Flintlock touch hole liner removal

[Buckskinn]

Easy out.

 

[M. De Land]

I've been experimenting with making flash hole liners of annealed A-2 tool steel with the cone on the exterior , none on the interior. So far so good with the .0625 hole. I don't care for interior cones at all as they funnel chamber pressure outward and most likely increase flash hole erosion.

No doubt the A-2 tool steel would last longer if hardened but it would also need to be drilled with a carbide and be hard on an easy out when it comes time to remove it. This is the reason I chose to use a high chrome content alloy left in the annealed state.
The hardest part is contouring the interior face flush to the inside bore diameter curve and not scratching the finish when filing off the exterior flush with the barrel flat.

 

[toot]

Agreed. I used to believe that lie about having to remove the liner to clean. I don't anymore, and haven't removed one from my builds and have not had any problems. I used the liners that have the wrench head top that once seated you cut off with a hack saw. These liners don't even have a hex or slot so removal is not an option on these. If I had to, I could remove them with an easy out, or something similar, however I doubt I'll ever shoot these guns enough to burn out the flash hole. At least to the point where I'd need to replace one. .

just put in a round toothpick in it when cleaning.

 

[French Colonial]

just put in a round toothpick in it when cleaning.

You guys are going to think I am crazy, but I bought some bamboo toothpicks for another project off the internet and those things are tough! I use them for plugging the vent and no worries about breaking like the cheap store boughts and likewise for using them as small skewers for attaching bacon to boneless chicken breasts for the grill. I keep finding more uses for them.
Give them a try if you keep breaking the regular kind.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Never had to remove one. My Ravenshear Bess didn't even have one (he claimed them to be repair items). On my two current flintlocks they are filed flush to the surface and I'd have to destroy them to remove. Haven't shot enough to wear one out yet.

 

[Flintandsteel]

The OP has not been here in over a week, we can probably stop speculating now.

 

[toot]

You guys are going to think I am crazy, but I bought some bamboo toothpicks for another project off the internet and those things are tough! I use them for plugging the vent and no worries about breaking like the cheap store boughts and likewise for using them as small skewers for attaching bacon to boneless chicken breasts for the grill. I keep finding more uses for them.
Give them a try if you keep breaking the regular kind.

thank you for the post, I have never heard of them? but I will surely get some!!

 

[toot]

if you can't get the vent plug out, then it is the same as a flint lock that doesn't havs a vent plug! so why the big deal that we cant remove it? DA!

 

[XVIIc Wheelock]

O/P here still reading great advice! Thanks!

 

[M. De Land]

if you can't get the vent plug out, then it is the same as a flint lock that doesn't havs a vent plug! so why the big deal that we cant remove it? DA!

Because the vent hole is eroded in the liner and it needs changed if accuracy is going south !

 

[toot]

it takes a very long time for that to happen. think about the material that they are made out of?

 

[troy2000]

When I bought my Kibler Southern Mountain rifle kit, I was given the choice of a stainless steel or carbon steel touch hole liner. I decided I'm not likely to wear out the carbon steel liner, given my age (72 years old). And seeing the circle of shiny stainless liner would annoy me every time I shot the gun, even if no one else noticed it. The carbon steel liner blends right in, and is basically invisible.

 

[FlinterNick]

Impact driver or brace is what I used to remove a stuck liner. If you heat the barrel around the liner too, that could help

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

I have to ask, why bother with a liner?

 

[Grenadier1758]

One of the reasons to bother with a touch hole, vent hole liner is that the liner is internally coned to bring powder closer to the pan. The heat from the pan flash has less distance to travel and the lock time is much quicker than a straight bored touch hole. There are special tools to internally cone a touch hole, but for most of us it is much easier to drill and tap for a liner. It must be considerably cheaper with regards to manufacturing process in that all factory flint lock arms have liners.

 

[M. De Land]

Flash hole erosion has always been an issue and is the reason many high end guns of the period ,(mostly fowlers I think) had platinum plated flash holes or liners . It became much more necessary when conical bullets were introduced to percussion ignition as pressure increased.
In my opinion internal coning only encourages flash hole erosion and increases the inability to clean the cone. If one wants to lesson the distance the pan flash has to travel then cone the exterior which also serves as a funnel to direct the pan flash to the main charge rather than vector the main charge pressure outward as does internal coning.
I think that ideally one wants the inside of the liner to follow the bore contour just as would happen if the flash hole is drilled through the barrel wall. This allows better interior cleaning of breech area fouling as well as better containment of main charge pressure hence less flash hole erosion .