I'm going to bend or break the cock.
I may have just sloved the slipping problem. I used a pc. of car tire innertube..the best material for uninvented gadgets...seems to be holding better than the leather. Still think I may need a longer flint though.

 

[musketman]

I used a big pair of vice grips today..I'm afraid I'm going to bend or break the cock.

Vise Grips will scratch the screw and mar it up...

Hope they were padded at least...

A strong rod can be inserted through the screw and used like a T-handle, this will save the screw's finish and keep it looking crisp and factory fresh...

 

[Rebel]

I use a hardened drift punch that came with an SKS that i put an antler handle on to tighten them. Works great. :m2c:

 

[tg]

When extending flints out away from the screw it becomes harder to keep them tight, I have had several Silers and never had any trouble with the 3/4 flints...have you tried letting them set back and not be concerned about the "gap" between the flint and steel I have some locks that have a large gap and still work fine, try the flint bevel up and down.

 

[Hoyt]

TG..I haven't tried them set back with the large gap. All I read is to put them almost touching the frizzen so that's what I've strived for. If that will work it's fine with me. I just can't figure why I got a large gap if I got a Large Siler and 3/4"Wx7/8"L English Flints. If I turn them over with angle on bottom it puts the edge of flint about 3/8" from top of frizzen and throws the sparks past the pan.

 

[roundball]

TG..I haven't tried them set back with the large gap. All I read is to put them almost touching the frizzen so that's what I've strived for. If that will work it's fine with me. I just can't figure why I got a large gap if I got a Large Siler and 3/4"Wx7/8"L English Flints. If I turn them over with angle on bottom it puts the edge of flint about 3/8" from top of frizzen and throws the sparks past the pan.

...agree...if you turn them over AND slide them back they might work great...even though the flint edge will be higher with it turned over, if the edge is further back from the frizzen, they'll travel farther in the hammer arc before they hit the frizzen and might impact right back down where you want them to

 

[CoyoteJoe]

So what's with the #4 shot atop the #6? If you actually needed the increased penetration of #4 you don't have near enough of them to be of any use. Mixed shot size makes no sense. Yes, I know Remington loads shotshells with mixed sizes but that still don't make it a resonable thing to do. If you need the penetration of #4 then the #6 count for nothing and if you need the pattern density of #6 then the #4's only detract from that. :imo:

 

[tg]

The one absolute in this game is that there are no absolutes... most everything in print is general when it comes to most of the do's and don'ts with the exception of many safety issues.

 

[[email protected]]

jest gotta say " WOW...THAT SURE IS PRETTY !!!!!

***WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[Hoyt]

So what's with the #4 shot atop the #6? If you actually needed the increased penetration of #4 you don't have near enough of them to be of any use. Mixed shot size makes no sense. Yes, I know Remington loads shotshells with mixed sizes but that still don't make it a resonable thing to do. If you need the penetration of #4 then the #6 count for nothing and if you need the pattern density of #6 then the #4's only detract from that.

I use the #4's for a little extra distance..when the #6's loose their effectiveness the #4 reach out a little further..it only takes one to the head in the right spot. The load patterns better in my gun than the same amount of #6's. The only time I used it on a gobbler it killed him dead.