White Lightning in GPR

[jweston]

I was wondering if anyone here had installed a white lighting touch hole into a GPR? It would involve retapping the hole from M6 to 1/4-32.

BTW I had my best ingition day ever yesterday. 7 shots in a row with no flashes in the pan. As I was using 2F in the pan, there was some lag.

 

[d.thomson]

I just ordered a white lightning from TOTW plus the Instal Kit , I think it was $15. I will poast after I decide to Insall it. F.K. P.S this is for a GPR .54

 

[cowpoke1955]

Blacksburg,
I had problems with my .54 GPR flinter I just built. A lot of flash in the pan. I drilled the vent liner to 5/64th of an inch and coned it with a 1/4 inch drill bit. Seems to have solved my problems. Try using finer powder for prime, FFFg or FFFFg. It should be a little faster. Once you drill and tap for a White Lighting, you better be happy with it, cause there is no going back. I would try everything else first before you make a perminate change. Just my thoughts.

 

[Harddog]

A white lightning vent liner is not a "cureall" for ignition problems in a flintlock. If you have problems with ignition you need to resolve the problem and a white lightning liner of the same configuration as your current liner will not be any better.

The first thing I would suggest is to drill your present liner's vent hole a little bigger and chamfer the hole and see if that doesn't solve your problem.

Randy Hedden

 

[d.thomson]

Do you mean chamfer the hole from the out side. F.K.

 

[Rebel]

What i do with all my liners and it seems to work good, is to shorten them so they are fluch with the inside of the barrel, then drill the inside out as large as i can nearly all the way through. Don't drill all the way, leave yourself a few thousanths wall thickness. I then drill the vent hole out to 1/16" or 5/64" Works good for me.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Fisher,
Take a 1/4 inch drill bit and counter sink your vent liner to focus the flash into the touch hole. You want to leave some of the slot on the outside of your counter sink, so you can still remove your liner. Check with Rebel. He did some more to his GPR vent liner. He might be able to explain it better than me. Try everything first, before you change your barrel. Tweeking your action is part of the fun. They are a good solid rifle :thumbsup: .

 

[Hunter66]

You won't be able to go from the 6 x.75 thread to a 1/4 x 32. The major diameter of the 6mm thread is too large and the tap drill for the 1/4 x 32 won't remove all of the threads to give you a good thread when you try and tap it. You can go through the 6mm thread and convert it to 14/x28 thread since the pitch is almost identical just a slight difference in diameter. The White Lighting vent used to be available from Track in 1/4x28 but for some reason they are no more.
I had a GPR that was difficult and the problem wasn't the vent itself but the position. I have seen many GPRs with the touch hole too low and too far to the rear. I corrected that problem on mine and my ignition was much better. I then added a White lighting vent and ignition was better still. I can't remember the last time I had a flash in the pan. When I wear out this vent liner I will drill it out for the 5/16x 32 White lighting since the 1/4x28 are not available anymore. If I were you I would make sure the hole is properly located first and then I would not hesitate to install the 5/16x32 White Lighting. I use them in all my guns and a friend of mine that builds guns the likes of which I can't afford puts the 5/16x32 liners in all the new guns he builds and swears by them. Some guys seem too think that the 5/16 thread is only to repair a messed up 1/4 thread but I don't agree. The barrel that I have coming from Green Mt. was ordered undrilled so I can locate and install a 5/16 White Lighting. I think the bigger channel it creates helps ensure that the powder gets right up to the touch hole. I am sure that someone will disagree with me but my guns go off with great reliability and that is the key to the whole thing. I also cone all of my vent lines on the outside.

 

[sundowner]

RMC also has a touch hole liner that works well in my GPR I also drilled out the one that came with the gun to 5/64 and it worked much better . Charlie

 

[d.thomson]

I went 5/64 in my vent liner but I noticed that the liner is a bit to the rear mabey 3/32 of an inch it seems to be at the right hight. It goes off all the time but has a bit of a hesitation. Does any one think I should dremel the pan back to put the T.H. In the middle. Thanks F.K.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Widening the pan will not hurt ignition, and may help. Just make sure you mark a line on the top lip or edge of the flashpan to indicate where the bottom of the frizzen rests, and leave at least 1/8" of coverage over the pan. Polish the heck out of that pan to give it a mirror finish. It may not speed ignition, but it makes it much easier to wipe clean, and the polished surface will not hold residue that will absorb moisture from the air well at all.

 

[Deadeye]

Rebel, I make mine in exactly the same way as you described. I make mine from a stainless steel bolt from the hardware store. Never seen anything
any faster or more reliable.
Deadeye

 

[jweston]

Thanks for the response Hunter. I am not happy with my vent position and might end up adjusting either the lock or the replaced vent.
BBurg

 

[jweston]

I have taken the plunge and gotten a 5/16-24 white lightning vent liner. I was able to drill out the M6 threads, and tap for the vent liner, but I have one quick question -- do I need to countersink for the flare on the WL vent liner?

Thanks in advance -- BBurg

For those interested, I got the WL kit from TOW, was able to drill and tap in minutes. I just had to bring home a tap handle from work.

 

[d.thomson]

I counter sunk mine and then carefuly draw filed flush, I eventualy opened up the TH to 5/64, It is now as quick as my T/C hawkens cap gun.F.K.

 

[jweston]

Thanks, Fisher King. BTW that was one of the first video tapes that I bought. I am a big Terry Gilliam fan -- after nearly 20+ years I am still trying to figure out Brazil.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

The countersink is essential with the white lightnin' liner. The interior cone comes so close to the outside that if not deeply countersunk you will run into the cone when you file it flush to the barrel flat. You could easily end up with a vent over 1/8" diameter. I personally have no use for the White Lightnin'. There really is only so much a vent liner can do regardless of claims and one liner does about as much as another. In my experience the best liner form is a deep interior cone to bring the main charge closer to the pan and a slight exterior cone which seems to improve reliability. The white lightnin' has such a deep interior cone that it is impossible to add an exterior cone without greatly enlarging the vent hole. And once you have tapped to the odd-ball 5/16x32 thread you are stuck with it. I've done several for friends but will never do another for myself since my Blue Ridge flint was both faster and much, much more certain with the original liner. You can make yourself a much better liner out of a stainless steel allen head set screw from the hardware store.

 

[ronrryan]

Brazil is easy, its us in about fifty years (maybe less) good smoke, Ron in FL

 

[jweston]

I installed the White Lightnin(g) liner last week and all that I can say is WOW. I can definitely see a marked improvement in my ignition success.

I have a replacement lock and am waiting on my chisels to inlet and put in. It will come none to soon as I have been having EXTREME problems with my Lyman stock lock. It doesn't have the strength to always push the frizzen back and it is no longer safe at half-cock. I was walking to my target (gun loaded, pointed down) when the hammer slipped and the gun discharged. My hand was directly in/on the frizzen and I got a burn and powder in my finger. A tattoo to remind me to be b e more careful.

BBurg