Anyone convert a Traditions Kentucky Rifle from Percussion to Flint?

[Tumbledown]

Having one of each, and building another Kentucky rifle kit in percussion, I was wondering if converting the barrel to flint was as simple as removing the drum and adding a vent liner. This one is getting done as an early half stock, so I could make it either way.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Converting a Traditions Kentucky Rifle from percussion to flint is not necessarily as easy as removing the drum and adding a touch hole vent.

It all comes down to the breech. Does it have the CVA/Traditions chambered breech? If it does, then the drum has an extension that is threaded through the breechplug and into the side opposite the drum. es, the drum can be unthreaded. Doing so will violate the Traditions warranty. A touch hole liner with the correct threads can be purchased, but it will not have the length that goes through the breechplug and be drilled for access to the powder chamber.

This previous thread will give you some idea of the process although the description is of a Pedersoli chambered breech.

Hello All! jcs266 is right, it is a chambered breech very much like CVA but with a longer breech plug. I have one of the Pedersoli Hatfield rifles (same for Cabela's Blueridge or Pedersoli's Frontier rifle.) in .50 and the face of the breechplug is almost flat (very little coning) with a very narrow powder channel that was .218 in diameter. (see photos below.) This channel can easily get plugged with fouling causing ignition problems. I was never too keen on just how narrow the powder channel was so here are the before and after photos of my modificaton. You MUST first remove the liner or drum before attempting to remove the breech! This modification increased the powder channel to .326 diameter. (You must also shorten the liner or drum also.) Using a four jaw chuck in the old metal lathe, I drilled out the breech to the new diameter of .326. The hose clamp jig held the liner in place so it could be drilled to length at the same time. I tapered the new hole to funnel the powder charge into the channel easily. I think this improve ignition and allow a proper black powder brush in .32 caliber that will clean out this new chamber. I shudder to think what could happen if a modern .22 brush came apart in the old .218 diameter channel. I believe the Pedersoli military reproductions have a traditional breech and do not have this potential issue. Thanks to all, here are the photos... sorry about the duplicate photo.View attachment 73393View attachment 73393View attachment 73394

The CVA/Traditions patent breech. This will give you an idea of what has to be done.

For those who don't know, this is what a CVA style Ardesa breech plug and drum look like. Ardesa makes the same guns for Traditions now that CVA has stopped importing them.

View attachment 49087

If your rifle has a simple breech instead of the chambered breech, then the drum can be removed and a touch hole liner installed.

There have been examples of removing the CVA/Traditions drum and installing a simple touch hole liner and not worrying about having the touch hole liner extend through the breech plug. Not something that I would recommend.