how much prime to use

[smo]

Very nice I like it :thumbsup:

 

[Vaino]

Only use Chambers' locks....large Siler, Deluxe Siler, Late Ketland, Dale Johnson and Golden Age and lately along w/ his White Lightning TH liner. These perhaps are the "reasons" that my LRs aren't finicky at all....I also don't swab at all when at the range or when hunting and instead use a wire brush when loading becomes difficult and dump the debris....no danger of clogging up the TH.

Some of the LRs have the TH violating the breechplug face and require a recess, but most have the edge of the TH liner 1/32" forward of the plug face. But irrespective of the TH location, all function w/o a hitch w/ a sharp flint......Fred

 

[BigBoreBLR]

Fleener,

A quick ignition is tough to judge by eye or ear. Trying something for offhand shooting consistently a few trips a watching results is what I notice.

More powder means a longer burn, which doesn't mean slower ignition.

Wiping the pan, the flint edge, and frizzen pan covering roof helps reflect heat instead of absorbing it in the moist black residue. That sure helps.

An open channel to the flash please is the big key. More powder means it may have to burn away the powder before throwing flame.

My lyman for like a 1/3 pan full, and it likes a more generous gap between the flint and frizzen. I notice my 50 yard offhand groups get a touch better.

Maybe the bigger flash and air woos of a heaping pan full could cause us to flinch more.

Us blackpowder guys are offhand shooters for sure.

Get a wooden flint chunk and dry fire a few shots every couple of days. A smidgen slower ignition is much less a factor.

Also, really good shooters like to load their gun with a vent pick in it. A more open channel to reduce the fuse effect a plugged up channel may create.

 

[Black Hand]

Also, really good shooters like to load their gun with a vent pick in it. A more open channel to reduce the fuse effect a plugged up channel may create.

I've found this to make zero contribution. I rarely use the pick, and then only if I get a flash but no ignition (very rare)...

 

[hanshi]

Also, really good shooters like to load their gun with a vent pick in it. A more open channel to reduce the fuse effect a plugged up channel may create.

I've found this to make zero contribution. I rarely use the pick, and then only if I get a flash but no ignition (very rare)...

Same here. :thumbsup:

 

[excess650]

My Dixie Tn Mtn Rifle is most reliable when loaded with a pick in the flash hole. None of my flinters are fussy about the first couple of shots, but as the shooting session goes on, picking the charge or loading with the pick in the vent makes them all fire every time. I DON'T wipe at the range unless switching powders or if loading gets tight.

 

[bpd303]

Getting back to how much prime to use. I have found that it depends on the size & shape of the pan. I have flintlocks with small deep pans and others with wide shallow pans. All of my flintlock's like the bottom of the pan to be covered with powder. Some take two plunges from the powder measure thingy and others take 3 or 4 to cover the bottom.

 

[smoothshooter]

Trial and error for each gun.

 

[Follett]

I have three flintlocks, all different(surprise, surprise). One likes the pick in the touch hole, while being loaded, one won't tolerate it, and one doesn't care. I do pick every one, before dropping the hammer. Pure habit, don't know if it's needed or not.

 

[hanshi]

I don't do the pick in the FH when loading. Normally I don't swab as it has caused FITP too often. Only if I swab do I usually pick the FH. If my gun was loaded the day before I'll often pick before starting out. Otherwise no problems occur with ignition. I load using a mink oil lubed patches when going out into the deer woods and sometimes use Hoppes lubed patches for all reloads.

 

[fleener]

Pletch

thanks for the help and the offer. I am hoping by the time I get to Friendship I will have it figuired out.

fleener

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Amount used depends on the gun and the lock it uses.

I have two longrifles. My first was/is a Traditions Pennsylvania Longrifle. It's .50 cal. but has a very small lock. For fastest firing times I fill it about half full and give a quick flip of my wrist to the right after I've closed the pan to get the powder over to the right side of the pan and away from the touch hole. Using that method, that Traditions longrifle is very reliable and has very fast ignition. If I put too much in, you get that fuse effect or slight delay between pan flash and main charge ignition.

The other rifle I have is also a .50 cal. It is an Early Lancaster that uses an L&R Queen Anne lock. This is a much bigger lock than the Traditions and this lock is no where near as finicky about level used to prime it but occasionally will have problems if I overfill it (overflowing the pan). I generally try to fill it about half full and that works great without using a lot of powder. It has an extremely reliable lock that gives great performance.

You don't really need a lot of powder to fire your rifle. I had someone here give the following suggestion back in 2004 or 2005:

Ӣ start with a clean pan
Ӣ Lick your finger and wipe your pan.
Ӣ pour a generous amount of powder into your pan
Ӣ Now turn the pan upside down so all the powder falls out leaving just a thin coating on the pan where it's clinging to the moisture from your finger.
Ӣ Close the pan, aim and fire.

Somewhat surprisingly you will find the rifle goes off almost every time with just that thin layer of powder clinging to the bottom and edges of the pan. I think I tried that 6 times in a row before one of them didn't go off.

Give it a try and if your results are similar to mine, don't worry too much about not putting enough powder in the pan.

By the way, I did this with 3F powder in both rifles, as I use 3F as both the main charge and prime and have done so for the last 15-years or so without a hitch.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[fleener]

thanks to all, I will give some of these ideas a try and see what I come up with.

Fleener

 

[40calFlintlock]

A little slow on :2 but a long time ago, I read that the priming powder should 'dust' the entire pan area, so no matter where a spark lands, the priming charge will go off.

I've adhered to this method, using ffffg powder, and it has worked for many years without fail. The main charge may not have always gone off, but 100% pan ignition.

 

[sproulman]

I buffed my pan like chrome bumpers on car..I take tool and just quickly push it down and out.Hardly any powder not even near half full real small.

in over 300 shots not 1 time it did not fire ...I keep powder away from hole more near outside...i use 4f ...

 

[Vaino]

Wars were fought w/ flintlocks and in the heat of battle I don't think many of the "fixes" mentioned in many of the posts were used. A pick in the TH, measuring the amount and location of the prime, swabbing between shots and few other "fixes" for flintlocks that aren't functioning properly take time and on the battlefield, time is of the essence.

I'm fortunate that my personal hunting flintlock LRs don't require such precautions and procedures....ram the PRB from a loading block, dump some prime and continue hunting.....Fred

 

[Tom Compton]

W touch hole at sunset position just fill the pan and shoot.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I suspect that the smaller touch holes we use today and coned or lined touch holes to speed ignition work really well when we have time and tools to pay attention to details like above, but in a battle situation, a higher reliability and speed of reloading were of a higher priority. For instance; they primed the pan with the first bit of powder from the cartridge before dumping in the rest for the main charge. For safety though, the installed a frizzen stall over it before though. (I also suspect that in the heat of real combat that step might have been omitted though. Who has time for that when you're getting shot at for real?) Thus, I suspect the larger touch holes of yesteryear were done more as a reliability reason than an efficiency one. It takes more gunk, or longer for a large touch hole to clog up with fouling than a smaller one.

 

[M. De Land]

I use one of the spring loaded dispensers that drops about 3 grains per push and have found that the Null-B or Meal-D which are both black powder dust, one from Swiss, the other Goex, are faster than 4F.
I use six grains for reliable ignition.
I feel keeping the flint edge knapped sharp after each ten shots or so is more important than which charging granulation one uses though.
For this I use a copper knapper ground to a point and pressure flake the edge rather than striking it with a percussor. One has far more control of the flint edge with pressure flaking.

 

[Tom Compton]

Somewhere in the back of my mind and w nothing to support it I seem to recall the standard touch hole on a Brown Bess was .080" vs my preferred .062". Anyone have backup or evidence otherwise?