How much powder in pan?

[Larry Pletcher]

snipped . . . .
There has not been enough time or shots to this point to decide if any advantage is to be had over conventional methods from the procedure described but am always interested in counter thought in the search for progress. MD

I like the thought processes you're going through to decide on the best techniques. I think that "CLEAN" is the friend of any flint shooter. In the last woodswalk I carried a pipe cleaner to help keep the vent open. I don't believe a pick is useful to remove fouling. (At the end of one test I saw fouling in the vent and went after it with a pick. When I removed the pick, the fouling was re-deposited in the vent.)

I do use a pick after loading. It's a thin piano wire. I want to feel powder as the pick goes in. I doubt that it leaves an open space in the load, but don't know. This method has another use; if I can't feel powder, there is something wrong with the load - dry ball, short started, etc.

In my gun the vent is right at the breech face. If I wipe between shots, I could place fouling at the vent. That is where the pipe cleaner comes in. I use the pipe cleaner after wiping between shots. In a woods walk I wipe only when the gun becomes hard to load. That might be 2-3 three times during the walk. If I use a pipe cleaner, I have confidence that the vent is clear. Another thing I look for is powder showing at the vent. FFFG won't trickle through my vent, but I like to see it at the opening. I make sure some priming powder is against the barrel; depending on the amount it might be touching the powder in the vent. (I want the pan covered with prime, but I want prime up against the barrel.)

Your last paragraph above, is key to our goal. Experimenting with different ideas leads to what works best of our guns, and maybe for others too.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[excess650]

I have a 20 year old early Lancaster .45 with the vent drilled at the face of the breech plug. In that I bought the rifle used about 15 years ago, I didn't realize that this might be a problem. During the process of trying to make it quicker, I've widened the pan 1/8" to center the vent over it, coned and enlarged (5/64")the existing liner on the outside (it was frozen), and since have replaced the liner. The new liner (1/4-28 with slotted head)needed the internal cone lengthened a bit so as to put the powder closer to the pan, and then just an ever so slight cone on the outside to deburr the slot away from the vent. A 1/16" pin punch will NOT go in.

At the range I tried picking the charge after loading, and loading with the pick in place. I believe that loading with the pick in place leaves space in the charge. Using the pick after loading crushes some grains, so makes smaller particles that should be easier to ignite.

My impression so far is that loading with the pick in place is more reliable for shooting continuously without cleaning. I'm thinking that the pick itself clears the vent and the powder loaded and packed around it wipes the fouling off leaving the vent clearer. Pushing a pick into a fouled vent pushes fouling(damp) into the charge where it mixes with the now crushed grains and sticks to the pick when withdrawn, sometimes causing an obstructed vent. Again, more testing will prove or disprove my impressions.

This rifle is now noticeably quicker, and more reliable than prior to modifications despite using less priming powder and a smaller vent.

 

[M. De Land]

Most of the pics I've seen used are sharp,hard and not the same size as the flash hole.
My thinking was I wanted a soft,full size pick to fit the hole diameter with a hemisphere on the end instead of a point to push out the fouling not wedge it to the side. Perhaps a blunt end with a bit of the flat edge chamfered would make a better hole clearing tool.
If the full size hole pick is left in the flash hole at loading and the powder is compressed around it when seating the patched ball than a cavity will remain when it is withdrawn at pan charging.
I remember when Larry did his pictures of the flash brisance through the muzzle of the barrel and that gave me the confidence to try the hole in the powder column idea.

 

[excess650]

What I was using at the range was literally a large paper clip .043" in diameter. Its flat on the end and I simply pushed it in until it stopped.