Flintlock loading technique...pick in?

[Sparkitoff]

When loading, do you put a pick in the touch-hole first and then pour powder and seat the patched ball? Or do you drop powder, seat the patched ball and then shove a pick in the touch-hole? I've heard (and now have seen) both and am curious which way you do it and why. Any other tidbits of technique for "picking" the touch-hole? Thanks!

 

[flinter1977]

I never do . I like the powder right at the touch hole . works for me . I have tried the pick in the touch hole and didn't notice a difference .

 

[Rodd Boyer]

If seating the ball doesn't "blow" some into the pan, I'll pick the vent hole until some comes out into the pan. I have not tried putting the pick in and then dumping the powder.

 

[Nessmuck56]

After a shot....I pick the hole before loading ....then let the pick hang from my neck lanyard. After gun is loaded...I pick the hole ....add powder to pan....tilt gun to the left and tap gently to let pan powder enter touchole....cock and shoot.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I always pick the touch hole after loading. You pick to ensure the touch hole isn't clogged. Putting the pick in then loading does nothing.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
If you have to put a vent pick in while loading every shot for reliable ignition, or have to clean the touch hole with a pick after a few shots, you have a lousy set up.

dave

 

[Brokennock]

I leave the "pick" in throughout the loading process. Really just a tapered piece of shirt hanger wire, still round in cross section just tapered so that the tip doesn't quite touch the barrel wall opposite the vent hole. Usually a few tiny crumbs of powder follow it out of the hole and land in the pan when I remove the wire.
Ignition seems faster and more reliable. But, haven't tried not doing it since I started doing it.

 

[Skychief]

I'm with Dave

 

[Stophel]

I've never actually had to use a pick but once, many, many years ago. Loaded my first shot without clearing out the bore and touch hole first, and oil in the touch hole kept the gun from going off. I used the pick to shove some grains of powder into the hole. That's about it.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have one older rifle with a large touch hole that I keep a toothpick in when I load or 3F will blow out the vent, lots of 3F. I don't load with a toothpick in on my other rifles. I always tilt the primed pan toward the touchhole after I prime to get a little 4F in the touch hole I use white lightning liners so the "infamous" fuse effect isn't there.

 

[EC121]

If I need a pick in the hole, I use one of the the little dental brushes just barely in the hole. It lets the air out and keeps the powder in.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Hi,
If you have to put a vent pick in while loading every shot for reliable ignition, or have to clean the touch hole with a pick after a few shots, you have a lousy set up.

dave

Dave,
Thanks for giving me my morning chuckle.
I usually do not pick unless I am having issues. Days of high humidity, or my sloppy swabbing can give me a reason to pick.

Flintlocklar

 

[Rifleman1776]

I never plug the hole and never saw a reason to do it. The only time I use a pick is when I get careless and let gunk accumulate in the breech on humid days.

 

[Spikebuck]

I have one rifle that has a direct-drill touch hole....no liner. On that one, I run a pick in after loading to be sure that the hole through that steel barrel wall is clear the entire way.

On guns with concave liners, I don't see why it's needed. I have heard the theory that putting in the pick after loading creates a clear channel for the heat to instantly hit more grains of powder than if it just hits whatever is right up against the touch hole and then has to spread through the powder. I guess we'd have to have Pletch with his super high-speed photography do a study for us to let us know if there's a gillionth of a second better ignition by picking. I suspect that for normal shooters it wouldn't matter. Heck, even the gun mentioned above with the direct drill hole is almost imperceptible in difference of ignition time than one with a liner.

I think Dave is right....if one has a really well tuned lock and a liner, it's not needed. I've only owned one gun with a truly professionally tuned lock and that one did have a perceptible difference in how fast it went off. I doubt that most could tell the difference between that flinter and a capper. Honestly.

On the other hand, I was watching one of the Leatherwood videos the other day and the normal guy that does the nice videos of his late season PA hunts with all traditional gear was hunting with his nephew (I think) and the nephew's production flinter was having massive ignition problems. Not sure what the real problem was, I suspect no sparks since he wasn't even getting a flash in the pan, but the comments made after about 5 unsuccessful attempts to shoot it at a deer were ignorant blaming flinters in general with being hard to shoot, which reinforces with viewers who believe that "false fact" that flinters are no good and unreliable. A pick won't help someone like that. He said something like "If I had my inline that deer would have been dead, but that's the fun of hunting with a flintlock...you don't know if they are going to go off. It's more challenging."

 

[flntlokr]

Many thousands of shots with nary a pick in sight. Unless I get a Flash only. Then its time for the pick, but most likely only to eliminate plugging as the problem. I always prime (I/2 panful), close the frizzen, tip the gun to the off side, and give it a couple of gentle thumps to run the priming into the flash channel, then I tip it to the lock side, and give it a few more brisk thumps to knock the powder back out and over to the extreme end of the pan.(that all takes about 5 seconds) My theory is: running the priming in and out of the channel deposits a dusting of superfine powder on the way, which is left behind when the majority of the prime gets knocked back into the pan. That fine dusting gets lit up by the ball of fire from the pan, and (my guess) accelerates the flash as it does so. There is certainly no 'fuse effect'; usually just like shooting percussion, but more drama.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Hi,
If you have to put a vent pick in while loading every shot for reliable ignition, or have to clean the touch hole with a pick after a few shots, you have a lousy set up.

dave

Well, once again we have someone's incorrect perception of another's situation. I never said I HAD to use the pick every time to get reliable ignition. I do so because it's something I've always done to ensure a clear touch hole. It's no different than someone who blows down the barrel each time they shoot. Necessary to some, not to others. Does it mean your setup is "lousy".? No.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I wasn't responding to your post rather the OP.

dave

 

[Zonie]

When loading, do you put a pick in the touch-hole first and then pour powder and seat the patched ball? Or do you drop powder, seat the patched ball and then shove a pick in the touch-hole? I've heard (and now have seen) both and am curious which way you do it and why. Any other tidbits of technique for "picking" the touch-hole? Thanks!

In my opinion, whether to put a pick into the vent before loading or to leave it out with the vent hole wide open to the world depends on the way the breech is designed.

On most custom flintlocks, the vent hole or vent liner goes directly thru the barrel wall into the bore. A very short, direct path.
With these, leaving the pick in the vent hole while loading the gun won't cause any problems. In fact, many think doing this creates a hollow cone in the powder charge at the vent and this hollow exposes more of the fresh powder charge to the pan flash that comes thru the vent hole so it increases the reliability and speed of the gun.

On many of the flintlocks made by the big companies like Pedersoli, Thompson Center and Traditions, the flame channel that connects the bottom of the bore with the vent hole is a rather small, long hole that the fresh powder must pass thru to get to the vent hole or liner.
With designs of this kind, the vent hole should be left open, without the vent pick in place.
Leaving it open allows the air that is trapped under the bullet or patched ball a way to escape when the ball or bullet is rammed down the barrel. In the process of escaping, the air blast will blow some of the new powder charge thru the flame channel to the vent hole so it will be exposed to the pan flash.
Plugging the vent hole with this design will keep the fresh powder from being blown thru the flame channel so, very little of the new powder charge will end up at the vent.

This same sort of thing happens with the factory made percussion guns. If the shooter leaves a spent cap on the nipple or leaves the hammer down so it is resting on the nipple, the new powder charge will often not be blown back to the base of the nipple. This can and does cause mis-fires in the cap guns.

With these "chambered breech" or "patent breech" guns, after the ball or bullet is rammed, picking the vent hole before filling the pan can create the same sort of hollowed cone in the new powder charge at the vent as leaving the vent pick in place does with the direct "thru the barrel wall" style guns.

 

[tenngun]

I know when patent breeches came out it was for flinters. I wonder if pricking was more important on those early designs. As powder has to settle it in this odd shape.
I never had a flinter with a patent breach.
I blow down a barrel tween shots, but a patch works just as well to blow the touch hole clear. You get two good ‘whist/whoosh as patch goes down and up.

 

[torpedo]

Hi,
If you have to put a vent pick in while loading every shot for reliable ignition, or have to clean the touch hole with a pick after a few shots, you have a lousy set up.

dave

What Dave said.