Traditions flintlock to matchlock conversion...

[mckutzy]

Hey guys... been a long while since I really come back to the forum here. Life and such always has its way of dictating otherwise of one's hobbies...

Lately I got back into the swing of thing went to a new range and BP club...

Already having issue with the flintlock itself, I went and built a new lock in the match category....

Made a template, file fitted a plate, silver soldered a pan and a couple of nuts outside to make attachment points for the action...

I decided to go with an external mechanism as the internal space wasn't conducive to building a new lock around that... so all items went outside...
Originally I had started on a lock made of stainless, as I had the metal and wanted something different...
That got as far as the lockplate and pan but I couldn't drill the plate holes effectively, so I had to start again...

On round 2 (in mild steel)it worked out better, drilled holes and tapped threads, used one existing bolt from the flint to mount.
About a month of messing about I managed to get something to work...

First test it didn't want to light, so a match issue was at hand...
After another said he'll blow as I'm shooting... it worked pretty good...
I took a few shots this way and then tried back on the flintlock.


(Hopefully the pics load right)


A little earlier I went a did some experiments with the match, and the saltpeter concentration...
I had a bad time finding any nitrates(well low and behold they banned a bunch of things) of course...
I remembered I had a few cans of stump remover, the good stuff, squirreled away...

After a few tests I worked out that 4 tbls desolved to 1L of hot water makes a good self sustainable burn, not a fuse but a steady hot burn...
Cord is an all cotton sashcord, about 7/16OD.

Today I went out again, it's a good burn, match works great..
Really happy with today.

The earlier shoot was the gong plates, first shot was the red plate, lower end. The second shot was the upper shot on the middle plate. 50yds, hadn't touched the sights in years...

Today I had the range area to myself, about half the distance in this pics,
I'm still tuning the load and technique...

 

[sb 54 cal.]

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Ingenuity at its best … like the effort & welcome to the wonderful ‘world of the match’!

On your next attempt, see if you can work a swiveling pan cover onto your lockplate. That’s an important design feature for safety primarily, plus reliability, as you can figure out best positioning for the cord placement.

With a pan cover, prime pan & close the cover, but blow off any stray powder around the lock. Then position the match & prior to firing, blow on the match (across the barrel … ) to form a good ‘lit’ match head, then open the pan cover & fire.

 

[TC]

Mckutsy,
I was thinking of doin the same thing to a a rifle i have. Its rifled and a carbine. Would make for a handy straight shootin match lock.

 

[mckutzy]

Thanks guys.... ya actually there is a pan cover, its hard to tell, bu the pic on the shooting bench, shows a open pan cover...
I know its a safety thing to have one.... Cant really set your match properly with a "live" pan.

Yup giver a blow and then give fire...

Ill try to get some better pics of the setup and parts when I break it completely down later to give a good clean.



I have a bunch of hardwood like oak and some other S-American woods, all dunage from shipping containers at my work, we recieve from Chile, I plan to build a dedicated matchlock not a HC/PC piece, but just a match i like the lines and ergonomics to....
I just need a barrel, a little dificult to get here in Canada, as of late....

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

A smoldering bit of rope or really any material is easier to find and make than a knapped flint, that’s for sure, and MUCH easier to make than percussion caps, if you can even find them for sale in a store these days (which often you can’t).

You might be on to something!

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Thanks for that additonal info!

 

[mckutzy]

I have a good amount of the sash cord, got that a few years ago in a 100'hank. I have used it to touch off a few cannon shots hear and there, But with the matchlock it just doesn't want to light... even with 3f using to prime both...
So I need to treat it with the nitre...

I'm just glad I managed to get some while I could...

 

[DuncNZ]

I use potassium nitrate and white vinegar in about the same amounts as you do with hot water , the white vinegar is meant to slow the burn rate and make a better coal , I don't know if it does .
I have a friend who just soaks his match cord in a mix of black powder and hot water , seems too much like a fuse to me but it works for him .
I use a drink can with holes punched in it nailed to a piece of wood to keep it steady , to keep my glowing match still burning but out of harms way .
Is that a snapping lock or is the match lowered by the arm down the side ?
In the first Anglo /Afghan war the Afghanis sat back 200meters + with their long matchlock rifles ,away out if range of the Brown Bess , and picked off the Redcoats at will . They eventually killed or captured all on the British side except for one doctor who made it back to India . I once sold a beautiful rifle from that battle which had been retro fitted with a flintlock lock off a Bess ,

 

[Rudyard]

That would be the retreat from the Kabool Garrison of the Companys army & Doctor Brydon who reached the garrison at Jellalabad How do you know its from that breach of agreed terms ? . Curious Rudyard who went up from Peshawar to Kabool ( I know its old spelling ) heading home by land in 1969 through that same Kyber Pass .
Cheers Rudyard

PS I don't think the Companies troops wore' Red coats ' they where not British regulars Just East India Coys mix of Sepoys & Sowars with some Eurapean units The Companies garrisons at Herat & Kandahar where not affected just the Cabool one. It wasn't so much 'a battle' but a snipeing at long range contary to agreed terms .Some thing like the terms of Monroe's retreat from Ford William Henry in the F&I war only in a steep sided rocky valley Couldn't trust the Afghans word just same as today nothing much changes. If all I 'fought' was gynormous bed bugs and they won !.I made a stratiegic withdrawal to the flat roof of my flee pit quarters & there slept a good night R

 

[mckutzy]

Its a lever with a return spring, I was thinking a snapping but i didnt like the idea of it being suffed out or smashed into the pan after release...

When I get my stuff together(hopefully this week some time), I have to show some pics of it alone and the parts...

 

[Rudyard]

Dear Mr Mckutzy The Snap matchlock has just a light sprig to impel the glowing coal into the prime (Best by the way if ground fine ) there is no violence but the vent does tend to blow the match away . I used a 54 cal rifled snap match lock hunting in the surrounding mountains on week long hunts the smell of smoke being no more allarming than the smell of the hunter . Short sections of match are usefully lit by a' pre 1840 high plains Bic 'and the fungus match should answer equally well . Certain it is that the matchlock of any sort isn't most peoples choice of a hunting rifle (It has a smooth barrel too ) most seem to carry hidieous machine disgorged assasins rifles but no true sportman should consider such guns , So I choose fair play we are not at war with the game least that how I see it . I was once a Govt Deer culler but that's different .
Regards Rudyard

 

[toot]

that is a mod. that I thought would ever happen. I am so glad that you posted the end results.

 

[Nobade]

A brilliant way to adapt to modern realities. We'll likely see more things like that as time passes.

 

[Rudyard]

Dear New Moderator.. My last two posts seem not to show the' like 'option. Perhaps it's a vanity on my part , but its nice to get feed back .
Respectfully Yours Rudyard

 

[mckutzy]

I finally took some better up close pics.
It show next to a small Siler lock I have for comparison..

Pan was silver soldered onto the lockplate, had to add a couple of filler blocks to fit some spaces, also when I was fitting the pan originally, I jammed a wedge to hold the position... just didn't bother to remove it...

Overall just stuff I had around...
I'm really liking going this new match conversion lock.... I should have done this years ago...

 

[DuncNZ]

Great stuff , you need to put a Butterfly bolt through the jaws to clamp it on the match , this will stop dropping the match each shot . Why do you keep the original triggers on the rifle?

 

[mckutzy]

The match wedges in the cock/serpentine, it just stays there after shooting... but ya I need one anyways.... just didn't have time to make one, or get one yet..

I kept the original trigger setup, as this it just the conversion lock from the flintlock it is..
I have that still... just working out some issues to make more consistant ignition...

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

For your next attempt ... modify another flintlock lock assy to use the stock triggers, whilst changing out the cock to one that holds a match, plus adding a pivoting pan cover.

You can do it! Luvin' your inginuity!

 

[DuncNZ]

plus adding a pivoting pan cover.

He has a pivoting pan cover look at the close up last photo