Guest
There is hope for we flintlock shooters yet!
Late last summer I was sent a pound of an experimental Swiss BP called
"Nul B Powder". This is a special fine grain powder specifically
intended for use as a flintlock pan powder. It is fast and hot. I
played with this powder with two flintlock rifles. Both with Soler
locks. The one rifle has an allen screw vent liner while the other has
an internally coned liner. The Swiss Nul B Powder offers faster
ignition and more reliable ignition. It is not as sensitive to crud
build up in the hole in the vent liner.
But when it comes to ignition speed I really had my eyes opened when I
converted my flintlock .50 caliber GPR over to one of Bernie Tolino's
mule ear percussion locks. He originally came up with his mule ear
lock
to convert flintlock T/C Hawken rifles over to percussion ignition.
Since the Lyman (Investarms) locks and the T/C locks are nearly
identical I was able to use one of his mule ear locks on the GPR. A
long nipple replaces the factory vent liner. The throw on the mule ear
lock hammer is 3/4".
This gives a very fast set up. Short throw and the nipple is firing
directly into the rear of the main powder charge at a right angle. No
delay at all.
When I played with some of the BP subs, such as Triple Seven, Pyrodex
and Clean Shot I had a lot of trouble with ignition in the Lyman Trade
Rifle with its off-set snail breech design. With the mule ear lock the
subs ignited without delay.
The mule ear lock conversion showed me why the underhammer is popular
in
some ml competition events.
Late last summer I was sent a pound of an experimental Swiss BP called
"Nul B Powder". This is a special fine grain powder specifically
intended for use as a flintlock pan powder. It is fast and hot. I
played with this powder with two flintlock rifles. Both with Soler
locks. The one rifle has an allen screw vent liner while the other has
an internally coned liner. The Swiss Nul B Powder offers faster
ignition and more reliable ignition. It is not as sensitive to crud
build up in the hole in the vent liner.
But when it comes to ignition speed I really had my eyes opened when I
converted my flintlock .50 caliber GPR over to one of Bernie Tolino's
mule ear percussion locks. He originally came up with his mule ear
lock
to convert flintlock T/C Hawken rifles over to percussion ignition.
Since the Lyman (Investarms) locks and the T/C locks are nearly
identical I was able to use one of his mule ear locks on the GPR. A
long nipple replaces the factory vent liner. The throw on the mule ear
lock hammer is 3/4".
This gives a very fast set up. Short throw and the nipple is firing
directly into the rear of the main powder charge at a right angle. No
delay at all.
When I played with some of the BP subs, such as Triple Seven, Pyrodex
and Clean Shot I had a lot of trouble with ignition in the Lyman Trade
Rifle with its off-set snail breech design. With the mule ear lock the
subs ignited without delay.
The mule ear lock conversion showed me why the underhammer is popular
in
some ml competition events.
