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My new Tennessee Bean rifle...
- Thread starter htredneck
- Start date
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Ken Cormier
50 Cal.
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:hatsoff: nice
steve free
40 Cal.
Beautiful rifle! You did great. :thumbsup:
Rick Boylan
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2014
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Creek said:
So, does this make you a green bean? :rotf: :rotf: :haha:
IT IS HERE!
I got it today and am happy, happy, happy! Wood and metal finish is excellent, as well as the wood to metal fit. The lock was removed and packaged to protect the cock during shipping, and the packaging was clearly marked. I only have three things I could complain about, and of the three, only one is truly worth complaining about...
1. This may just be me but when ordering a flintlock, I ecpected to at least receive it with a flint and leather instead of a small piece of wood clamped in the cock. No biggee but one of those things.
2. A couple of the barrel pins were a little proud of the wood. Proud enough to scratch but very easily dealt with.
3. The one real complaint is the sights. The front sight needs to be replaced entirely as the base was filed too small for the dovetail. The sight will literally fall out if the rifle is tilted and jarred even the smallest amount. Granted, its a $10 fix, but should be completely unneccessary for a new rifle. The only saving grace is rain for the next three days...
I know some people have had issues with Sitting Fox but I have to say that overall I am more than pleased. Ray Franks was more than up front on everything and always answered emails or phone calls. I did not order or expect a multi-thousand dollar from a premier builder, but I would definitely have to say I got my money's worth.
You can bet your sweet bibbers - excuse me... capote - that by next weekend this baby will be rolling smoke!
I got it today and am happy, happy, happy! Wood and metal finish is excellent, as well as the wood to metal fit. The lock was removed and packaged to protect the cock during shipping, and the packaging was clearly marked. I only have three things I could complain about, and of the three, only one is truly worth complaining about...
1. This may just be me but when ordering a flintlock, I ecpected to at least receive it with a flint and leather instead of a small piece of wood clamped in the cock. No biggee but one of those things.
2. A couple of the barrel pins were a little proud of the wood. Proud enough to scratch but very easily dealt with.
3. The one real complaint is the sights. The front sight needs to be replaced entirely as the base was filed too small for the dovetail. The sight will literally fall out if the rifle is tilted and jarred even the smallest amount. Granted, its a $10 fix, but should be completely unneccessary for a new rifle. The only saving grace is rain for the next three days...
I know some people have had issues with Sitting Fox but I have to say that overall I am more than pleased. Ray Franks was more than up front on everything and always answered emails or phone calls. I did not order or expect a multi-thousand dollar from a premier builder, but I would definitely have to say I got my money's worth.
You can bet your sweet bibbers - excuse me... capote - that by next weekend this baby will be rolling smoke!
It's a beautiful gun.
I had a front sight like that once. I took a hammer and a drift punch and smacked it right on top of the base, to both sides of the actual sight. It tightened up just fine.
I'm ignorant of Bean rifles, how does that patchbox stay closed?
I had a front sight like that once. I took a hammer and a drift punch and smacked it right on top of the base, to both sides of the actual sight. It tightened up just fine.
I'm ignorant of Bean rifles, how does that patchbox stay closed?
We had a break in the Seattle weather so I figured what the heck, grabbed the .36 and the bag and headed out. Had to go to the folks house anyway to give it a once over while they are doing the snow bird thing. Drive the whopping 15 minutes, check on the house and barns, get targets set up and pull everything out of the truck...
You know it's going to be interesting when you have to use a ramrod puller tjust to get the rod out to load. That puppy was stuck! Get it out and decide to see just what the heck is going on... The crazy thing is now binding the last 2 or 3" back in the stock.
25 grains of 3f down the barrel, lubed ticking... Ummm.... Where's the balls Mike? Son of a... Upside down the rifle, dump the powder, load back up and make the 15 minute drive back home. Get the balls, and the jag, that I left laying on the bench and make the 15 minute drive again...
Here we go again... 25 grains of powder, ticking and ball. Charge the pan and she's ready. POP! Nothing but pan. Hmmm... Let's try this again. Wipe the pan, charge it again, make sure there is powder right by the vent hole... POP! Ok... This is getting old. Two more pan pops before I finally got a full discharge.
It has a direct-drilled vent with a cone and I had to use what was a good Six grains of powder. Not only was it picked well into the cone, but I tilted the rifle and had a considerable mount in the cone before it finally fired. Even then, there was a distinct pause/gap between the pan and the main charge firing. I think I might need to drill the vent hole to ensure it is 1/16th. Which just thrills the manure out of me since me and those little bitty bits don't get along very well. I can only imagine what kind of grief a broken bit will cause... I tried to take a picture but the quality leaves a lot to be desired...
You know it's going to be interesting when you have to use a ramrod puller tjust to get the rod out to load. That puppy was stuck! Get it out and decide to see just what the heck is going on... The crazy thing is now binding the last 2 or 3" back in the stock.
25 grains of 3f down the barrel, lubed ticking... Ummm.... Where's the balls Mike? Son of a... Upside down the rifle, dump the powder, load back up and make the 15 minute drive back home. Get the balls, and the jag, that I left laying on the bench and make the 15 minute drive again...
Here we go again... 25 grains of powder, ticking and ball. Charge the pan and she's ready. POP! Nothing but pan. Hmmm... Let's try this again. Wipe the pan, charge it again, make sure there is powder right by the vent hole... POP! Ok... This is getting old. Two more pan pops before I finally got a full discharge.
It has a direct-drilled vent with a cone and I had to use what was a good Six grains of powder. Not only was it picked well into the cone, but I tilted the rifle and had a considerable mount in the cone before it finally fired. Even then, there was a distinct pause/gap between the pan and the main charge firing. I think I might need to drill the vent hole to ensure it is 1/16th. Which just thrills the manure out of me since me and those little bitty bits don't get along very well. I can only imagine what kind of grief a broken bit will cause... I tried to take a picture but the quality leaves a lot to be desired...
I always drill the flash hole with a hand pin vise, takes a while but no danger of breaking the bit.
Brokennock
Cannon
Have you tried less powder in the pan and keeping the touch hole plugged while loading. Seems the only time I can recall flashing the pan since I started plugging the touch hole during loading,,,,,, is when I forgot to plug the hole. Toothpicks or those wood/bamboo grilling skewers work good.
I plug the hole before I pour my main charge and I don't remove it until I prime the pan. If I load the gun and don't shoot but I'm leaving her loaded I plug the hole again, but with a skewer that has the fat end painted red.
I plug the hole before I pour my main charge and I don't remove it until I prime the pan. If I load the gun and don't shoot but I'm leaving her loaded I plug the hole again, but with a skewer that has the fat end painted red.
I have a White Lightning liner on its way now. Going to install that which should resolve the issue.
Hey htredneck,
One of my rifles has a narrow pan like the one in your picture. I found that it worked best if I put in a small amount of prime and banked it away from the vent. I also picked the vent and did NOT try to cram any BP into it.
So I'll pick the vent; fill it about 1/2 full; close the frizzen; and give the rifle a quick tap or twist of my wrist to the right. If you open the frizzen you should see it banked over to the right side of the pan with the area around the vent blank. Seems counter-intuitive, but it works perfectly when I do it with that rifle.
The thinking behind it was that it gives a clear path for the flash to get to the powder in the breech without needing to burn up grains that are covering the vent or in the vent itself. The flash is what ignites the powder in the main charge and this get the flash to in unimpeded. You'll find it takes very little prime and ignition is instantaneous on that rifle with this method.
The other rifle I have is not nearly so finicky and it has a wide pan (L&R Queen Anne lock). Fill it a little, fill it a lot, I almost never get a flash in the pan or delayed ignition. But that narrow pan is much more finicky.
Now I should let you know that Rich Pierce has done a lot of testing and high speed photography with pans half full, full up to the vent and heaping full and found a little but not much difference between them. If I recall correctly, for the sake of consistency, he used a heated rod pushed into the pan to ignite the prime. Regardless of his excellent testing, my rifle with the narrow pan refuses to operate with the load he recommends from those tests. So there may be something else going on.
I think the problem may be that we are not using heated rods to ignite the powder and the pan and sparks are much more random than a heated rod or wire. Also, the sparks ignite the powder at the top of the prime first as opposed to the rod which will (or can) go through all of the prime at once and hit the bottom of the pan igniting all of the levels of prime at once. The rod may well be giving us different results than sparks hitting the top of the prime.
With the rod (if I recall correctly) he never got the shhhhhh-bang results that you often see when powder covers the vent with the normal lock sparking process. I'd be interested to see the results he would get if he used some kind of consistent sparking mechanism as that would more accurately reflect what is going on with a normal lock. Perhaps use a flint lantern twist ignitor like I have on my old Coleman lantern to help eliminate flint wear influencing ignition? Perhaps if Rich reads this he "might" have an interest in trying it?
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
One of my rifles has a narrow pan like the one in your picture. I found that it worked best if I put in a small amount of prime and banked it away from the vent. I also picked the vent and did NOT try to cram any BP into it.
So I'll pick the vent; fill it about 1/2 full; close the frizzen; and give the rifle a quick tap or twist of my wrist to the right. If you open the frizzen you should see it banked over to the right side of the pan with the area around the vent blank. Seems counter-intuitive, but it works perfectly when I do it with that rifle.
The thinking behind it was that it gives a clear path for the flash to get to the powder in the breech without needing to burn up grains that are covering the vent or in the vent itself. The flash is what ignites the powder in the main charge and this get the flash to in unimpeded. You'll find it takes very little prime and ignition is instantaneous on that rifle with this method.
The other rifle I have is not nearly so finicky and it has a wide pan (L&R Queen Anne lock). Fill it a little, fill it a lot, I almost never get a flash in the pan or delayed ignition. But that narrow pan is much more finicky.
Now I should let you know that Rich Pierce has done a lot of testing and high speed photography with pans half full, full up to the vent and heaping full and found a little but not much difference between them. If I recall correctly, for the sake of consistency, he used a heated rod pushed into the pan to ignite the prime. Regardless of his excellent testing, my rifle with the narrow pan refuses to operate with the load he recommends from those tests. So there may be something else going on.
I think the problem may be that we are not using heated rods to ignite the powder and the pan and sparks are much more random than a heated rod or wire. Also, the sparks ignite the powder at the top of the prime first as opposed to the rod which will (or can) go through all of the prime at once and hit the bottom of the pan igniting all of the levels of prime at once. The rod may well be giving us different results than sparks hitting the top of the prime.
With the rod (if I recall correctly) he never got the shhhhhh-bang results that you often see when powder covers the vent with the normal lock sparking process. I'd be interested to see the results he would get if he used some kind of consistent sparking mechanism as that would more accurately reflect what is going on with a normal lock. Perhaps use a flint lantern twist ignitor like I have on my old Coleman lantern to help eliminate flint wear influencing ignition? Perhaps if Rich reads this he "might" have an interest in trying it?
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Here's another thing to try out, which will probably surprise you. I know it did me when I first joined the forum and someone suggested it.
Load your gun or rifle as normal but don't prime the pan yet. Pick the vent but do not put any powder in it. Lick your finger or thumb and wipe it on a clean, dry pan. Fill the pan with powder and then dump the powder just leaving the bits that stick to that slight bit of moisture. Now...fire the gun. I was amazed that with my rifles, it always fired and fired quickly. That was suggested to me to see just how little powder it takes to fire the gun successfully. I don't recommend doing this for all your shots, but it was an eye opener for me.
Give it a try and see if that works for you...
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Load your gun or rifle as normal but don't prime the pan yet. Pick the vent but do not put any powder in it. Lick your finger or thumb and wipe it on a clean, dry pan. Fill the pan with powder and then dump the powder just leaving the bits that stick to that slight bit of moisture. Now...fire the gun. I was amazed that with my rifles, it always fired and fired quickly. That was suggested to me to see just how little powder it takes to fire the gun successfully. I don't recommend doing this for all your shots, but it was an eye opener for me.
Give it a try and see if that works for you...
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
All good advice, thanks!
By the time the weather clears, I will have the liner installed and will go from there. My first requirement though is that the temperatures have to reach double digits with less than 20 mph winds!
By the time the weather clears, I will have the liner installed and will go from there. My first requirement though is that the temperatures have to reach double digits with less than 20 mph winds!
Billnpatti
Cannon
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
- Messages
- 7,340
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- 44
Did you order the drill bit and tap for the White Lightning liner? It has a unique thread and you will need to remove the current liner, drill out the present hole and then tap it for the White Lightning liner. Those White Lightning liners are the best liners that you can get. I have the proper drill and tap and I change all of my flintlocks to a White Lightning liner. Not to worry, Jim Chambers has the drill bits and taps as a set and it is not a difficult chore to change the threads in your barrel. I remove the barrel and drill and tap with my drill press but with a little bit of care, you can drill out your hole with a hand drill and tap it with your tap by hand. If you don't have a tap handle, you can use a very small Crescent wrench to turn your tap. Keep it lubricated and tap a few threads and then back the tap out to clear it. Tap a few more threads and back out and clean the tap again. That is the secret to a proper tap job. When you are through, flush out the newly tapped hole with some automobile brake cleaner. Before screwing in your White Lightning liner, put a tiny dab of anti-seize grease on it. Doing that will make removing it sometime in the future an easy task. :thumbsup:
Yep - I ordered from Chambers to ensure I got the right stuff. I have a pretty extensive drill and tap set but wanted to make sure the drill was both the right size and sharp, plus I didn't have a 1/4x32 tap. Four sizes of 1/4" taps but not that one - go figure!
The rifle is direct vent so no current liner to deal with. This will be my first liner to install but I am no stranger to drilling and tapping, plus I tend to redefine the term 'anal' when it comes to things like this so I'm not too concerned.
The rifle is direct vent so no current liner to deal with. This will be my first liner to install but I am no stranger to drilling and tapping, plus I tend to redefine the term 'anal' when it comes to things like this so I'm not too concerned.
Don't forget to shorten that new liner so its length is the same as, or slightly less than the barrel wall thickness.
All vent liners come longer than is needed because the maker has no idea about what wall thickness a buyers gun will have.
It's better to have the liner slightly shorter than the barrel wall thickness than having it too long.
If it is left too long not only will it prevent a cleaning jag from reaching the breech plug face but it will greatly hinder ignition of the powder charge. Don't ask me how I know this. :grin:
All vent liners come longer than is needed because the maker has no idea about what wall thickness a buyers gun will have.
It's better to have the liner slightly shorter than the barrel wall thickness than having it too long.
If it is left too long not only will it prevent a cleaning jag from reaching the breech plug face but it will greatly hinder ignition of the powder charge. Don't ask me how I know this. :grin:
