Couple more flintlock questions

[Joel/Calgary]

...Someone has filed a notch in the pan below the vent I suppose in some effort to improve ignition. Looks nasty and collects crud rapidly so I'm going to have to do something about that.

It probably is gas cutting. I have seen it on several locks where the touch hole is set too low. You should be able to deepen the pan and remove it as long as the edge of the pan is still on the flat.

I've seen a few Frontier/BlueRidge rifles with low touch holes, and they all have had an identical "flaring" of the lower edge of the touchhole against the barrel, below the bottom of the touchhole and not a gas-cutting groove, so it looks like Pedersoli is doing this fudge at the factory. All the ones I've seen like this are 13/16" barrels, where the bottom of the touchhole liner actually extends below the edge of the side flat.

Regards,
Joel