A friend of mine just bought a flintlock pistol from Military Heritage I think the company is called. It comes without a touchole drilled. Any recommendations (pictures would be great) of preferred touchole location in relation to pan as well as touchole size would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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flintlock pistol touch hole location?
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paulvallandigham
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If you have the room, drill the hole .030" above the top edge of the flashpan. Center the hole in the flashpan, and take a long look at the pan to see if it can't be widened somewhat, and polished to a mirror finish. The mirror finish helps keeps residue from clinging to it, so its easier to wipe clean, widening it gives a bigger target for the sparks to hit, and drilling the hold allows you to fill the flashpan with powder, yet get the heat of the flame above where air currents rush in at the bottom, and into the touch hole, or vent hole. Then all you have to consider is what powder you use to prime, and how large the vent should be drilled.
Mike Brooks
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Which is all fine and dandy as long as your breech plug isn't overly long.
B.Habermehl
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Take a narrow graduated scale, and slip it into the barrel until it bottoms on the breech plug and record the measurement. Then drop a 1/4 dowel to the breech plug face and mark it compare these measurements as the breech plug may have a cupped face. Touch hole must be located a bit in front of the breech plug face. Lay out and drill your hole as Paul posted, be certain that the touch hole will be located a bit in front of the breech plug face. .070 dia is a nice place to start for your touch hole.
paulvallandigham
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MIKE: Isn't planning on the length of the Breechplug supposed to be something you do in prepartion for fitting your lock and locating the eventual position of the vent? We know that a plug does not have to be several inches long, or even an inch long to work just fine, if its threads are cut correcly, and the back of the barrel is threaded correctly. Many of the old guns had barely 1/2" of plug in the barrel. But they work fine.
Seems to me that if you build a pistol without considering where the pan is going to locate in relation to the front of your breechplug, and before you created the breechplug and thread the barrel, you have the cart and the horse turned around. NO?
What you are suggesting is a builder having to jump through hoops to correct a fundamental flaw in the construction of the gun. At the current cost of pistol barrels, and breechplugs, I would rather buy a new barrel and start over, and build it correctly, than to compromise the threads of the breechplug, or have to locate a liner someplace other than an optimum location.
I have owned a rifle that had a groove filed into the face of the breechplug to allot access to the vent. The gun shot, but that grooved gathered crud fast, and I was always having to clean it with a wire after 5-10 shots, depending on the humidity. I wish the builder had taken the time FIRST, to locate the front of the plug, in relation to where he was going to place the pan, and touch hole, so that there was a small space- say 1/8"- between the breechplug face, and my vent.
Seems to me that if you build a pistol without considering where the pan is going to locate in relation to the front of your breechplug, and before you created the breechplug and thread the barrel, you have the cart and the horse turned around. NO?
What you are suggesting is a builder having to jump through hoops to correct a fundamental flaw in the construction of the gun. At the current cost of pistol barrels, and breechplugs, I would rather buy a new barrel and start over, and build it correctly, than to compromise the threads of the breechplug, or have to locate a liner someplace other than an optimum location.
I have owned a rifle that had a groove filed into the face of the breechplug to allot access to the vent. The gun shot, but that grooved gathered crud fast, and I was always having to clean it with a wire after 5-10 shots, depending on the humidity. I wish the builder had taken the time FIRST, to locate the front of the plug, in relation to where he was going to place the pan, and touch hole, so that there was a small space- say 1/8"- between the breechplug face, and my vent.
Paul: I think the post is about a already built pistol so the breech plug and the lock on this gun are already located and their relationship is established.
This all boils down to the need to first establish where the face of the breech plug is in relation to the face of the muzzle. Then seeing where this location will be relative to the pan.
This involves simply dropping a wooden dowel down the bore until it stops on the breech plug face.
Mark the dowel flush with the muzzle or grab the dowel with your thumbnail while resting your thumbnail on the muzzle of the barrel.
Then pull the dowel out, lay it along side the barrel with the thumbnail against the muzzle and mark the outside of the barrel where the end of the dowel rests. (Mark it with a Sharpie pen or a pencil so it doesn't mar the surface finish.)
If the face of the breech plug is at, or in front of the center of the pan, I would suggest locating the center of the vent hole 1/16 inch forward of the breech plugs face and even to 1/32 inch above the top surface of the top of the pan (not the bottom of the pan).
If the face of the breech plug is behind the center of the pan by 1/16 inch or more, locate the hole at the center of the pan (fore and aft). The vertical location should be the same 0-1/32 above the top of the pan I mentioned above.
zonie
This all boils down to the need to first establish where the face of the breech plug is in relation to the face of the muzzle. Then seeing where this location will be relative to the pan.
This involves simply dropping a wooden dowel down the bore until it stops on the breech plug face.
Mark the dowel flush with the muzzle or grab the dowel with your thumbnail while resting your thumbnail on the muzzle of the barrel.
Then pull the dowel out, lay it along side the barrel with the thumbnail against the muzzle and mark the outside of the barrel where the end of the dowel rests. (Mark it with a Sharpie pen or a pencil so it doesn't mar the surface finish.)
If the face of the breech plug is at, or in front of the center of the pan, I would suggest locating the center of the vent hole 1/16 inch forward of the breech plugs face and even to 1/32 inch above the top surface of the top of the pan (not the bottom of the pan).
If the face of the breech plug is behind the center of the pan by 1/16 inch or more, locate the hole at the center of the pan (fore and aft). The vertical location should be the same 0-1/32 above the top of the pan I mentioned above.
zonie
That was how I understood the question....the pistol was built and no touch hole. A while back I got an India-built Blunderbuss and it came the same way. Luckily, I had enough room to clear the breech plug when drilling my vent hole. Emery
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