Fusil de Chasse- The First Shots

[PathfinderNC]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan (by nearly a third) and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Lookin’ good!

 

[Brokennock]

Great stuff.

I would try 75 grains again, but with a soft/flexible wad between powder and ball then a thin card over the ball to hold it in. I like that soft wad to be lubed. Either felt or tow.
Maybe also try leaving a thin brass "pick/prick" in the flash hole as you load. My gun that has a flash hole liner has never flashed the pan since I started doing this,,, my gun with direct drilled hole doesn't like it.

 

[CyrusP]

Very nice. Did I miss a post of the finished Fusil?

 

[PathfinderNC]

Very nice. Did I miss a post of the finished Fusil?

Here is the thread of the finished Fusil de Chasse Pecatonica Fusil de Chasse finished

 

[PathfinderNC]

Great stuff.

I would try 75 grains again, but with a soft/flexible wad between powder and ball then a thin card over the ball to hold it in. I like that soft wad to be lubed. Either felt or tow.
Maybe also try leaving a thin brass "pick/prick" in the flash hole as you load. My gun that has a flash hole liner has never flashed the pan since I started doing this,,, my gun with direct drilled hole doesn't like it.

Yeah- I have a lot of experimenting to do!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.
At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

You might consider taking a Drexel tool and deepening the pan a bit.

 

[PathfinderNC]

You might consider taking a Drexel tool and deepening the pan a bit.

That's just what I did afterwards, as well as grinding off much of the pan cover protrusion. (It's the first photo) I can get a nicer priming now.

 

[Britsmoothy]

That looks promising! Good shooting.

Yeah, prick the vent before or after loading.

 

[toot]

way to go!.

 

[PathfinderNC]

I am happy to say that the modifications to the pan and pan cover were just what this lock needed. I had 100% ignition when it sparked! I was wondering why the heck several times the lock threw no sparks- even with a brand new 7/8" gun flint? Of course my mind went to issues of frizzen hardness, feather spring strength and so forth. Until it dawned on me to try inverting the flint. On all my other flintlocks, it didn't matter if the bevel was pointing upwards or down to achieve good sparks.
I flipped the flint so it beveled downwards. I was doubtful because the flint would only be striking the lower half of the frizzen, but I was searching for an answer.
Dang that baby let off a shower of sparks! I tried over and over and it never failed throwing great sparks. I suppose the angle of strike for this lock is more critical than my other ones.
So, what I learned about this L&R lock were a few things:
1. The pan needed to be deepened;
2. The pan cover protrusion needed to be ground off so it didnt insert into the pan, and:
3. The flint needs to be pointed bevel down.

Here's how it goes now:

 

[Jaeger]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan (by nearly a third) and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

I am still learning to shoot the Tulle fusil de chasse that I bought several years ago. I did not buy mine as a kit, but instead bought a slightly used one at the Kalamazoo show. Whoever built mine is a lot better at building guns and especially INLETTING than I am. Mine has no rear sight, and the first time I fired a series of shots with a PRB at 50 yds the gun was shooting a bit low and to the right. I have experimented with putting a small white mark near the barrel tang to use as a sort of rear sight, but I really haven't shot the musket enough. BTW, I have busted a clay target while firing this gun with lead shot, so it seems to be a pretty good shotgun.

 

[smoothshooter]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan (by nearly a third) and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

 

[smoothshooter]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan (by nearly a third) and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

That overshot card will not make a gas barrier at all. When the powder ignites, the pressure blast will immediately cause the wad to form a cup around the back part of the ball before the ball even starts moving. As it deforms to match the contour of the ball the edges of the wad will lose contact with the barrel walls and the hot gasses will blow right on by as if there were no wad at all.
A softer, thicker cushion wad will do a little better. Especially if it has some kind of thin grease lubricant melter into it.
I have had the best luck by putting a card wad on top of the powder and a greased felt or insulation board wad on top of that for ball and shot loads. I have one gun that does pretty well with a patched ball and no wads.
Try everything you can think of to get the best results.
I will admit that smoothbores can be the most maddening guns to get good ball accuracy with. Sometimes their preferred load changes for no apparent reason.

 

[Brokennock]

That overshot card will not make a gas barrier at all. When the powder ignites, the pressure blast will immediately cause the wad to form a cup around the back part of the ball before the ball even starts moving. As it deforms to match the contour of the ball the edges of the wad will lose contact with the barrel walls and the hot gasses will blow right on by as if there were no wad at all.
A softer, thicker cushion wad will do a little better. Especially if it has some kind of thin grease lubricant melter into it.
I have had the best luck by putting a card wad on top of the powder and a greased felt or insulation board wad on top of that for ball and shot loads. I have one gun that does pretty well with a patched ball and no wads.
Try everything you can think of to get the best results.
I will admit that smoothbores can be the most maddening guns to get good ball accuracy with. Sometimes their preferred load changes for no apparent reason.

Maybe on its own a thin card under a ball won't seal gas, but, with a thicker lubed wad between it and the ball, it might.

Some examples of why I think it might.

I had a rifle before that I could use less powder for the same level of accuracy, same group size and point of impact, when using a thin card between powder and patched ball.

I currently have one smoothbore gun that looses performance without it.if I skip the thin card and only load lubed felt wad under the ball, accuracy suffers, and, the report sounds like an underpowered load with less recoil.

I also currently have another smoothbore gun that doesn't like a thin card, or anything else stiff (like a nitro card) under the ball. Any combination of compressible wadding under the ball that shoots well has its performance ruined if I add a thin card between powder and wadding.

If one gun's shots seem weaker and performance is lost with the stiff card, sad the other gun only shoots well with combinations that conform to the ball, I have to think that that card is doing something to seal gas.

Admittedly, I have not tried just a card. Could be that the softer/thicker wadding between card and ball prevents cupping to a degree, but, that would mean that the card should not negatively effect the loads in the other gun.

It isn't proof, but, something to think about.

 

[smoothshooter]

Maybe on its own a thin card under a ball won't seal gas, but, with a thicker lubed wad between it and the ball, it might.

Some examples of why I think it might.

I had a rifle before that I could use less powder for the same level of accuracy, same group size and point of impact, when using a thin card between powder and patched ball.

I currently have one smoothbore gun that looses performance without it.if I skip the thin card and only load lubed felt wad under the ball, accuracy suffers, and, the report sounds like an underpowered load with less recoil.

I also currently have another smoothbore gun that doesn't like a thin card, or anything else stiff (like a nitro card) under the ball. Any combination of compressible wadding under the ball that shoots well has its performance ruined if I add a thin card between powder and wadding.

If one gun's shots seem weaker and performance is lost with the stiff card, sad the other gun only shoots well with combinations that conform to the ball, I have to think that that card is doing something to seal gas.

Admittedly, I have not tried just a card. Could be that the softer/thicker wadding between card and ball prevents cupping to a degree, but, that would mean that the card should not negatively effect the loads in the other gun.

It isn't proof, but, something to think about.

Since it is easy to bend a card wad with your fingers, think how easily the card would bend and distort when the thousands of pounds per square inch generated when the charge goes off smacks into it.
Smoothbores are often puzzling, exasperating things that don’t always respond to logic.
Like women.

 

[Brokennock]

Since it is easy to bend a card wad with your fingers, think how easily the card would bend and distort when the thousands of pounds per square inch generated when the charge goes off smacks into it.

I don't disagree.
But, clearly, at least when something else is between the card and the ball, the card is doing something.

 

[smoothshooter]

I don't disagree.
But, clearly, at least when something else is between the card and the ball, the card is doing something.

I put the cushion on top of the card.

 

[smoothshooter]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that. These were shot off-hand.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan (by nearly a third) and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think

The card wad will have no effect as a gas barrier.
When the powder ignites, the shock of the pressure smacking the card wad will cause it to instantly cup around the rear of the ball, in effect reducing the diameter of the wad and letting the gasses blow right on past it.
A lubricated thick felt wad MIGHT serve that purpose; maybe not.

 

[Brokennock]

The card wad will have no effect as a gas barrier

Seems to make sense....
And yet the placement or omission of a thin card wad between powder and lubed wad can make a difference in how well a load shoots.