A flash in the pan...

[Stumpkiller]

What Dan said. I fill the pan just to the point I know the frizzen isn't being kept from closing fully.

If you are getting pan flashes it's a vent issue. If you are just getting "klacks" it is a frizzen hardness or lock geometry problem (and you may discover a vent problem once that is ceared up).

I bought a new flint fowler with a Chambers Virginia lock last year. In 300 +/- shots I have had one pan flash and one klack. Just as a test I fired 30 for 30 without wiping the frizzen or pan or giving any attention to the vent. That's the kind of reliability that makes you love a firearm.

My first flinter was a Dixie Tennessee Rifle and I got 50% ignition. VERY disappointing. I wish I had that rifle back as I've learned a lot in the interveining 25 years and lacked a resource like this forum for help.

Don't give up without a fight. When you get them performing a flinter is a joy to use.

 

[garandman]

[There is no truth to the myth that piling priming away from the vent helps. It SLOWS ignition if anything. Having the vent covered with priming powder makes no difference in speed (another myth) but may increase reliability.

If the whole goal is to get a spark into the flash hole, it just makes sense to have your powder near that hole.

So buy French flints

Source?

...grinding powder to dust to make priming is counter productive.


Dan

Grinding black powder just seems like a bad idea all around - pressure, impact, heat and friction with uncontained black powder all seem like a good way to end up sooty.

Thanx for the detailed response

 

[Stony]

Ebiggs, please note I did not claim that banking away from the touch hole is the ONLY way to go. I stated that each gun/lock is different and one should try different locations to find the best place/method for his/her gun/lock. My recommendations are based on over 40 years of shooting experience and over 25 years experience as a range officer on a black powder only shooting range. I am not debating the finer points, just offering some recommendations. And for the record, at the range where I shoot, you may only prime once you are on the firing line. I know where my prime is located.

 

[Dphar]

...and other flintlock ignition issues.

(I did search the "Tips" thread, but there ALOT of stuff in there...figgered it would be easier to ask a direct Q )

Being new to flints, I was hoping some could help me set up the flint position, type of flint, best powder, amount / orientation of powder, "truing up" a flint, and anything else that would help maximize the probability of ignition.

Help greatly appreciated.

Fill the pan at least 2/3 full. Where to place it?
OVER the vent is faster than away from it.

Us FFFF or Swiss Null B. Powders finer than Null B are slower. Don't use so much that its packed when the frizzen closes.
I use French Flints they spark better.
The British Army used them throughout the American Revolution. The current English flint did not exist until about 1800 BTW, English flints prior to that were "spalls" not flaked.
Flints should be installed flat side up. This is documented back to the era. If the lock insists on sparking better with the flint upside down then the lock is out of tune. MANY LOCKS TODAY HAVE COCKS THAT ARE TOO LARGE. Or the cock jaw is at the wrong angle to the frizzen or the frizzen is too flat etc etc.

The L&R lock pictured above generally works better if the front leg of the cock is sawn through with a hacksaw, the gap bent shut and welded. Great improved the speed and reliability of one I built on a rifle years ago.

Flint striking at or below mid point of the frizzen is a mistake. But lots of people like them like this I guess.
Vent liners. Removable liners with screw driver slots are less reliable than this.

The screw slot increases fouling around the vent and this causes problems.
This type vent will work with a .040" hole about as well a plain vent. In a test of actual shooting it went 10 shots with no picking or other fiddling with it. Finally flashed on shot 11. This could have been internal fouling too.
Vents over .062 are simply not needed and will even pass FF Swiss at .070. I have a rifle with a .070 +- vent and in an Easy Rider Rifle rack it will through powder out the vent on rough roads to collect in the gun cover.

So fill the pan with priming.
Use a GOOD flint.
Keep the flint tight enough it will not move in the jaws.
Use a good vent liner properly installed so that the prime is no more.030 from the main charge in the vent's internal counterbore. (should not be less than about .020 though)
In high humidity clean the pan and maybe the vent every shot.

If the gun does not work it needs help.
Dan

 

[garandman]

Dan Phariss -

Thanx. Very thorough and insightful.