Touch Hole Size

[Juice Jaws]

Have a question on touch hole size. A friend built me a nice flint lock rifle years ago. Every thing was great but he put the touch hole a little to high. Lots of flash in the pan but few booms. Finally I had enough and grab a drill bit about 1/8 inch and drill the hole out. Now it goes boom every time, and shoots great. Other than lighting the guys cigar next to me when it goes off, does it matter what size the touch hole is??

 

[ZUG]

1/8" is way too big if it was me I would put the barrel in a milling machine and lower the touch hole with a White Lightning touch hole liner. If you don't have a mill then take it to a machine shop for the work. :wink: :v

 

[matt denison]

1/8" touch hole is way too big. Not only will powder dribble out of it or self prime but you are losing a ton of pressure through it. Not to mention the annoying blow torch effect for anyone standing within 30 feet of you when you touch it off. I'd suggest that you install a vent liner and drill it out no larger than 5/64".

A touch hole "a little too high" might be a good excuse for misfires but in reality doesn't make much difference one way or the other. The gun powder doen't care where the touch hole is. If the flash has a clear path to the charge it will ignite and go boom.

 

[nchawkeye]

Define way too high????

Does the heel of the frizzen cover it when it is closed?? Is the bottom of the hole even with the top of the pan???

If so, it isn't too high, many are too low...

 

[Billnpatti]

That was an oops. 1/8 inch is waaaaay too big. A flintlock touch hole should be about 1/16 inch in diameter to work properly. I would suggest that you replace the touch hole liner with a new one and drill out the stock hole to 1/16 inch. The White Lightnin' touch hole liner sold by Jim Chambers http://www.flintlocks.com/parts.htm is an excellent liner but will require that you re-drill and tap the hole in the barrel where the liner goes before installing the liner. Not a big nor difficult job but you will have to order one of his taps unless you can find one at a hardware store in your area.

 

[Juice Jaws]

I re-check the drill bit and found out it is 5/64. As far as losing pressure, just use it for target shooting. One thing for sure, she does go off every time.

 

[TJK]

I do agree that 1/16" seems to work well in most cases. That said, if the gun is firing well and the accuracy is good enough for you, and things are fun, why mess with it. Many originals had very large holes. And yes, they where in all likely hood worn larger with use, they obviously were continued to be used.

Rio

 

[Larry Pletcher]

If you decide to redo the vent, be advised that there are 5 numbered bits between 1/16" and 5/64" . You can actually sneak up on the best size for your particular rifle.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[Juice Jaws]

Thanks to all of you. But like TJK said if all is well who cares, beside I agree with him, in the old days a I think a lot of the vent holes were larger than what we use today. Thanks again for the input but I think I will leave the beast be.

 

[kaintuck]

#40 IS GOOD..... :hmm:

but you have a hole that if running from the Indians, just pour powder down the barrel....no patch, throw a ball down, tap the butt, and your ready to shoot them injuns!!! :rotf: :surrender: :grin:

marc n tomtom

 

[EC121]

A .125" hole will let some powder out. Go to the drug store and buy some of those little interdental brushes. They make great plugs for the touchhole while loading. Let the air out and keep the powder in. Then pick a little priming powder into the hole while priming.

 

[Zonie]

If you have redrilled your vent hole to 5/64 ( .078) and the caliber of the gun is .50 or larger you haven't, in my opinion, done any harm.

I have drilled several of the flintlocks vent holes on the guns I've built out to that size and as you say, ignition is as fast as the flash in the pan.

A vent hole that size on a .45 caliber or smaller bore gun might be a bit too much but IMO the larger powder charges used on the bigger bores are usually enough to more than compensate for the gas lost thru the larger vent hole.

 

[George]

I re-check the drill bit and found out it is 5/64. As far as losing pressure, just use it for target shooting. One thing for sure, she does go off every time.

5/64" seems good to me. I did the same to my flintlock fowler almost 20 years ago, and have been totally happy with it. I wouldn't change anything.

I have an old original flintlock which had it's touchhole burnt out and an iron bushing put in and re-drilled. That one is now pretty badly burned, and the hole is way large. It still shoots very reliably, I've taken a deer and a lot of squirrels with it. Yes, I know it loses pressure, but the game don't seem to notice, and it causes no other problems.



Spence

 

[Rifleman1776]

Spence, from the pic that hole looks huge. :shocked2:
Even being an original, I would line it.
But, it's yer rifle gun do wat floats yer stick. :grin:

 

[hanshi]

When I got my first flinter I drilled out the flash hole with a 1/16" bit and got full reliability. All subsequent flinters were simply drilled out to 1/16" before being fired. Never needed anything larger.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I am not convinced that swamping, which reduces mass, would be better at dampening "vibrations".

My fowler and rifle are both carrying swamped barrels - for handling, lighter carry and improved offhand shooting balance.

 

[Ramrod Jack]

After checking back, I think I posted that in the wrong thread. Sorry about that. I think I meant to post it in the Jaeger/longrifle thread.

My conclusion came from reading this ebook...at least some of it. It seems to have been written in 1796. The page that pops up is where I started and then read further to find a trick they used with a wire wrapped around the barrel to check vibration. I'd swear this is where I read it.

Anyway, check it out for yourself. It's pretty interesting even if I made a mistake.

An essay on shooting [based on La chasse au fusil by G.F. Magné de Marolles].
https://books.google.com/books?id=...nd fusils who, what determined length&f=false

 

[Rifleman1776]

I am not convinced that swamping, which reduces mass, would be better at dampening "vibrations".

I once got mightly skewered for suggesting that swamping does improve accuracy by dampening harmonic vibrations in barrels. I made that statement on memory from having read and article in Muzzle Blasts years earlier. But, I could not provide the "documentation" to back up the idea. Sure would like to find that article so I can skewer back at some folks. :wink:

 

[Larry Pletcher]

Any idea of the year? I have them all from 1977 to present.
Regards,
Pletch

 

[Rifleman1776]

Any idea of the year? I have them all from 1977 to present.
Regards,
Pletch

How ambitious are you? :wink: OK, 1970 through about 1985. Somewhere in there.
BTW, if I ever hit the big lottery, one of my ambitions is to digitize all issuse and articles ever printed in MB and create a search feature.