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  1. Larry Pletcher

    Lock Timing/Photography at Friendship

    BlackPowderMag’s next project will be at the NMLRA Spring Shoot in June. I have received permission to time and photograph locks in Booth 112. Some of the details remain to be worked out, but I hope to be set up and working Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I plan to time a shooter’s lock for 10...
  2. Larry Pletcher

    flintlock with a vent filled w powder

    Good evening, With recent topics about flint ignition, I thought a test we did might be of interest. Many shooters believe that a vent filled with powder causes a slower ignition because the flame must burn through instead of flash through. This is the problem we wanted to test. My gut leans...
  3. Larry Pletcher

    Allen and Thurber or Mowrey Gun Works

    A friend is bringing over a gun to identify. As he described it on the phone I thought of Mowrey Gun Works as we saw in the '70s at Friendship and in Dixie. It has a polished steel action and barrel. The writing says JAS Mowrey, 1864. I expected an original to say Allen and Thurber. Was the...
  4. Larry Pletcher

    Time a double set trigger

    I started this so I wouldn't mess up the other thread. Lowell, Bevel Up, asked me if I could time a double set trigger. I haven't figured out how to do that. It would involve infrared gates or photocells. I'm open to ideas. Regards, Pletch
  5. Larry Pletcher

    Paper Patch bullets w lead oxide

    I took a look at paper patched bullets for Friendship. I ran across a batch of 540 grain pp that have been stored in a wooden box for 10+ years. They are white with lead oxide. Bullets just as old that were stored in plastic boxes look like they were swaged yesterday. Are the oxided ones...
  6. Larry Pletcher

    Bucks Co. Schimmel

    A Bucks County Schimmel followed me home from the Friendship Spring Shoot. Allen Martin made the gun, and it is a real keeper. The gun has a 45 1/2" Getz barrel with a .40 hole. We first thought to use a Large Siler, but the gun is too slim. We used a Small Siler instead. Allen often says...
  7. Larry Pletcher

    External coned vent testing

    I was going to add this to the other vent topic, but decided to start a new topic instead. In discussing external cones, I have only one test that addresses this. In this case a 1/16" straight vent was mildly coned with a countersink. Both the speed and consistency was improved. I think there...
  8. Larry Pletcher

    High speed pics of round ball

    I spent some time experimenting with photos of patches, round balls, and balloons. Steve Chapman ran the gun and I did the photo stuff. I thought you might like two of the pics we got. First a shot of ball and patch just beginning to open: [/URL][/img] This last one was just for fun. We...
  9. Larry Pletcher

    Cleaning after a timing session

    I timed a lock today and thought as I cleaned it that flintlocks timed in a fixture get a bit dirtier that those fired on the gun. In my fixture, both front and back sides of the lock are exposed to fouling. If the session is fairly long, the fouling is extensive. Today the test was a...
  10. Larry Pletcher

    Functionality of cut agate in flintlocks

    This has been a much cussed and discussed topic for quite a while. Currently we have two separate topics going. Shooters here have such wide experiences with cut (sawn) agate that I haven't seen an explanation that satisfies me. I don't like questions that cannot be rationally tested. So...
  11. Larry Pletcher

    Filled Vent Test (Feb 2011)

    Recently in other topics, the "fuse effect" was discussed and basically hijacked the original topic. I appologize for my part in that hijacking. I started this topic because I remembered a test that Steve Chapman and I did in 2011. Opinions I gave earlier came, in part from this test. This...
  12. Larry Pletcher

    CLA Live Auction

    The CLA show is coming up August 17-18. If you're a member you won't want to miss the Live Auction. Here is the link to the items: live auction items Regards, Pletch
  13. Larry Pletcher

    Obduration in MLs

    I figured to start this rather than hijack the other topic. Obduration in MLs has been an interest to me for quite a while. This was much discussed on another mailing list long ago. The problem to me is that, in most cases it is difficult to prove. I'm going to start at what can be proved and...
  14. Larry Pletcher

    Bear Grease Question

    I've been cleaning my shop - probably needed it for 15 years or so. In a corner buried under much stuff was a quart jar of bear grease. I remembered buying it at the auction of an old BP cartridge shooter. I haven't seen the jar for a LONG time. The grease looks a tan color except for the top...
  15. Larry Pletcher

    New Mike Miller J Dickert Rifle

    I received my new rifle from Mike Miller at Friendship this fall. This is one of those projects that you anticipate and save for a long time. Knowing that I was to pick up the rifle Friday afternoon, made the trip down Friday morning seem endless. (You know- like the kid waiting for Christmas...
  16. Larry Pletcher

    February 2011 Experiments

    February 2011 Experiments On Feb. 4, Steve and I timed a couple of locks and did a test to study the effect vent conditions have on ignition speeds. We wanted to compare ignition speeds of an empty, clean vent to a vent filled with priming powder. Tradition says that a filled vent is slower...
  17. Larry Pletcher

    Timed 3 Silers today

    Today Steve Chapman and I timed three Siler locks. Each was a modified one with unique features. We did 20 trials each. We were aware before we began that the multiple differences in these locks would make it difficult to draw conclusions about what made each lock fast. By the time we were...
  18. Larry Pletcher

    Lock timing - good and bad luck

    I got set up yesterday to time three Siler locks that were tuned by different fellows. They each have unusual things done to them, and I wanted to get a quick ball park ideas about them and needed to check my equipment before beginning serious stuff. But-- the computer wouldn't work. This is a...
  19. Larry Pletcher

    Covering the Vent with Prime

    Covering the vent with priming powder has traditionally been frowned upon with thinking that the flame has to burn through the vent instead of flashing through. The ideas is routinely treated as gospel. In 2009 I wrote an article in MuzzleBlasts concerning this idea. I timed different vents...
  20. Larry Pletcher

    casting with soap stone mold

    Dennis at Mill Creek sent me a double cavity .490 soap stone mold, and I tried casting balls last night. I'm used to casting from a lyman with a sprue cutter, so this was a new game. It's pretty cool. I held the halves together with a small clamp to keep my hands out of the way. The ball...
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