Touch Hole Pick

[rfcbuf]

Why do some flint shooters use soft iron or copper wire touch hole picks? I've had no problem with piano wire which would be harder than soft iron.

 

[Stophel]

I don't think I have EVER had to pick a touch hole...

I have had to try to push some priming powder into the hole to fire an oil-gummed charge before, but that's not the same thing.

 

[hotsparks]

No real reason other than preference, I suppose the argument could be made that numerous and repeated insertions of a "harder" vent pick into a mild steel vent hole will eventually enlarge it. For fun, some night when you are watching TV repeatably insert a piece of tapered music wire into a, say 1/16" hole in a piece of 1/4" plate. Keep count. Somewhere up around 5 figures you might notice some hole enlargement. But hot gas thru the vent hole probably accounts more for vent enlargement than wear from a vent pick. But, as I said, it's mostly a personal preference.
John

 

[rich pierce]

A smooth hard steel pick should be fine and maybe better than a corroded copper opr soft iron pick. Although I do confess to be mystified about what vent picks are for, except for poking a few grains of powder in when I forget to charge the gun. Then it's fill the pan, tilt the gun, poke, poke, poke, poke, spill, refill pan, repeat till I finally have enough to make the gun fire with a sound sort of like "spoof".

What horrifies me is when I see some hand-forged, square, tapered object that looks more like an awl or ice pick marketed as a vent pick. A few uses of one of those and a fella would have more flames coming out the touchhole than the muzzle.

 

[LRB]

I use sterling silver picks, when I use one at all. Usually only when blowing down the barrel doesn't clear the vent for the next load. I have tried picking before priming, but get way many more hang fires than not picking.

 

[RC]

Although I do confess to be mystified about what vent picks are for,

:hmm: That's easy... :haha: ! if'n ya start out with a flinter, an it don't go off,ya pic the hole(like ya seen peoples do!) reprime,,, and it boom! :grin: ..soooooooooooooo next time ya load,, pic an prime... you've been learnt! :thumbsup:

:wink: :haha:

 

[dlpowell]

Paper clips work for me.

Everybody's got 'em.

The big ones are perfect. Pull one end out and wrap the rest with leather or something.

 

[grampaJ]

And since you've got a sharp patch knife and there may be reeds growing near ya, you can fabricate a pick that will work fine and save you a drive home. Learnt that yestiddy. Its a gitby that will work til better. :v GrampaJ in NC where we got plenty reeds.

 

[Chilidog]

Some say they never pick, some say they don't see the need to do so. This is how it was explained to me years ago.

You don't pick to push powder into the flash hole, you pick to open it up. You use a small enough pick to reach all the way into the barrel to touch the far side and kinda swirl it around a bit to open up the charge as much as possible. The idea is that you're exposing as much of the main charge as possible to the heat of the flash pan igniting to insure good ignition. Also, a blocked flash hole causes a fuse effect slowing down ignition.

Works for me. :thumbsup:

 

[LRB]

It don't work for me. I get too many hang fires. Ain't no fuse when you can see the charge in the vent.

 

[rich pierce]

I've been shooting flint since 1978 and never have picked my vent unless I got caught in a hard rain and everything turned to goo. I think everybody does as they were taught by somebody else, and some were taught to always pick, and some, never. Certainly some guns were equipped with staples or a rolled sheet metal cyclinder to hold a feather or pick. I have successfully plugged the vent with a feather and used the lock on a loaded rifle to strike fire before. Keeping the gun pointed downrange, of course.

 

[Chilidog]

Really? I'm sorry to hear it doesn't work for you. Actually the opposite happened with me. I was getting an occasional "flash but no boom" and was advised to do as described. Did so and the problem went away. And like was said, I suppose alot of folks simply do as they were taught. You've obviously tried different things and this one didn't work for you. I'm just sharing what works for me.

 

[Semisane]

I never pick my .54 Great Plains with an RMC touch hole liner. I've had maybe 3 or 4 flash in the pans out of something over 500 shots. Each time I had a flash in the pan it turned out there was a piece of crud blocking the outside of the flash hole that I didn't notice when I primed the pan.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I make mine out of clothes hanger wire. Heated, twisted, bent and allowed to cool so it is soft.

I like making them (great February project) and I believe they help give consistent ignition with my flintlocks.

I would avoid hardened steel as barrel steel is relatively soft, but that's just a personal paronia.

Do I pick every shot? No. Only when I am not hurried. Perhaps, on an off chance, some water, oil, dust or spider poo is in there and the simple act of picking may get me the deer. Who knows? It is also part of my ritual and I may spot another problem, like a loose or fractured flint, etc. Heck, I enjoy picking, so there. You should see the ritual I go through when smoking a pipe!

 

[hanshi]

I also don't bother to pick; the rifle fires fine without it. I do have a couple of picks but they very, very rarely get any use.

 

[Stophel]

If I ever had to, I imagine I could easily find a little stick out in the woods I could quickly fashion to proper shape. :wink:

 

[rabjr]

It's funny I confess to being a picker. Just was taught to do it when I was learning it all. However, I start out as a picker...and somewhere during the shooting session it gets forgot about. :haha: I end up finding myself priming and firing and it's not till later I realize I'ts something I forget about. Is that cause of old age? :rotf:

 

[Ken Rummer]

I agree. I pick my RMC because it has the nipple in the side of the barrel and the flame goes directly to the powder. I believe this procedure is very helpful with this rifle.

However it seems my GPR has a patient breech so picking probably won't touch the powder because of all the angles in the path. I believe TC is a similar desigh. For these two you are just verifying the touchhole is clear.

 

[biliff]

I use a copper wire because its easy to shape a new one when (not if) I lose one and because I happen to have a good size roll of it.

As far as needing to pick, it depends. Pistol doesn't seem to need it (Nock breech). The two rifles and one tradegun seem to do better when I load with the pick in the vent and then withdraw it. What ever works.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have observed hang fires in guns where the powder was not able to get close enough to the vent. My gun has a white lightning liner, which cured that problem for me. Putting a pick in the hole to open the powder charge does NOT move powder back away from the vent hole opening,as the liner is coned, and powder remains under and up the sides of the opening after I pick the powder charge.

If you shoot a Nock style lock, where there is a long flash channel from the vent, to the center of the back (bottom?) of the "powder chamber, you need to have powder in that flash channel to avoid both misfires and hang fires. Opening the flash channel with a larger drill bit allows powder to enter and stay there from the powder chamber during loading, so that picking the channel with a vent pick merely opens a hole to expose more powder granules to the heat for fast ignition.

If you have a gun that shoots reliably without picking the main charge through the vent hole, DON'T USE A PICK- obviously! I have not been that " lucky". :thumbsup: