Flintlock Misfires

hunts4deer said:

Use a touch hole pick that is nearly the full size of the touch hole. I made one from heavy brass wire. You want the end flat, not pointed. After loading the barrel run the pick all the way into the hole, crunching through the powder until you hit the opposite side of the barrel. Then prime. If you don't feel the pick crunching the powder, you will know something is not right. When I started doing this I pretty much eliminated flash-in-the-pan.

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One of our members told me he uses a paper clip that is correct size, and follows your drill pushing it through main charge to opposite side. I have two picks I purchased, one steel, one brass, that I won’t use, as they are both tapered. OK maybe if TH is really plugged with caked, and rammed down gunk, just to get hole started. But, I like the logic of flat ended, right size for fashion hole.
Great tips here as usual.

Try short repeated strokes when swabbing and change out the patch before bottoming out the rod. Plunging straight to the bottom in the first stroke is going to push it all down there. Thats what I was told.

Livbucks said:

Try short repeated strokes when swabbing and change out the patch before bottoming out the rod. Plunging straight to the bottom in the first stroke is going to push it all down there. Thats what I was told.

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You were told incorrectly. What you describe can happen if the jag is too large and/or the patch is too wet. The smaller jag allows the patch to go down the bore without significant disturbance of the gunk. Then on the withdrawal the excess patch in the rebate (narrowed area) above the jag tip bunches up and drags the gunk back out. The patch must be only damp, as too wet will create mud at the breech and give you problems.

Thy this. I do it every shot. Load your charge as you normally would. Before you prime, tilt the rifle to the right about 30 degrees or so. Bump the lock screw (left side your right handed) with the heel of your hand. Just a little bump. This helps put a little powder into the liner. Prime, fire. (assuming you have a dry bore)

Rich said:

Thy this. I do it every shot. Load your charge as you normally would. Before you prime, tilt the rifle to the right about 30 degrees or so. Bump the lock screw (left side your right handed) with the heel of your hand. Just a little bump. This helps put a little powder into the liner. Prime, fire. (assuming you have a dry bore)

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NO When you do that you transfom yout touch hole into a fuse .When people say flintlocks have a SLOW ignition time that is usualy because of this your touch hole is a channel for the flame from your pan not for a fuse . You can enlarge somewhat your touch hole wit a small numbered bit to get a few thousands of an inch of clearance it will help a lot

I always use the pick to clean the touch hole. I leave the pick in the touch hole, charge with 3f, seat the patch and ball, remove the pick and prime and shoot. This has cut down the failures to fire for me.

I do not have a flintlock smaller than 50 cal. I swab each time between shots. I save my 2f for my inlines and stick with 3f in my flintlocks and 4 f priming. I swab with a wet patch using straight iso alcohol and swab with two dry patches. I have a ritual for each shot that works for me. I swab the bore before loading to clean out the oil in the bore from storing. After the shot I swab as above. I go forward to check the shot. After returning to the bench I proceed to load the powder, give a light bump to the rifle, load the bullet and fire the next shot. I won't lie and say I never have a misfire or hangfire but I can say that when I do it was likely from not following my ritual or crud buildup in the pan or a very dirty frizzen or dirty flint. I also very seldom get a flash in the pan without the main charge going off and when I do, a push of a flash hole pick most times takes care of it.

I have to agree with franky4me. I never had a problem with ignition. However, I started running the pick through the touch hole and powder charge as far as it will go after loading powder & ball and the ignition seemed much faster, never a missfire or hangfire. I have heard flintlocks sizzle like a fuse burning during a hangfire and powder in the touch hole is what caused it.

If your swabbing patch between shots is to wet, you will be leaving a lot of moisture in the barrel causing the powder to become wet . One way to control how damp you get your swabbing patch is, use a misting bottle that has an adjustable misting nozzle. You just need the patch damp not wet. You can also follow the damp patch with a dry one to help get moisture out before pouring your powder down the barrel. Another thing I found out the hard way, is if your swabbing patch is to tight against the barrel, you will be pushing crud down the barrel in front of it when you swab, and partially blocking your flash hole . DANNY

The routine of wiping out the oil in the bore with an alcohol patch needs one last step. Use your worm and put a patch on it and wipe out the breech area that your jag cant reach.

Bob

I HAVEN'T BEEN FOLLOWING THIS BUT THE CASUSE OF SLOW OR HANG FIRES I EXPERIENCED WERE CAUSED BY MY FUSHING THE POWDER IN THE PAN UP AGAINST THE TOUCH HOLE,IT WAS CAREFULLY EXPLAINED TO ME THAT MY PRACYICE CHANGED THETOUCH HOLE FROM AN OPEN CHANNEL WHERE THE FLASH OF THE POWDER WOULD ZIP UNIMPEDED TO THE CHARGE IN THE BREECH TO WHAT BECAME IN EFFECT A WICK THAT HAD TO BURN ITS WAY DOWN TO THE POWDER.
IN TIME I ALSO LEARNED THATTHE BACK PRESSURE FROMA PRECEDING SHOT WOULD BLOW OUT OF THE TOUCH HOLE, IN EFFECT CLEANING THE IGNITION CHANNEL OF ANY OBSTRUCTION.
STAND TO THE RIGHT OF SOMEONE FIRING A FLINTLOCK AND YOU WILL QUICKLY BECOME AN EXPERT ON THE SUBJECT OF THAT HOT STREAM SHOOTING OUT OF THE TOUCH HOLE.

SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION.

DUTCH

Bob Hatfield said:

The routine of wiping out the oil in the bore with an alcohol patch needs one last step. Use your worm and put a patch on it and wipe out the breech area that your jag cant reach.

Bob

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So, went to the range during lunch. Here is what I followed today:

No cleaning between shots
Wiped Frizzen and flint after each shot.
Poked touch hole clear after each shot.
3F Goex for load (previously used 2F)
4F (also previously used 4F) in Pan
Touch hole opened up to 1/16"
Made sure touch hole not covered (as previously, but this time I was double checking)
Poked charge after loading to "feel for the crunch"
10 shots and only misfire was when my flint was not sparking at Shot #5. Powder did not ignite in pan. Pulled her back and took another shot and it ignited. Checked spark and it was piss pore. Napped with back of folding knife and it sparked good again. Napping skills is something I need to work on and make sure spark is good before range time. I have LOTS of flints that the Pawn Shop Kit purchase came with.

I forgot my tighter fitting patches so went with some of the yellow pre-lubed patches I had with me. I think a better test will be with the tighter fitting patches, these (I think) are loose and get blowby.

No burn through is good

Is that a typo, a 1/64th touch hole? I am thinking you meant a 5/64th touch hole.

Yes, sorry, typo. 1/16" per suggestion in post #18