Big flash, no boom

[GB1]

Almost all of my ML experience has been percussion, but the flintlock bug has bitten me bad and I have a couple of questions:

If you use a main charge of 3F or 2F and prime with 4F, how often do you have misfires?

If you use a main charge of 3F and prime with the same, how often do you have misfires?

 

[Claude Mathis]

If you use a main charge of 3F or 2F and prime with 4F, how often do you have misfires?

If you use a main charge of 3F and prime with the same, how often do you have misfires?

I've noticed no difference using FFg or FFFFg to prime. If my touch hole is clear and I get a good spark, the gun will fire. I load and prime with FFg.

 

[ValleyForge]

As long as I have a decent flint & a clear touch-hole (sounds downright pornographic), I don't get misfires. Usually if I run a couple of patches down the barrel and clear the touch-hole with my Track-of-the-Wolf iron toothpick before starting shooting, I'm pretty good as far as ignition goes.

Whether I hit anything is another story.

- VF

 

Myself I see a difference in the powder I prime with, that

 

[bob1961]

i used to prime with 4f and shoot 3f in the main charge and one day at the range i ran out of 4f and tried some 3f for the pan and found no difference in the timing of the shot and no missfires....and i use goex...........................bob

 

[musketman]

If you use a main charge of 3F or 2F and prime with 4F, how often do you have misfires?

If you use a main charge of 3F and prime with the same, how often do you have misfires?

I would say that if you prime and do nothing more, you will have more misfires with FFFFg thag FFFg or FFg, mostly because FFFFg draws moisture from the air easier than the other two can...

What to do?

While out hunting, every half hour or so, dump the old FFFFg from the pan and reprime...

This ensures you have a fresh prime ready for when that one shot is needed...

 

[Claude Mathis]

While out hunting, every half hour or so, dump the old FFFFg from the pan and reprime...

A prime example of good advise as always. ::

 

[rrgr40]

What size touch hole are you working with Mr. Mathis. And what size would you reccomend on a rifle that is shooting 3f powder. I'll tell ya why real quick. I switched from 2f to 3f in my long rifle and noticed that some 3f would push thru the hole, enough to set off the charge. Shot 8 shots without priming before the fouling got in the way. :m2c:

 

[Rat]

Well I would say that if the flint is sharp, the frizzen is clean, the touch-hole is not too small and is clear, then igintion should be 100%. Not gonna settle for 99.9%!! Maybe smaller locks are "different", but my big old Brown Bess musket lock NEVER miss-fires, unless I'm target shooting and I've just about beat the flint to death. New or fresh/sharp flint, clear touch hole, proper amount of prime, clean frizzen...always fires. Every time.

What I have been using for priming powder is to take some fffg and put it on a plate, and crush it up with a spoon. I'm not talking about going ape and totally crushing it into a fine powder, just generally crushing it up finer than 3f. This works great for me, and "seems" to flash "harder", or brigter than fffg or ffffg. I use ffg, or fg for my main charge. (depending on shot or ball) If I used fffg I'd probably just prime from the main charge, military style, as I use paper cartridges. But for hunting I like to use paper cartridges, and prime from a small priming horn. I'm not sure if fg of ffg would be as reliable or as fast as my "crushed" fffg, but I have no reason to find out. Works for me. Ignition with my musket is VERY fast.

Yes when hunting, check the prime frequently. I don't actually dump mine unless I actually see some clumping. But if I have the slightest doubt...I don't hesitate to dump the pan and re-prime. But I don't think you have to automatically dump the prime every half hour or whatever.

Rat

 

[Claude Mathis]

What size touch hole are you working with...

About 7/64th.

 

[Stumpkiller]

About 7/64th.

Yeah! Now that's a Man's touch hole! Claude didn't tell you that the hat shown in his Avatar used to have a full brim.

Personally, I like 'em in that range (3/32" to 7/64") as I'll trade reliable ignition for a little more flash and a tiny pressure drop-off every time.

 

[musketman]

Yeah! Now that's a Man's touch hole!

So 9/16 is a tad large? :crackup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Bigger than my .54 cal's . . . BORE! :shocking: You been honkin down on that vent pick WAY to hard.

 

[musketman]

Well, that's so whan the elk is sneaking past your right side, you can still shoot it with your frizzen when its blown off...

 

[Claude Mathis]

About 7/64th.

Yeah! Now that's a Man's touch hole! Claude didn't tell you that the hat shown in his Avatar used to have a full brim.

Personally, I like 'em in that range (3/32" to 7/64") as I'll trade reliable ignition for a little more flash and a tiny pressure drop-off every time.

I believe mine was 3/32" when it was new. ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

No worries. The bigger it gets, the less erosion effects it. :haha:

 

[Zonie]

I would think with a 7/64 dia touch hole, you wouldn't have to even bother priming the pan. That is .109 diameter! It has three times the open area that a 1/16 diameter hole has.
No wonder that it has no misfires.

I suppose in a really big bore like a .69 or .75 it isn't really "too big", but the flame out of that thing must be enough to start a timber fire if you fire it while standing next to a dry bush. :shocking:

 

: 3 times the vent area - interesting, I wonder what Stummpy's miniscule pressure loss really is. Actually, that's probably a very good idea with some of the guns on the market today. Perhaps ALL production guns should come with 7/64" vents. Losing 3 times the pressure out the vent would certainly lower their breech presures by that amount.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I fear throwing numbers out with you around (don't you just hate the guys who CHECK! :haha, but I have heard a 0.10" vent suffers 10% pressure loss over a similar rig but in percussion. That is a old and well mis-used rule-of-thumb I gathered from somewhere.