coneing a touch hole without an insert

[Stubert]

I have seen pictures of old tools for coneing the inside of a barrels touch hole. I was wondering if they ever coned the outside. I ask because my flinter only has a drilled hole in it, and I was wondering if coning the outside would speed it up.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Very well could speed things up.
I coned the outside of the touch hole on my fowler by just using a larger drill bit and being careful to not drill too deeply. I believe it helped ignition quite a bit.

 

[Birddog6]

I have seen lots of them coned on the outside. I know of a rifle that John Bivins built & he coned the vent on the outside.
You can cone it easily on the outside with a countersink, or a drill bit, or you can buy a small tool from Tom Snyder & cone it on the inside. My preference would be the inside cone. Either way will improve the ignition speed, IMHO.

Keith Lisle

 

[Stubert]

I do not have a removable vent, just a drilled hole.

 

[ebiggs1]

“”¦ I was wondering if coning the outside would speed it up ...”

I think hole size has more to do with reliability than with speed of ignition. As to whether it speeds ignition or not I am undecided. I am also not convinced that coning either side speeds up ignition but I do think it helps reliability and that may be reason enough to warrant it to be done.
None of my flintlocks have a straight hole, they all have liners. But that gives me an easy, cheap, way to try different ways of using them.
My preferred choice, is a #50 hole and coned on both sides. :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

I think a small inside cone would be better there was a tool made to do this but I do not recall anyone being able to plave this in the Americas in the 18th century which reall makes little difference probably. One can make a tool to sue if the breech plug is out by flattening a finish nail and making one and tempering shaping to suit. I do yhink an outer cone would be better thna no cone. I have done that to a couple of linerless guns I have had in the past. It did to help with consistancy on one gun which had problems with this but a hole a size or two below 5/64 may so as well if the current hole is 1/16 or only a bit larger.I amprett sure it cannot hurt if done proberly and to the correct depth.Any difference in speed may be hard to determine without high speed photo gear.I would not hesitate to pen the hole up if small and comne it a bit on the out side, if it were mine based on past experience.

 

[wattlebuster]

I have a smoothbore that has a outside cone an I am very happy with the ignition speed and the reliability. The next gun I build I will put a inside cone with one of Toms tools that Keith talked about. If I dont like it I can always put in a white lightning. I think you would improve yours if you did put a cone to it :thumbsup:

 

[floyd1350]

if it is a caywood rifle you would do well to contact them before you do anything to the barrel. i mention this because he does not install liners and if you install one in one of his barrels you void the warrantee. good website to check out anyway. caywoodguns.com

 

[Bruce Bogart]

I just finished coning the interior of the touch hole yesterday with one of Tom Snyders tools. Very easily done. I was very slow doing it as it was my first using this method. I have yet to shoot this gun, but from visual observation it appears to be coned just like a White Lightening liner. Time will tell

 

[rabjr]

Tom Snyder makes a neat little tool that cones the inside of the vent hole similar to a Chambers White Lightning that works great. :thumbsup: But this requires you taking the breech plug out to do it, not something for everyone but for those not wanting a vent liner, its worth the procedure. :thumbsup:

 

[rich pierce]

Does anyone find that an outside cone traps fouling while shooting? Harder to wipe clean?

 

[tg]

I have not found the cone hard to wipe, I did not like the allen wrench type for this reason though, a wider size couner sink allows easier wiping I would think, within then limitations of the lock and such.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I coned the outside of a vent on my repro Brown Bess. I believe that it considerably increased reliability and ignition speed. I did not experience more fouling; matter of fact it made it quicker to clear with whisk or pick IMHO.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Tom Snyder makes a neat little tool that cones the inside of the vent hole ...

Does anyone know how one may contact Tom?

 

[rabjr]

Send him an email asking about his tool, he sends you a reply listing them and prices.

[email protected]

 

[Stony]

I used a dremel and a cone shaped drill to cone my touch hole. Improved ignition immeasurably. The day before had 2 flash in the pans for every shot that went off. Day after, not one flash in the pan.

 

[Vaino]

Rec'd the small and medium sized cutters from Tom Snyder and they're excellent quality. Haven't used them yet, but will shortly. Have been using the "White Lightning" TH liners which are stainless steel and to many that's a big advantage. Whereas the TH land on a "WL" is approx .03 if installed properly, I think .06 would be better w/ the internal cone seeing it's just bbl steel......Fred

 

[rich pierce]

Fred, by the "land" do you mean the part of the touchhole that remains unconed and that determines the diameter of the hole? In using Tom Snyder's tool the first time I left about half the wall thickness unconed at first and tested how ignition felt. On a .54 caliber barrel 1.125" thick at the breech the barrel wall is about 0.172" thick, so 3/32" was about half that. I didn't like it and went further to about 1/16" as you suggested and felt that sped up the timing. Wish I'd had Pletch there but he's worked out a lot of this already. At this stage of life, 200 rounds a year is the most I could shoot from any gun so probably don't need to worry about burnout.

 

[Bruce Bogart]

I think Mr Snyder suggests leaving approximately .025 -.050 unconed. That's what took me so long to do mine as I'd cone for a bit then measure, then cone, then measure. Turns out I stopped at approx .040. Haven't shot it yet, so the jury is still out.

 

[ebiggs1]

Mr. Pletcher,
Sounds like a new test is in order!
My gut feeling on this is, it isn't any faster or possibly it is in the world of computer timing but not in the real world. Kind of like the 4f vs 3f prime. Yes, 4f is faster but is it really noticeably faster?

On the other hand I do believe it does make the gun more reliable. I simply never have FTF's anymore. I am to the point I don't even think about it. It WILL shoot.