More flint questions for the novice

[swank]

Well Maxi beat me to the question post for the novice, although I'm definitely more of a novice.

I finally got out to shoot my Blue ridge .50 flinter right before the impending storm of white death struck Ohio this week. After an afternoon of shooting my new rock gun a plethora of new questions have emerged. Any help with some or any of these would be great.

How consistent and reliable should one expect a flinter to be? I found that if I primed the pan and then picked the flash hole prior to firing it seemed to improve the reliability. Should this be necessary?

The Pedersoli I have uses the 1x7/8" flints and seems to produce a good amount of spark, yet I still had a couple of flashes in the pan and twice the pan did not even ignite. I have read several threads on touch hole liners and wondered if the touch hole that the Blue ridge has needs enlarged or not. (It seems awful small, but I "no" virtually nothing yet) ::

Any extra help with my silly questions would be greatly appreciated.

Brad :bull: ( bye the way I love the B.S. guy. my initials, irony? hmmm...)

 

[LRB]

If I remember correctly, your Pedersoli has an elongated breech plug with a chamber in it. You will probably get best results using 3fg powder. If it has a vent liner, and I think it does, you can back bore it a bit more than it may be, and open the hole to 5/64". The powder chamber in the breech plug can also be enlarged most likely. I worked on two of these a few years back with the same problem, but I do not remember all the details, except opening the powder chamber. I either installed a vent liner or modified the one in it. Anyway, problem solved.

 

[TwoShadows]

Swank, I expect my flint gun to be very reliable and go every time. Many shooting matches call a fall of the hammer a fired shot, and reliable ignition is a must. There are many factors involved to accomplish this. Some are that proper placement of the flint is critical. A larger vent hole might help. Always wipe off the flint carefully after/before each shot....do this carefully, they are dangerous to an exposed finger. Cover the botom of the pan with powder, but do not obstruct the vent hole....they fire faster when the fire jumps through the hole rather than having to burn it's way through to the main charge. Each gun has it's own quirks...some do require "pricking the vent" before each shot.
If you do not have an experienced flint shooter nearby it will require a bit of experimentation to get it all together, but fear not....flint shooters by definition are easy going patient folks. It is not a sport/lifestyle that lends easily to uptight easily upset folks. Perfection may not be achieved overnite...just remember that the joy is in the journey....not the arrival

 

[djnye]

aint dat two-shadows talkin purdy--eh!

 

Personally, I don't like touch-holes larger then 1/16' due to the amound of spit from them. The larger the hole, the more pressure goes out of it and the more powder you need for a specific velocity, then the more goes out the hole, etc. For me, 1/16" is BIG enough and just fine. I had one that used to self-prime however, it primed too much and some had to be dumped out before firing. It would spit about 20'-nasty.
: A WhiteLightening liner WILL speed up our ignition over about any other kind. The factory hole is smaller than 1/16", so I drill them out to that size. I didn't notice an imrovement in speed by drilling them out, but they were more consitant, especially in the pistol lock with the smaller lock's lower level of kinetic energy. With the larger hole, (1/16"), I found I could shoot up to close to 40 shots without having to knapp or prick the touchhole.(both pistol and rifle)
Daryl

 

I have a Blue Ridge flinter,and had problems with it until I had a good gunsmith enlarge the vent to 5/64 and also had the foot of the frizzen ground a little so the frizzen would move easier.It took more preassure to move it than it should have when I got it.It dosen't eat up the flints anymore.Also the ends of the ramrod should be pinned if you are going to use it,otherwise they will pull off.Shoots fine now.Have fun.It will take time to get used to.

 

[musketman]

Remember, flint locks will set things on fire...

Things like beards, hair and bales of hay...

Keep your hair (if long) tied back, don't shoot a right handed flinter left-handed or vise-a-versa, and never use a bale of dry hay as a gun support when hunting summer groundhogs...

Believe me, I know... :winking:

 

[swank]

Thanks to all for the info as always. I'll just keep trying/learning. Like mentioned- that is the fun part.

 

[blckhrn]

Don't use a cigarette to discharge one that won't fire. Learned that one the hard way. The guy holding it got the 8 ring, I got 3 powder burned fingers. Anybody ever had powder burns under their fingernails knows it hurts for a few days.

Set a railroad bomb off w/ a sledge once too. Don't try this at home.

 

Cigarette, eh - THAT was pretty stupid - of course, touching off a 6 pound cannon with a bick lighter out-ranks you - HA! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif :shocking:
: It took roughly 4 months for the patch of skin to grow back onto my right thumb, reaching over to the other side of my palm. That puppy burned pretty bad - touchhole was on the order of 1/8" or more absolutley amazing how much fire comes out that hole from a 1/2 pound charge, and when it's on your thumb and palm, it burns quite deeply, not to mention all the powder residue imbedded in there. It actually cooked in about 1/4" deep. Vitamin 'e' capsules, cut open and poured on, under bandage to keep the oxygen off seeemed to help a bit. I didn't learn about Flamezine Ointment for 3rd degree burns until I took up MC riding.- another disaster.
: I now your pain, I surely do.
: Everyone else - please don't do this.
Daryl

 

[riarcher]

Had a right hand flinter that wouldn't fire about 20 yrs. ago. holding it left hand I added more powder and holding it low got it to touch off. The "spit" went through my light shirt sleeve and into the inside of my elbow.
Felt like I blew my arm off!!! :redface:
For years It looked like an arm of a heroin addict with all the black pepper marks.
Ouch! that hurt.
One thing for sure,,,, lesson learned by golly

 

[2172]

firing a right-handed flinter from the left shoulder, I had to prime at the firing line. The hammer was at half cock, and, as I dropped the pan cover down, the frizzen struck the flint and sent a spark into the pan...I was wearing a tee shirt, so I got the full sideblow on my right bicep....still got the pepper marks....didn't hurt that much at the time, but about an hour later...sure did. It's the only tatoo I have. Hank

 

[musketman]

My friend, "hee hee" wanted to shoot my "snicker" musket once...

He's left handed and HAD one of those long ZZ-TOP style beards, apon touching off the extra-heavy primed (don't know how that got in there) charge, we had to put his face out with snow balls... :winking: :haha: :haha:

We only laugh now because he was not burned a bit, but his beard was toast...

Plus it was fun putting out the fire with snow balls, after I got my musket back, of course...

 

[KNOTFOURSAIL]

You know, after reading these stories, a case of "Garand Thumb"
would seem rather trivial.
I have 2 percusion rifles now. I may have to keep an eye out for a flintlock to add to the collection.

 

[2172]

Teaching my grandson to shoot my M-1, I was very tempted to let him learn about "M-1" thumb the way I was taught...the 1940's DI's were not gentle...deciding that the blood he might shed was related to mine, I taught him the right way...Hank

 

[Huntinfool]

Boy you fellers sound like your having too much fun. OOUUCCHHHHH!
I'm glad (knock on wood) that none of that has happened to me yet. ::

Keep Yer Powder Dry Fellers,
"The Chuckster" ::