Interesting thought. My analogy is this: Yes, it would increase probability of ignition, but would not increase speed. Just my two cents.I wonder if a vertical fence on the end of the pan , just out side the frizzen width ,would have any beneficial effect?
I was thinking a back board (fence) as it were, like in basket ball , would both corral the spark shower and rebound the pan ignition into the flash hole. It might be an aid to poorly designed locks or poor flash hole placement.Interesting thought. My analogy is this: Yes, it would increase probability of ignition, but would not increase speed. Just my two cents.
Flintlocklar
I've decided I would rather have the flash hole a bit forward in the pan rather than a cut out in the breech face that is hard to clean. Still I wanted the vent in the sunset position to the pan and so set the barrel breech rearward .250 which kept all the vent threads in the barrel wall.I was thinking a back board (fence) as it were, like in basket ball , would both corral the spark shower and rebound the pan ignition into the flash hole.
The down side is it would surely direct moisture into the prime in a down pour.
Can I see a picture of your flash guards?Most of my flint locks have flash guards. These are vertical attachments to prevent the pan flash from being directed toward shooters on the flash hole side of the barrel. I can't tell any difference in speed of ignition between those with a flash guard and those without.
Thank you for the pictures, That is a very good improvement you have there in my view,especially for match fire use. How hard is it to clean?The Derringer rifle has an L&R Late English lock. When I first started shooting it, I could easily perceive a lag in ignition. I shot it for a while and really wanted a flash guard because in some matches, the shooter to my right would justifiably complain about the pan flash and touch hole blast. After sending my locks off to L&R for tuning and a tumbler upgrade, they were sent off to Mike Lea and Daughter for installation of the flash guard. I sort of thought that having the flash guard in place would keep the flash and heat in the pan directed more to the touch hole and time of ignition improved. I think that the new tumbler and the smoothing out through use really were the reason that lock times improved.
The lock on my smoothbore was a Siler and I bought the flash guard kit for reason of keeping the touch hole blast from the shooter to my right and because of the ease of installation. I only had to remove the bolt for the frizzen to replace it with a longer one and install the flash guard by installing the fastener with my nipple wrench.
My SMR with the L&R Manton lock does not have a flash guard, but I had learned a lot about polishing the as delivered parts. That lock is also very fast.
I think some time to take one's lock apart to look for those points of roughness to polish the points of contact and properly grease those points and smoothing out the various axles of rotation in the tumbler and frizzen are the most important aspect of improving lock speed.
I bought this used and don't know if MVTC drilled it or not but it seems to be in the perfect position. The frizzen is tight and I only use a little prime - instant ignition every time.Another sunsetter here. Draw line across top of pan flats. Center punch hole in the center of the pan on this line. If drilled right, the line will intersect the touch hole, and put the touch hole above the bottom of the pan.
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