Click....hissss....bang! CVA flint pistol video

[garandman]

Well, dad and I got to shoot his CVA for teh first time - which he built prolly 20 years ago.

Used Pyrodex P 3F as flash powder. it failed to fire more than it fires, but we were able to get about 8 rounds off in about an hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI5--adVElA

I guess there's a certain amount of conditioning a flintlock to fire consistently. Here's my guesses -

1. The striking surface that the flint hits has to get scored up a bit to get a good spark.

2. Maybe I should open up the flash hole a thousandth or two?

3. I'm sure we prolly didn't have the fint right. It sparked prolly 8 times out of 10.

4. Real flash powder would have helped.

Please feel free to educate me. Total flint newb.

Anyway, alot of fun with my dad.

 

[cynthialee]

I am a complete flintlock virgin. Never even held one. But I do know from reading the posts on this very forum that you need real black powder in your flash pan for reliable ignition.

 

[rawhide]

just what I thought I got the same gun cva kentucky pistol. well in mine I use goex FFFg and FFFFg in the pan gun goes off well now. I had to crown the touch hole. I shoot 15 grains and a cast .440 ball and .012 pillow ticking patch. pyrodx dosen't go off real well in flinters.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Don't use Pyroduh in a flinter.

In addition, there is a a great deal of simple little things to be done that can make ignition almost instant.

 

[rabjr]

Please use some real black powder in that thing....

 

[Trench]

Your main mistake was using the Pyrodex. You'll need real black powder and it'll work the way that God intended it too. :wink:

 

[Zonie]

Hodgdon powder company, the maker of Pyrodex and Seven7seven says both powders need to have a small amount of real black powder loaded into the barrel first if the gun is a flintlock. Then the pseudo black powder can be poured down the bore to bring it up to the desired powder load.

Hodgdon also does not recommend using either Pyrodex or 777 as a priming powder in the pan.

Real black powder can be a pain to find and you must ask for it at a gun store. They cannot have it sitting out with the other powders on the shelf.

 

[garandman]

In addition, there is a a great deal of simple little things to be done that can make ignition almost instant.

Which are ....what?

 

[cynthialee]

cool Zonie, you pre-answered a question I was gonna ask about adding a few grains of BP down the barrel to ignite pyrodex

 

[garandman]

Real black powder can be a pain to find and you must ask for it at a gun store. They cannot have it sitting out with the other powders on the shelf.

Just found a source today that stocks F to 4F.

 

[Zonie]

Sounds good!

My advice, especially to someone who doesn't own and shoot a lot of flintlocks is buy 3Fg powder only.

3Fg powder is almost as fast as 4F powder and it can be safely used for both main charges and for priming.

When I say "almost as fast" were talking about thousandths of a second in the speed of the pan lighting off from the frizzen sparks.

The 4F powder is not recommended for anything except priming flintlock pans and some very light loads in .31 caliber pistols.
For a large main powder charge in a barrel it can produce very high pressures and (so the folks who have tried it have told me) it can shoot rather erratically.

 

[garandman]

Sounds good!

My advice, especially to someone who doesn't own and shoot a lot of flintlocks is buy 3Fg powder only.

I picked up some Goex 3F today, and now I'm looking for a flinter pistol of my own.

 

[Trench]

You'll be amazed at how fast it will go off, all things being equal.

I went through your list of thoughts again. You don't want the frizzen scored. Smoother, the better. You'll see cuts in the frizzen from use, but you don't want scoring or chatter marks if at all possible.

 

[ian45662]

Great video! Keep them coming.

 

[DUSTY 14]

may have a little to much powder in the primer pan as well. you want a spark to jump in there and it looks like the powder is burning for a while till it gets below the touchhole. 3 grain measure away from the barrel is often the best and all one needs

 

[garandman]

may have a little to much powder in the primer pan as well. you want a spark to jump in there and it looks like the powder is burning for a while till it gets below the touchhole. 3 grain measure away from the barrel is often the best and all one needs

More good info - thanx!

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The pan in most of those old CVA flint pistols was very shallow anyway. You want just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Even just a single layer of powder grains.

What kind of touch hole do you have. The early CVA flint kits had builders drilling a straight hole into the powder chamber. A touch hole should be just above the bottom of the pan and after powder and ball are loaded, a few grains of powder should be visible just inside the touch hole. However, if you have just a straight 1/16 hole, the powder lined up in there can also act like a fuse and add time to the delay between hammer fall and main charge ignition. If that is the case consider adding a touch hole liner that is coned from the inside. Pay attention to where to drill and tap for the liner, so the hole will be at the proper height and place.

Also what type of flints are you using. the old CVA frizzens did better with English flints. The cut TC style flints can chew up a frizzen face.