T/C Firestorm Flintlock Owners

Oops, doubled up
Bill

 

[bnail]

Sounds reasonable to me. I don't even own one, but I gotta say, I'm mighty tempted, it looks like something I could have a lot of fun with.

 

[Larry Pletcher]

Skagan wrote:
"What is it about the Firestorm that allows it to suppossedly shoot Pyrodex? I know TC did something to the chamber, at least according to their website, but I can't see where the Firestorm would be any more forgiving of Pyrodex and pelletized propellents than any of its predecessors."

I don't believe it is. A number of years ago Larry Weishuhn wrote an article entitled “The Flintlock Muzzleloader Of The New Millennium” for Shooting Times. In it he talked about a bear hunt that involved a misfire at a very nice bear. He was trying to use pyrodex in the TC flint.

I don't normally write to editors, but I did in this case. I ended up exchanging letters with Mr. Weishuhn. I realized that he had little experience with flint guns and didn't know how quick a good flint can be. When his gun did go off, he was hearing two distinct sounds. I invited him to the nationals to see what can be expected of with a good flint rifle. Since the invitation I haven't heard back. To his credit he admitted that he had little experience with flints. I wished him success with his flint hunting, but hoped the next time he held sights on a nice bear he was loaded with 100 gr of fffg instead of pyrodex.
Regards,
Pletch

 

[Old Ironsights]

What is it about the Firestorm that allows it to suppossedly shoot Pyrodex? I know TC did something to the chamber, at least according to their website, but I can't see where the Firestorm would be any more forgiving of Pyrodex and pelletized propellents than any of its predecessors.

It is hard to explain (and I can't see it working decently... it may "work" but it won't work well...), so I will refer you to their pomo data:

The above image is a crop/cut-n-paste from the TC Firestorm page. The Breech Plug is conical with a point that holds a Pyrodex pellets' "Igniter Pad" above the touch hole in a way tat supposedly "bounces" or "swirls" the fash front up onto the bearing surface of the pad.

Supposedly this allows the Flash to ignite the pellet, and the flame-front to travel around and up the hole in the pellet to ignite the igniters on the other pellets... if you didn't crush the pellet(s) on ramming.

Of course, they also tell you to fill the touch hole with powder (rather than bankng away) so youcan "make a fuze"... so who's to say what the designers were thinking. :youcrazy:

I've considered grinding down the cone on a spare plug (to increase breech volume), but haven't gotten around to it.

 

[pmwest]

What is it about the Firestorm that allows it to suppossedly shoot Pyrodex? I know TC did something to the chamber, at least according to their website, but I can't see where the Firestorm would be any more forgiving of Pyrodex and pelletized propellents than any of its predecessors.

The breech has a removable plug that has a conical face. The result is that it moves the pellet ahead of the vent allowing for the priming fire to reach the ignition patch on the base of the pellet. Otherwise the flash would hit the side of the pellet. To be effective, you must strictly follow the instructions in the manual regarding how to prime. That is to put priming powder into the vent. I experimented with the pellets but never liked the ignition compared to Goex 2f. The difference was klatch-bang and just plain bang. I did some pretty extensive testing over a chronograph with different powders and found the standard deviation to be much less with Goex. I do not have a source for other black powders so I can not speak to the quality of Swiss, Elephant or others. My goal was to achieve target accuracy which I have done with Goex but pellets may be acceptable for hunting loads. IMHO if you want to squeeze the most accuracy out of any muzzleloader, granular is the way to go.

 

[jan buck]

imo, the design of the breech plug looks like the bottom pellet would be crushed upon seating a bullet or ball. tc makes some neat products. chopper

 

[pmwest]

I've considered grinding down the cone on a spare plug (to increase breech volume), but haven't gotten around to it.

I thought about doing this too but just never got around to ordering a spare plug. My thought is that the shape of the plug tends to let fouling build up on the inside of the vent and the flat face on the plug would make it easier to clean with a standard vent pick. I started using the little plastic vent pick that T/C packaged with the gun and it flexes enough to clear the channel.

imo, the design of the breech plug looks like the bottom pellet would be crushed upon seating a bullet or ball. tc makes some neat products. chopper

You can crush them but it is harder than you would think. I guess because they are close to bore size, there is not that much pressure generated by landing on the point of the plug. I just have other reasons not to use them. Mostly that I like the ignition qualities and target consistency of black.

Sounds reasonable to me. I don't even own one, but I gotta say, I'm mighty tempted, it looks like something I could have a lot of fun with.

And a lot of fun it is. I came about owning mine by virtue of a Christmas gift from my wife”¦meaning I shouldn’t trade it off. I have shot caplocks for years and hunt and shoot almost exclusively with muzzleloaders. This one got left home on many hunting trips because I had not mastered using a flintlock and it is not the most attractive gun in the case. The person that influenced my wife to purchase a flintlock for me (but not particularly the Firestorm), challenged me to get the gun out and shoot it even though he did not particularly care for its “non-traditional” qualities. I must admit that the flint bug got me and my other guns rarely see the light of day now. Even took my first deer by flint Sunday which only feeds the bug more. Modern weapons season opens in a couple of weeks and I most likely will use the Firestorm then too. I still shoot a lot of caplock shotgun but a 20 ga fowler sounds mighty interesting”¦..