touch hole liners

[lakota]

I took my liner out and noticed it is not coned on the inside. Do the coned liners make a difference in ignition time?

I was thinking of putting an order into Dixie.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes. But you want the parabolic cone that comes with the Jim Chamber's TH WHITE LIGHTNING liners. Its the fastest of the inside coned liners.

 

[Deadeye]

I believe it does and the bigger the cone the better and don't ever stick something thru the touch hole and push the powder away from the hole
(as someone has suggested)that's where you want it
right in the hole. You can take a drill and the proper bit and cone it yourself. I usually make mine from 1/4 x 28 stainless bolts. Flush on the outside and big cone on the inside. Never have a misfire unless the flint is worn beyond knapping.
Deadeye

 

[David W.]

I agree with the White Lightning liner. :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

While the White Lightening may be wonnerful, it is not the answer to the original question.

Chambers White Lightening vents require a special 32 pitch thread that is used on no other liners available.

That makes them unsuitable for replacing an existing liner in any factory (and many custom) rifes or pistols.

Track of the Wolf (along with most other suppliers of muzzleloader parts) sells vents in both American and Metric thread pitches.
They should have a counterbored vent liner that will improve the OP's gun.

 

[bitehard]

Thankyou Zonie. That is what I have been doing these last few years. Buying a TOW liner , opening it up on the inside , conning the outside and then putting it in place. Plenty of grease on the threads. Not having counted or tested I think that I might even be getting a better life out of the altered one over the standard TOW unit. I have even got a special drill/reamer shaped to do the inside cone. I did like the Chambers concept but was not impressed with the idea of being stuck with their item for evermore due to the thread and size. I still use the vent pin as I load the main charge. Partly out of habit and a peception that ignition is a little better all round. I'm still dealing with the loose nut behind the butt -- idiot facter --.

 

[ebiggs1]

I cone both sides of mine. I also drill them with a #50 drill.
Looks like this!

Bottom is the way it comes from Track.
Middle one is drilled with #50 drill.
Top is drilled and coned.

I also like them to be coned on the inside like this.

And, yes, I believe they work better conned!

 

[Maven]

How did you cone the pan side and the inside of the vent liner?

 

[tg]

Most I have talked to do not cone the pan side.

 

[ebiggs1]

I use a common counter sink bit and drill bit(s) to cone them. I use an appropriate-sized nut to hold them in my drill press vise.

 

[Vaino]

When I was making TH liners {now use the White Lightning} they only had an inside cone. To eliminate the screwdriver slot across the TH, I filed {2} 45 degree angled slots 180 degrees apart on the dia. to accept a spanner type screwdriver. Worked out fine.....Fred

 

[cowpoke1955]

Dang ebiggs. That inside cone looks like a cave :rotf: . I bet it works real nice too :thumbsup:

 

[Skychief]

I believe it does and the bigger the cone the better and don't ever stick something thru the touch hole and push the powder away from the hole
(as someone has suggested)that's where you want it
right in the hole.
Deadeye

So, a coned liner works better if the powder is not "pricked" with a pin of some sort?????? :idunno:

 

[Zonie]

That's highly debatable.

I choose not to start the debate in this topic because so far it is maintaining the original theme.

 

[LRB]

It does for me, and I too do a small outside cone. I rebarreled my rifle a while back and installed a 1/4-28 stainless liner. I opened the original cone up with a 11/64" drill bit, but forgot to cone the outside. I was getting pan flashes fairly often, then realized the outside was not coned. Coned it and have had only one flash in the pan for about 120 rounds. I never pick the TH unless it is plugged when I blow through the barrel after fireing. Oops, there's another worn out topic.

 

[ebiggs1]

I can only say it works for me. I have no FTFs.







(I don't pick or prick or whatever the touchole, either.)
I'm sorry Zonie.

 

[paulvallandigham]

It depends on the size( diameter) of your TH, and the powder you are shooting( granular size. as to whether you need to move some powder around with a vent pick after loading, to get more reliable, and faster ignition.

Test your own gun. Fire a 5 shot group without picking the power. Then fire another 5 shot group after picking the powder.

Oh, Not all vent picks are equal. I make my own, from coat hanger wire, which I heat up, square, and then twist to form a decorative shank. Either a circle, or heart at one end for a "handle", and the other end is filed to a rounded "point", small enough to allow the pick to go through the vent hole and the point to touch the other side of the bore. I also file two flats on the opposite side of the "point", so that the vent pick acts like a paddle or oar, when moving powder in the barrel. The pick is about 5-6" long, so that its easily held surely in my cold hands when hunting in below freezing weather.

All I do is insert, twist it 90 degrees one direction, and back 180 degrees the other, and with draw the pick( paddle). In my gun, this brief attention to detail insures very fast ignition, every time I pull the trigger.

I do not experience the same benefit using a standard piece of wire, or a rounded-taper shank vent pick, like those available commercially. None of the commercially sold vent picks are hardened, so a couple of strokes with a file to make the paddle on the end is all you need to "fix" them. :hmm: :thumbsup:

There is NO need for any "War", or argument on this issue: Like so many other issues concerning shooting Black Powder, your gun will tell you what works better. The fly in the ointment is the shooter's ability to conduct honest tests, changing only ONE factor at a time. That's the only way a gun can " teach you" what it likes. :hmm: :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[Fullstock58]

I haven't found slightly countersinking the outside of a touch hole to be either good or bad, so I don't do it. I do cone the inside if I can't buy one that way.

I have two rifles that have a stainless steel set screws as the TH liners, they work really great, I have never taking them out so I don't know if they are coned on the inside.

 

[gizamo]

Paul,

Any pic's of yer pick? :grin:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I find the outside cone to be of help in reliability, it seems to funnel the flash into the bore. That is my main beef with the White Lightning, unless one countersinks it extremely deep there is not enough metal left in the web to add an outside cone. That plus the odd ball thread. With those vent liners installed with an Allen key the key socket acts like an outside cone and I like those as well.