Well I've gone and done it. Went to Friendship today and came home with a Tip Curtis English Fowler .62 caliber. This is my first flintlock and Tip told me to use 80 grains of 2F and an equal volume of shot. I picked up some 1/8 hard card wads and a jag and some .600 round ball also on Tip's recommendation. Now I am not sure about one thing. How much powder to prime the pan with. I am under the impression that only a few grains are needed and the location of this priming powder is away from the touch hole. Is this correct? How do you experienced flintlock shooters prime the pan? Can I just take a pinch and sprinkle it in there or what?
Tip Curtis English Fowler
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You're going to get a lot of opinions from the members here all across the spectrum. Tip gave generally good advice. You can use 2fg for all your fowling needs. Some of us have a preference for 3fg. If you go with 3fg use 70 grains of powder. Then there's the duelist's video. He has a recommendation for 100 grains of 2g and 2 oz. of shot. I like the lighter load of 65 grains of 3fg and using my volume measure, about 100 grains of shot.
Loads are confusing enough. Lets work on some of the myths associated with priming. Once again experimentation will come up with what amount of powder works best for you. Pletch has come up with some studies that the old tale of banking the prime away from the touch hole is not as good as a priming pan filled up to the touch hole.\, but not covering the touch hole is best. You want to have the prime spread over as much of the pan to catch the sparks wherever they fall. The prime will about 3 to 4 grains volume of powder and you can use the same powder to prime as you use to load.
Enjoy your new smooth bore.
Loads are confusing enough. Lets work on some of the myths associated with priming. Once again experimentation will come up with what amount of powder works best for you. Pletch has come up with some studies that the old tale of banking the prime away from the touch hole is not as good as a priming pan filled up to the touch hole.\, but not covering the touch hole is best. You want to have the prime spread over as much of the pan to catch the sparks wherever they fall. The prime will about 3 to 4 grains volume of powder and you can use the same powder to prime as you use to load.
Enjoy your new smooth bore.
I just fill the pan shut the frizzen and check it is sitting flat on the pan.
The contents of the pan will move around any way blocking the touch hole so I just fill it.
You will need to wipe the fouling from off the frizzen each shot. I use my thumb.
Have fun.
B.
The contents of the pan will move around any way blocking the touch hole so I just fill it.
You will need to wipe the fouling from off the frizzen each shot. I use my thumb.
Have fun.
B.
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My flintlocks seem to like about a third of the pan full of FFFg. Each gun has a personality, meaning you will have to shoot it enough to learn what it likes an dislikes. Believe me it will over time tell you what will make it go boom :thumbsup:
Exactly the way I do it. Simple. :thumbsup:
Dave
Dave
At the range, where I will immediately shoot, I fill mine half full, evenly distributed. Always goes off ... :thumbsup:
... unless my flint is too dull or I forget to pick the vent hole. :cursing: Get a vent pick and use it !!
A full pan for hunting has merit, but you don't want to cover or clog the vent hole.
Enjoy your new gun !!! :grin:
... unless my flint is too dull or I forget to pick the vent hole. :cursing: Get a vent pick and use it !!
A full pan for hunting has merit, but you don't want to cover or clog the vent hole.
Enjoy your new gun !!! :grin:
Whatever amount my primer throws {kinda erratic} is what I use...except if the frizzen won't lay flat, then a swipe of my finger solves that. Never have used a vent pick and the LR always goes "bang" if sparks are present.....Fred
flehto said:
My 50 cal rifle rarely needs the pick, BUT my smoothbore needs it almost every time. :shocked2:
Both have vent liners.
Like the load, it seems to be a specific gun characteristic.
Better to have one when you need it than not ....
AZbpBurner
54 Cal.
Contrary to your initial thoughts, more powder in the pan isn't necessarily better. As already mentioned, around 3 gr. is sufficient. I have an Ampco pan primer that dispenses 3 gr. of 4F and that works fine. More powder, and ignition is noticeably delayed. On occasion, I prime with 3F, and a little bit works best. I've heard of those who prefer powder banked towards the touch hole, and those who contend away works best. Try both and determine your own preference. I just dispense in the middle of the pan and it works fine.
Brokennock
Cannon
I'll leave load development alone, too many variables and every gun is different as are the needs of each hunter/shooter. I've found that the location of the prime in my pan doesn't matter much as long as it's dry and not overfull. I used to religiously "flip" the gun towards the lock side to move the prime away from the touch hole, but as one moves and hunts some powder gets stuck near the hole anyway. I have found a couple things that do make a difference, for me anyway. One thing is that I have yet to flash the pan as long as I leave the touch hole plugged with a small feather, toothpick, or vent pick, while loading. The other is that less seems to be more. I use 4f priming powder from a dropper that drops about 3 grains, which doesn't even half fill the pan, when on the range and the guns always go boom. I can double the 4f and he gun goes boom,,, but,,, I hunt with 3f as my charge and prime, and if I use too much 3f as prime ignition is slow and occasionally doesn't go boom. With the 3f prime I use just enough to barely coat the bottom of the pan evenly if I spread it out. If you have a good lock and a sharp flint it really doesn't take much prime to get the desired results.
Best of luck to ya. Let us know how it shoots.
Best of luck to ya. Let us know how it shoots.
Some folks think the idea of using a vent pick is to clear out any fouling that might have accumulated in the vent.
I don't think removing the fouling has a thing to do with it.
After the ball has been rammed, compressing the powder, only a few grains of new powder will be exposed to the flash of the prime thru the vent hole. They are the ones laying right against the inside of the hole.
Poking the vent pick into the powder after it is rammed pushes those few grains of powder back away from the hole and the pick forms a cavity in the packed powder.
The cavity exposes many more grains of powder to the flash from the pan.
With more grains of powder exposed to the flash, there is a better chance that one (or more) of them will ignite rapidly so, in theory at least, there is a better chance of the powder firing and there is a better chance of it doing so almost instantly.
At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :grin:
I don't think removing the fouling has a thing to do with it.
After the ball has been rammed, compressing the powder, only a few grains of new powder will be exposed to the flash of the prime thru the vent hole. They are the ones laying right against the inside of the hole.
Poking the vent pick into the powder after it is rammed pushes those few grains of powder back away from the hole and the pick forms a cavity in the packed powder.
The cavity exposes many more grains of powder to the flash from the pan.
With more grains of powder exposed to the flash, there is a better chance that one (or more) of them will ignite rapidly so, in theory at least, there is a better chance of the powder firing and there is a better chance of it doing so almost instantly.
At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :grin:
Well I shot this gun yesterday. It seemed to like 70 grains of 3F or 80 grains of 2F and 80 grains of shot. I only had hard card wads to load with and put 2 over the powder and one over the shot. I cut a a small "V" on the edge of the over shot wad. At 25 yards after figuring out the sight picture, It would put 3 #4 shot on a cat food can lid. The pattern in the cardboard backer was nice and round and pretty well centered. At 25 yards with this load, a rabbit or pheasant would be taken easily. The bore had to be cleaned frequently to load so I ordered some lubricated wads to help with fowling next time.
Almost forgot. I tried powder charges up to 100 grs. 2F and 100 grains of shot. More powder equaled more spread no matter if the shot was increased. Sticking with 80 grs of 2F and increasing shot up to 100 grs. did not improve the number of hits on the can. I will try #5 and #6 shot next time to dense up the pattern for more hits on the can. Half a pan of 3F worked best for a priming charge. A safety pin was used for a nipple pick.
Sounds like you are finding out what you new fowler likes in terms of a load. Thanks for letting us know what is working.
All these guns are a working together of the gun, the load and the shooter.
You might want to try half a lubricated wad and some over shot cards that are thinner than the cards you have. You can also take a 1" by 2" strip of brown paper bag that is well wrinkled to make the paper a bit softer. Fold the paper once for a 1" square and use that as your over shot card.
There are a lot of loading procedures that work for different people. I use the 2f powder 70 grains, over powder card, 1/3 of a lubed wad 90 grains volume of 7 1/2 shot and a thin over shot card to turn clay birds to dust.
Fowlers are fun!
All these guns are a working together of the gun, the load and the shooter.
You might want to try half a lubricated wad and some over shot cards that are thinner than the cards you have. You can also take a 1" by 2" strip of brown paper bag that is well wrinkled to make the paper a bit softer. Fold the paper once for a 1" square and use that as your over shot card.
There are a lot of loading procedures that work for different people. I use the 2f powder 70 grains, over powder card, 1/3 of a lubed wad 90 grains volume of 7 1/2 shot and a thin over shot card to turn clay birds to dust.
Fowlers are fun!
Just a tip just in case you fancy a try.
I carry a small amount of home made lubricant and put some between the cards. On firing it gets rammed to the barrel and keeps the foul soft so subsequent loading is easy.
I carry a small amount of home made lubricant and put some between the cards. On firing it gets rammed to the barrel and keeps the foul soft so subsequent loading is easy.
Brokennock
Cannon
Do we get to see picks of your new gun?
Glad to hear you got workable patterns right from the get go. Now go get yourself a rabbit, squirrel, and/or pheasant. Post pics of your accomplishments.
Glad to hear you got workable patterns right from the get go. Now go get yourself a rabbit, squirrel, and/or pheasant. Post pics of your accomplishments.
Brokennock
Cannon
Oh, I forgot, Spence10 on this forum has a lot of great knowledge on making smoothbore guns behave. I suggest finding one of his posts, then clicking on his name to see his profile, from there you can access all the threads he has here, some will not apply to your needs, but many will, and all are great reads. And, of course, visit his website lots of great smoothie shooting info there. http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/
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