Flintlock won't ignite powder in barrel

[traderlee]

I spend the day blackpowder shooting, and had no problem with my percussion. I bought a new Hawkins 50 calibur flintlock, reproduction, made in Italy, and after reading about how to shoot them, loaded, put powder in the frizzle, cocked it, and after a delay, the rifle fired. (I was surpirised how long the delay was. It was not what I expected.) But no more. It didn't seem to matter what I did, I could not get another shot to fire. What am I doing wrong, or did I make a mistake in buying this brand of flintlock? P.S. I wore out several pieces of flint trying. And there was plenty of spark. I am using FFFG Powder.

 

[T.C.Albert]

Just curious, what brand of powder?
TCA

 

[mazo kid]

As TC says, any powder BUT real black powder just will NOT work in a flintlock. If you are using the real thing, then we will have to dig a bit further.

 

[JohnnyO]

If there is that long of a delay, you must be shooting substitute powder...I've only had a long hangfire when the powder was a little wet from crud in the patent breech

 

[2172]

something like a long hangfire can occur when there is too much powder in the pan. I've seen newbies load it up,and then you get a long "whiz.bang" ignition. I had to stop a teenager last year, about 18, who was pouring powder down the bbl without a measure..his next shot was a whiz bang, as he had what looked like a teaspoon of powder in the pan. He wasn't into re-enacting and thought he'd like to fire the Bess repro he'd bought. Do check the amount of priming as well as all of the things the others have mentioned. Hank

 

[musketman]

I am using FFFG Powder.

Flintlocks usually don't care for synthetic powders like 777 and Pyrodex, real black powder will make a world of difference.

If you are using real black powder and still having trouble, then we can look into the issues of the gun's geometry.

 

[Billnpatti]

Only real black powder will work reliably in a flinter. If you are using real black powder, I am going to bet that the problem is in the pan and touch hole. First, do not over fill your pan. Secondly, do not cover your touch hole with pan powder or you will cause a "fuse" effect and delay the ignition of the charge in the barrel. Only put about five grains (weight) in your pan. Level it and keep; the touch hole clear. Also, when you are loading your gun, put a touch hole pick in your touch hole so your main charge doesn't obstruct the touch hole. Alternately, if you don't want to place a pick in your touch hole while loading, you can run it into the touch hole after loading and before filling you pan. The secret is to not have anything in, or obstructing the touch hole. It must be open to allow the flame from your pan to ignite the main charge. Try this before tinkering with your touch hole. The touch hole can be enlarged but this is not the first thing to do.

 

[larry wv]

Are you sure you put the powder in the second time you loaded? Vent could be blocked. Cleaning patch in barrel if you wiped between shots. Prob one of the above. Larry

 

[Smoke_Ring]

Traderlee
Are you cleaning between shots? If you are you may be pushing the fouling down and blocking the hole on the inside. When I run a patch between shots I stop 1/2 " from the bottom or give it a good cleaning and use a pick to make sure the vent is clear.

 

[410-er]

Are you sure you didn't join the "dry ball" club?Take the touch hole out,work some powder in,replace touch hole and fire.
Don't get discouraged.When you finally get it worked out,it will fire fast and get less than 1 1/2" groups at 50yds.Let use know how you do.

 

[Old Salt]

How well did you clean the rifle before taking to the range?

Salt

 

[Treerat]

Another thing to check is to see if you have a patent breach of sorts on your gun. I believe some people have had problems with the Pedersoli Blue Ridge rifles because the center holes in their patent breechs were not of a sufficient diameter and that they required removal of the breech to open the hole up some. There was an article in Muzzle Blasts about this awhile back but I can't remember when.
Good luck,
Bill

 

[tg]

as someone mentioned above how clean was the bore/vent channel before you started shooting?If there was some oil left in after the first shot there could ne a bunch of goop/crud interfering with ignition.

 

[traderlee]

Pyrodex P The
FFG Equivalent. I will get some real black powder, and try that and let everyone know what happened. As I mentioned, we took out the vent hole plug and ignited the powder, and it was loaded with powder as it all went out the side. We poured more powder in, and packed and tapped it till it came to the vent hole, and then cleaned the vent hole again, but no luck with FFFG.

 

[traderlee]

All good information. I will put it to use, and try again. I really would like to get as proficient with the flintlock as the percussion. The percussion seems like a piece of cake compared to the flintlock.

 

[traderlee]

It was brand new, so I didn't clean it, just fired one shot and that was with a long delay, though it has been explained to me why that happened, using Pyrodex instead of the real thing. It also took a lot of pushing to get the .495 ball past the opening of the barrell, but once past the ram rod worked fine. I am using lubricated patch's.

 

[hanshi]

Pyrodex and similar substitutes are worthless in flint locks. They are made for cap guns and "usually" do well in those. I tried it once years ago and found it wanting. Black powder is the only thing that is reliable in a flint lock. Get a short starter for seating your ball in the bore. If you run into any problems getting it down on the powder go to a .490 ball. Use a patch .015 or thicker, well lubed. :thumbsup:

 

[fyrfyter43]

It was brand new, so I didn't clean it

That could be part of the trouble as well - the "oil" they coat the bore with to protect it for possibly years on a rack in a gun shop.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Using any of the synthetics in a flinter aint gona cut it. It needs real powder, much like real men need real meat, tofu aint gona cut it.

 

[bucktales]

It needs real powder, much like real men need real meat, tofu aint gona cut it.

That's a good way of putting it and I couldn't agree more. :thumbsup: