Poor Ignition, Lyman Trade Rifle

[Eric Krewson]

A friend came over the other day to shoot his Lyman trade rifle flinter. I have never seen a gun so hard to get to go off. All my flinters just need a load, nipple picking and small pan load to go off instantly. This gun wouldn't go off ever with such treatment. It had to have powder packed in the touch hole and a full pan to go off. It would shoot through the same hole at 40 yds when it went off.

I noticed the touch hole was really small and drilled it out to 1/16" but this didn't change anything as far as ignition went.

Any of you guys had the same problem and changed to another type of liner with better ignition success?

 

[Mike Brooks]

His breech is full of hardened powder fouling. I have had them come thru the shop with an 1 1/2" of concrete like substance in the breech. With all this manure in the breech there's just a litlle long skinny hole going from the vent hole to the charge.

 

[Rebel]

He wasn't using Elephant powder or a sub was he? I had that problem when i first started shotting flinters using Elephant powder. Stuff was harder to ignite than Pyrodex.

 

[roundball]

He wasn't using Elephant powder or a sub was he? I had that problem when i first started shotting flinters using Elephant powder. Stuff was harder to ignite than Pyrodex.

Now Rebel.....you KNOW it can't possibly be the Elephant powder...it's perfect, never was a bad batch...must be you ain't holdin' your mouth[url] right...in[/url] fact, I can put you in touch with someone who who clarify this further if you like
:rotf:

 

[Rebel]

No thanks Roundball, that person and i got things clarified between each other a long time ago. :grin:

 

[Birddog6]

First thing I would do is check the breech with a rounded small bore breech scraper that will go down into the patent breech. As Mike suggested, there is a good posibility it is clogged up there.

Then I would drill out the vent to a 5/64" dia hole & cone the vent on the Inside & cone it slightly on the outside, put some Never-seize on it & reinstall it. That should eliminate the ignition problem.

:winking:

 

[cayugad]

I have the same rifle in .54 caliber and my results with the rifle are just the opposite. I found that I primer the pan just a little with Goex 4f and it goes off just fine. I did replace the vent liner as soon as I got the rifle with the allen wrench head kind.

The big thing I noticed with my rifle is once the flint is dull, the rifle will not fire. In fact when I go hunting with it, I always put a new flint in the rifle. So far, so good.

I load 90 grains of Goex 2f and a .530 patched roundball and like you report, this is one accurate rifle...

 

[Birddog6]

Oh, you are changed the vent right off the bat....

Well, changing a vent, or drilling & coning a vent is a cheap fix that works Lots of times..... and what are ya out ? a $3. vent. & ya can easily go back to an original vent. I have yet to see a Lyman rifle shoot as quickly with it's standard vent vs. a modified vent. The modified vent is a considerably faster ignition.
I have also used the allen head vents in several rifles with success, but don't really care for them just because they are allen head & I don't like the looks of them, but that is just me. Some guys like them & that is OK if that is what it takes to get where ya want it to be. :winking:

For deer hunting I shoot 75 grains of 2F Goex with a .017 pillow ticking patch & .535 RB with BD6 grease. For target I drop it o 65 grains & same patch ball & a BD6 liquid lube.

 

[cayugad]

Birddog.. I ordered the new vent at the same time I bought the rifle because a person on this forum suggested I do so to "avoid" problems. It must have worked because it is a fast shooting, very accurate rifle. I use Stumpkiller's moosemilk formula on a pillow tick patch. I tried the .535 ball and they were too tight for my liking...

 

[AZ-Robert]

I ordered the new vent at the same time I bought the rifle because a person on this forum suggested I do so to "avoid" problems.

Was that a Lyman vent? Or some other maker? If some other maker, do you remember who it was?

 

[papellet]

rmcsports.com has the coned vent liner, with the allenhead fitting. works real well in all my lymans.

 

[Brian Rice]

Eric,

I have the same barrel on a gun I scabbed together. I had to drill the touch hole liner out to 5/64" and cone it a bit to get (DEPENDABLE) fire in the hole!!!! It must work o.k. The Deer in my garage didn't like it very much though. Very accurate barrel, but I don't like the original liner. I want to get a White Lightning for mine after the season to play with.

 

[Rebel]

In order to install a White Lightening liner you will need to drill and tap the vent liner hole.

 

[Rles221]

i havent had a problem with my GPR Lyman flinter. Ive been shooting since the begining of the year. need a very sharp flint though

 

[Eric Krewson]

Well, the bottom line is never take anything for granted when helping a guy with very little flintlock experience. I gave him all the advice on this thread and he said he had his gun going off much better after coning the touch hole liner and drilling it to 5/64s. Next he said" this pyrodex I am using is 10 years old". I had assumed he was using black powder. If he has if going off well with pyrodex it will be something else with the real stuff.

 

[Birddog6]

ha ha ha ! Yes, well, I guess he was having a lil problem if he was using Pyrocrap !! :rotf:

You might suggest he be On Target when he uses some Real BP as he is gonna find out what fast really is ! ha ha ! :grin:

 

[chickenlittle]

My GPR has been fine with the stock liner but my father's Deerstalker has had a problem with flashes in the pan ever since I got it for him. Drilling out the liner to a bit more than 5/64" helped but didn't completely resolve it.

I recently picked up some 3F Swiss BP and it gave no problems in a short shooting session. We had been using 2F Goex. I plan to shoot some more this weekend to make sure the Swiss really is the ticket. Will try some 3F Goex too. I think we tried that but probably before drilling out the liner.