Finally got my shotgun, need deciphering.

[Sparkitoff]

My own Purdey also has a vent hole in the platinum plug. Looking at old patents, the little hole was to provide the circulation of air to enhance the volume and temperature of the cap burst; channel and direct excess gas to prevent blow back through the peg and thus the cock, and relieve back pressure of powder gases upon firing.

Someone thought that little vent was important and served multiple purposes. The nearest modern rendition in America is the hot shot tour nipple that is vented.

 

[Andrewmtnman]

Thats a beauty! I bet that would make a fun turkey hunt

 

[DuncNZ]

I was at the range this morning and watched the caplock shooters , I checked 8 different shooters and none had cap flash which went in a long straight line , all the flash was evenly around the nipple and would have been no more than 1/8" long

 

[okawbow]

Probably has a nipple with a hole drilled in the side.

 

[TreeMan]

Probably has a nipple with a hole drilled in the side.

My dad and I shot this shotgun for two hours yesterday. There are no vents/plugs, no cracks, and no nipples with holes in them. Nothing at all wrong with the gun. I watched and videoed. Never seen anything like in the previous picture. Don’t know what the strange spark was in the pic I posted which was a screenshot of a frame out of the video. Must have been a fluke of some sort or an image carried over from a previous frame of the video. Calm down everyone if it was gonna blow up it would have yesterday. We ran about 25 shots out of each barrel. All good to go. Surprisingly this gun has a rust free barrel inside and out. The bore is smooth as glass. Very happy with it.

 

[okawbow]

I use a nipple with a hole drilled in the side on one of my rifles. It helps to blow the cap loose when fired. Its a purpose made improvement, not something wrong.

 

[TreeMan]

I use a nipple with a hole drilled in the side on one of my rifles. It helps to blow the cap loose when fired. Its a purpose made improvement, not something wrong.

I meant no offense. I know what those are. These fellas had me all stressed out so I burned a couple pounds of shot yesterday trying to replicate an issue that wasn’t there. Thanks for the input. All is good with it.

 

[Lorne Johnson]

Yeoow! Hopefully its just sideflame from the cap. If its a leaking blow out plug could be serious. Have seen nipples with side vents and solid plugs (sometimes in platinum) but never a vented plug. Consider investigating to see whats up. I close up pic of the lock/plug would be interesting

There was a period where quality guns were equipped with pierced platinum blow-out plugs. I have an 1850's example by Henry Egg. I'm not convinced that the blow-out plugs do anything. But, when I started shooting skeet with the gun in summers, I was struck by the air-stream which blew through my sock while I was loading.

 

[Lorne Johnson]

The cap flash is tiny and should have gone before the shot left the barrel . A lot of those guns had a vent hole it is tiny and can be concealed in the middle of a slot which looks like a screw driver slot . It is not a leak or a fault it is deliberate . If you don't have a vent then you have a problem .This is one of the very first Purdy caplock rifles .62 , you can see the vent as a line of carbon on the side of the platinum plug , it is a tiny pin hole almost impossible to see when clean . I have been sprayed from this vent on a regular basis , it isn't as bad as that from a flintlock . View attachment 134302

Yes, that is a pierced blow out cap. It was a "feature" in it's day. Earlier guns had a blow-out with no piercing, and later guns, generally did not have a platinum blow out. Neither the feature, nor its lack, seems to cause any problem.

 

[TreeMan]

Wanted to show y’all a pic showing there isn’t a blow out plug on this gun. Finally done a little patterning with it. 60 grains of 2F + 1 oz of 7.5 at 25 yards. One 1/8 nitro card over powder and two thin cards over shot. It’s actually a 15 gauge. Not bad for the first load I shot. I measured and remeasured the bore and ordered the cards from track of the wolf. They were right on the money.

 

[TFoley]

Don't need no blow-hole to get a bit of a blast from a percussion gun - this is a still from shooting my Musketoon a few years back -

 

[William Sublette]

The cap flash is tiny and should have gone before the shot left the barrel .

How long was the camera exposure?

 

[TreeMan]

How long was the camera exposure?

iPhone shutter speed for mine.

 

[CyrusP]

That’s a beautiful sxs! These remind me that Pedersoli copied this type when they built theirs and I could not be any happier with the result. May you have years of fun with that thing!

 

[Pukka Bundook]

Most of these platinum vents are plugged up, being so tiny , so a working one is a bonus.
Congrats on a good looking gun!