Misfires ,What I"m doing wrong?

[deerheaven]

I bought a Thomson center Firestorm.Today was first time ever shooting a flintlock....I put 2 triple 777 pellet backed with a 295grain hollow power point.Loaded the hole leading to the breech and filled pan half full.After two shots I was getting misfires just a flash in the[url] pan..Made[/url] sure touchhole was free and clear...always had good fuse leading thru tough hole..........What causes misfire in my case,,,,What Im I doing something wrong??? ::

 

[Rebel]

Well first off, you are using that fake powder when you should be using real black powder. :: Secondly, you don't want a fuse to the main charge, that gives you slow ignition. You want the touchole clear with no powder over it. Fill your pan about 1/3- 1/2 full. Make sure your flint and frizzen are clean and free of grease. Wipe you flint edge, being careful not to cut yourself, and your frizzen occasionally. Are you getting good sparks? Where is the flint striking the frizzen? What kind of flints are you using? If you are using the cut agate flint that comes with most new guns, you should get some black English flints. They normally give you a better spark. Your gun, if it is like most T/C's, should use a 3/4" flint.

 

[deerheaven]

Im using Goex black powder rifle ffffg.

 

[deerheaven]

TC[url] flints.In[/url] half cock flint is 1/16 away from frizzen.

 

[Rebel]

In your post it says you are using 777 pellets. Those are not real black powder. They are a black powder substitute, like Pyrodex. Goex 4f is good for priming, but real black powder is easier to ignite in the barrel for the main charge.

 

[Rebel]

Ok, they are the right length. How is the spark? You will probably find that you get better sparks and longer flint life with black English flints.

 

[deerheaven]

777 pellets down the barrel and powder in the pan..

 

[deerheaven]

Sparks fine.When priming should put some powder thru touchhole and half in pan.Then keep touchhole completly clear after priming.....

 

[Huntinfool]

Probably the only way to get the pellets to go off will be to put some real BP in under them they take a hotter flash or spark to ignite than the real stuff.

If it were me I'd use real BP only in a flintlock! Forget the pellets.

YMH&OS,
Chuck

 

[RMillet]

What huntinfool said. Get rid of those pellets, you'll just frustrate yourself into giving up on flintlocks.

Dick

 

[deerheaven]

Quote ;Probably the only way to get the pellets to go off will be to put some real BP in under them they take a hotter flash or spark to ignite than the real stuff.

If it were me I'd use real BP only in a flintlock! Forget the pellets.

what is the process of using regular bp.......Use chonicals instead of sabots..........

 

[Rebel]

If you are going to use the 77 pellets you may need to dump 10--15 grs of real b.p. down the barrel before loading them to get reliable ignition. Then you won't need to push any powder through the vent hole. Keep the vent clear of priming powder, try to keep it to the outside of the pan. If you are getting good sparks, then this hould work. Also you want to drill the vent hole out to 1/16" for faster ignition.

 

[Rebel]

You can use any kind of projectile with real b.p., round balls, conicals, or( gasp) even sabots. I would start with 60=70 grs of 3f b.p. and work up to around 90, but use the most accurate load over 70 grs. for big game hunting for deer size game. You will need an adjustable powder measurer, and you use it by volume not by actual charge weight like with centerfires.

 

What's the "twist" in yore rifle barrel??

1 twist in 48" or more, roundballs will probly shoot better'n them new fangled "sabots".

I never could figger out why some fellas try to git ther flintlocks to shoot with fake powder instead of real blackpowder. (or,.. is this the advice they git from the sales person thet sold'em the flintlock?? :

YMHS
rollingb

 

[Terry Zboril]

deerheaven,
You may get a better response in the "Modern Muzzleloaders" forum.
Like Chittlings and grits, with a vintage '76 Chablis wine, Flinters and Triple 7 pellets just do not go together well. :sorry:
Regards,
Terry

 

[woodchuckchucker]

deerhaven,
What most are trying to say is that the pellets and the flintlock are seldome compatable. The pellets need a good strong ignition to get the job done. A very expirenced flinter could likely get that to happen, but if you need to ask what your doing wrong, you likely don't have that expirence. (Notice that I said LIKELY.) The flintlock systems perform much better with real black powder. If you have a strong desire to use a BP substitute such as 777, buy the loose stuff instead of the pellet form. Even the Hodgdon site, (the marketers of 777), suggest a bit of real 4F under the main charge as "insurance" to a consistant ignition. I hope this helps and also hope that you give real black powder a try. With all of the smoke and dirt, comes a satisfaction not expirenced by the user of more modern forms of firearms. Good Luck Sir.

 

[amccall]

I was looking at the T/C site on your rifle and it is a neat ingnition system for a flintlock. The rifle is made to use pellets or pyrodex powder. The one thing that you stated is that you shot the rifle a couple of times then it started to misfire. Do you run a wet patch and then a dry patch after each shot to keep the rifle clean? This rifle has a cone at the end of the removable breech plug. This cone allows the ignition to flare around it to better distribute the flash for better ignition. Your touch hole could be clean but the cone could be filled up with fouling reducing the performance. Also BP does fire easier than the other BP subsitutes this is why many are saying to use it. It is just one less thing to worry about if you can use BP.
Since BP is hard to come by localy, at least in my area it is and your rifle is made to shoot using pellets. The only thing I could think of was keeping your rifle clean after each shot. :m2c:

 

[deerheaven]

Thanks all for sharing a wealth of info.............I'm a rookie with a great farm to hunt,deer are everywhere right now no pressure .......I cant hunt til Saturday and no time to practice...........777 are going in the garbage......

Ok let start from the begining you just purchased T/C Firestorm......your going down the asle what are you going to purchase to shoot out of your new muzzleloader.Is Goex black powder rifle ffffg powder fine for the pan and to dump as a load instead of 777?

 

[jgray]

No don't use 4F as your main charge. If you want to go with BP and that is the most reliable choice for a flintlock refer to Rebel's suggestion for shooting, however 2F can be used as well, although most flintlock shooters using .50 cal or less, myself included, prefer 3F.

However before you give up on te 777 pellets try dumping the equivalent of your priming charge once or twice down the barrel before you drop the pellets in. You might as well shoot them up before you change powders. The more you can shoot your flinter the better. Regardless of the powder you use, shooting a flintlock is a lot of fun. The T/C Firestorm was designed to use Pyrodex or 777 pellets so give them another try before you give up on them entirely.

By the way is the powder in your flash pan burning when you have your misfires?

 

[deerheaven]

Quote: By the way is the powder in your flash pan burning when you have your misfires?

YES