just a thought in flashguards, I see so many people putting WAY too much powder in the pan. Even guys who do videos (no, I am not busting on my friend
@B P Maniac Shooter ). I’ve watched guys just fill the pan. The photos above… Lotsa powder
perhaps, if one used less. Try that. Really. And then close the frizzen and tap the other side to move the powder away from the touch hole. Try that. Or don’t. What do I know?
At reenactments, you’re not going to get them to do away the rule about flash guards. Too many lawyers involved and the Aunt Mary pearl clutchers who worry and freak out at things. If they want to end direct combat or having native reenactors, do ya think they will stop on flash guards?
Speaking of using too much powder in a pan - try this:
• open you frizzen, lick your thumb, and on a clean pan wipe the pan with your moistened thumb
• power powder in the pan and close the pan. Give it a shake back and forth if you like.
• Now open the frizzen and turn the pan upside down to dump out the powder.
• look at the pan and you should see some granules of powder stuck to the pan.
• Close the pan; pull the cock back to full cock position; and fire it.
Went off didn't it?
Now do the same thing and turn it upside down to fire it.
Worked again didn't it.
I've forgotten who it was, but back in 2004 when I first came onboard here, I was having trouble getting my Traditions Pennsylvania Longrifle to fire. It has a very small lock and really does not like to cooperate if you fill it full. Not long after trying that myself I started only filling it half-full and it went off much more reliably. Down the road a piece, on another suggestion from a Forum member, after filling it half full, I'd close the pan and give a quick flick of my wrist to the right. When I opened the pan to look at that, I saw the powder was banked to the outside half of the pan leaving a blank space in between the powder and the touch hole. I gave it a try and it worked perfectly. The theory with banking the powder to the right was that it gives the flash immediate access and a clear path to the touch hole without having to burn a lot of powder to get to that opening. Using that technique with the small lock on my Traditions longrifle bore that out. In fact, after I learned that trick, I always used it and never again had a problem with a flash in the pan or a fuse effect from too much powder in the pan (pssssssst-BOOM). As long as I loaded it half-full and gave it that quick flick, that tiny pan on the Traditions longrifle worked great and reliably.
A few years later I bought an Early Lancaster rifle from a private builder here on the forum (screenname was "tg") and it uses an L&R Queen Anne lock. The pan on that is about 4 times the size of that pistol-sized lock that traditions uses on their longrifles. That lock doesn't care how much or how little powder I put in it, or whether I give the rifle that quick wrist-flip to position the powder to the far side of the pan. As long as I have a good flint, I just goes off every time. Doesn't care how much or how little powder I put in it, it just works (great lock)!
So, two points here:
1: It doesn't take nearly as much powder as you think it might to give you a good flash and consistent ignition of the main charge.
2: Different locks have different idiosyncrasies and you need to learn what your lock likes. Some are real picky and some just don't give a
working fine with as little or as much as you want to feed it.
