new touch hole

[Rudy Thompson]

I have a navy arms Charleville musket that I need to raise the touch hole it is in the bottom
of the pan , I would like to have it a little higher,
I used my drimel tool and lowered the pan some but I cannot go further it helped but has not helped the slow firing as much I wanted .
I am thinking about putting a touch hole liner in . Do I need to pull the breach plug to do this? I think that I can drill higher on the barrel and drill out the old vent hole
so I can thread in the liner.
I would be glad to hear any thoughts on a way to go about this, or just leave it alone?

 

[waarp8nt]

I like your thinking, however more times than...not you will be better off with a mill bit when going over a hole or a nearby hole. The mill bit tends to "walk" less than a drill bit.

 

[EC121]

First try drilling the existing hole out another drill size, and/or just prime to the bottom of the hole.

 

[flntlokr]

Why are you worried? Does it continually misfire?

 

[david w]

I have a navy arms Charleville musket that I need to raise the touch hole it is in the bottom
of the pan , I would like to have it a little higher,
I used my drimel tool and lowered the pan some but I cannot go further it helped but has not helped the slow firing as much I wanted .
I am thinking about putting a touch hole liner in . Do I need to pull the breach plug to do this? I think that I can drill higher on the barrel and drill out the old vent hole
so I can thread in the liner.
I would be glad to hear any thoughts on a way to go about this, or just leave it alone?

Try banking your powder away from the pan. You also may be using too much prime. I use a brass pan primer. You can choose either a 1 or 3 grain dispenser. I can control the amount of prime as apposed to filling from a horn. Can you post a picture of the flash hole location? What is the size of the hole?

Flintlock Pan Primers

 

[david w]

Why are you worried? Does it continually misfire?

He says he has slow ignition.

 

[Winterhawk]

I think you are spot on to drill it our higher, as long as it takes out the vent hole, then installing a liner. I would leave the breech plug, but pull it afterwards to see if you hit it with the drill and if it needs to be smoothed out.

 

[EC121]

First try inserting drills bits to determine the current size then find the next size up. I use numbered drills from Harbor Freight. There are 5 numbered drill sizes between 1/16" and 5/64". A musket could probably use a 5/64" or bit larger. Is the pan firing OK? Check to see if the the sparks hit the pan. A dark room works for this.

 

[Joemolf]

I have a navy arms Charleville musket that I need to raise the touch hole it is in the bottom
of the pan , I would like to have it a little higher,
I used my drimel tool and lowered the pan some but I cannot go further it helped but has not helped the slow firing as much I wanted .
I am thinking about putting a touch hole liner in . Do I need to pull the breach plug to do this? I think that I can drill higher on the barrel and drill out the old vent hole
so I can thread in the liner.
I would be glad to hear any thoughts on a way to go about this, or just leave it alone?

I had purchased a pedersolli Charleville with a flash hole in almost the same location a bit too far aft it still fired. Even though it fired fine it bothered me lol. So I ordered a few different liners, I ended up using a white lighting I think. Which ever one I used matched the barrel steel in color that was not planned just worked out that way. You can get some wide touch hole liners. Pendersoli beryllium being the widest I found metric thread also I think. Heck you could make your own. I took a 3/32 pin router and pulled the hole forward and then using step drills opened it up to the tap size, tapped it, and presto you would never know it’s there more importantly corrected. Went in through the but end with a small round rifle file to take down the liner to match the barrel thread height so jags can get to the face of the breach plug. a drill bench to keep bits from walking is the way to go. Actually pretty simple to do just have to be comfortable doing it. I plugged the existing touch hole sprayed a little Kroil down the barrel next day removed the breach plug

 

[Rifleman1776]

I would leave the breech plug, but pull it afterwards

That could be tricky. Some of those imports have the breech plug spot welded in place.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I consider pulling breech plugs to be a last resort. I would not pull one just to check!