• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Thoughts on this touch hole placement

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Fuse effect isn't real. Reference Larry Pletcher's good work timing flintlocks with a test rig and computer.
From what I’ve learned the main charge is actually ignited by hot gas and not burning powder. If powder is in the way of the hot gases and must burn before the main charge ignites then that is what I’m calling a fuse.
His touch hole is in a goofy position and someone ground the pan,which I’m not against,to put powder below the touch hole. That may or may not obstruct the flash hole and it may allow powder to fall in to the lock mortise which is dangerous. If you weld it up and it doesn’t work then put the groove back in. I have one original flintlock that has a really goofy touch hole location angled in to the chamber and it is as fast as any of my normal rifles.
We may only be talking about a fraction of a second here but I know if I fill my pan full of powder my ignition is noticeably slower that if I only fill it 1/4 full. I also try to keep my pan powder to the outside of my pan and away from my flash hole. This seems to work the best for me.
 
This is an older Jukar rifle from the early 80's. It does shoot and its as pretty accurate rifle so I'm also seriously considering getting an l and r lock drop in replacement for the rifle and didn't want to spend the money if the touch hole would be an issue.
why would you change it if it shoots and is accurate? I would suggest that you cannot tell the difference when shooting offhand between the two locks? and the juker/cva/traditions lock has the advantage of a adjustable sear that I haven't been able to get l&r to do for me when I've had no choice but to replace the lock. So if it works don't screw up a good thing the L&R isn't a improvement .....but if it doesn't work then install the L&R and be prepared to either pay to have somebody tune it or deal with the frustration ( screwing up parts ) of tuning it yourself. In my humble opinion .
 
Get the dremel out and enlarge the pan in the area near the flash hole. Make it more uniform front to back using the flash hole location as a guide. In the process, you can grind out the notch as well. It was obviously placed there due to the flash hole being out of alignment with the center of the pan.
 
From what I’ve learned the main charge is actually ignited by hot gas and not burning powder. If powder is in the way of the hot gases and must burn before the main charge ignites then that is what I’m calling a fuse.
His touch hole is in a goofy position and someone ground the pan,which I’m not against,to put powder below the touch hole. That may or may not obstruct the flash hole and it may allow powder to fall in to the lock mortise which is dangerous. If you weld it up and it doesn’t work then put the groove back in. I have one original flintlock that has a really goofy touch hole location angled in to the chamber and it is as fast as any of my normal rifles.
We may only be talking about a fraction of a second here but I know if I fill my pan full of powder my ignition is noticeably slower that if I only fill it 1/4 full. I also try to keep my pan powder to the outside of my pan and away from my flash hole. This seems to work the best for me.
Interesting observations. How do your actual times compare to Larry Pletcher's tests? His computer based instrument testing reinforced his belief that human eyes and ears are terrible tools for judging flint events.
https://www.blackpowdermag.com/filled-vent-test-is-it-slower/

From Larry Fletcher’s writing.
“We expected a larger difference because our ears tell us a hang fire has taken place. And, here is the most unusual finding. The fastest time (.0233) we recorded sounded as if it was a hang fire. The slowest time (.0363) recorded sounded like a sharp crack – no hang fire – sounded like a .22 rim fire.”
 
Get the dremel out and enlarge the pan in the area near the flash hole. Make it more uniform front to back using the flash hole location as a guide. In the process, you can grind out the notch as well. It was obviously placed there due to the flash hole being out of alignment with the center of the pan.

I wouldnt do this (cut a notch in the pan), its just not necessary to fix the issue.

Put a blind liner in it and move the touch hole where it’s desired.

Its possible the vent may need to be drilled out, and a larger liner / screw used.

I make my own liners to fix these issues, you can counter sink the edges, and peen over the seam to make it less visible.
 
I have a rifle like that with an offset hole. Always worked fine before I messed with it. I still bothered me so I widened the pan and put in one of the ox yoke Allen wrench liners. Yes they arent HC but they work like a champ. I don’t know if the ignition is faster now or not but psychologically I think so lol.
 
I have a rifle like that with an offset hole. Always worked fine before I messed with it. I still bothered me so I widened the pan and put in one of the ox yoke Allen wrench liners. Yes they arent HC but they work like a champ. I don’t know if the ignition is faster now or not but psychologically I think so lol.
Sometimes that's all that matters. ;)
 
I have a rifle like that with an offset hole. Always worked fine before I messed with it. I still bothered me so I widened the pan and put in one of the ox yoke Allen wrench liners. Yes they arent HC but they work like a champ. I don’t know if the ignition is faster now or not but psychologically I think so lol.
I think thas the main reason I'm looking at the L and R lock, the psychological part that it is a lot bettert, and that everywere you read, people say that the factory lock is garbage. But the more I tinker with the lock, the better/smoother it seems to get. I ordered a new tumber that will accept a bridle and also a bridle and I think once this is done, I'm hoping I have pretty decent lock for what I have invested in it. This will also be a much cheaper option. It also accepts a fly but with a single trigger, I didn't see the need for one.
 
Back
Top