Just to muddy the water a bit.. :shake: ..maybe roundball or Gray Wolf can help with this one, but packing up 20 yrs of Muzzle Blast I ws thumbing threw them and came up on a story about the shape of chamber in plug, I remember it because one was 150 fps faster than the other 4 they tryed. Maybe someone will remember what yr and month that was in. Fred :hatsoff:
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Pantent Breech
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You can't find problems unless you pull the breeches or you discover the fouling trap the hard way.
Enclosed are some pics I took of a very big name high end priced mass produced ML breech from a rifle that came into the shop for inspection in 2003. Two as removed and one after cleanup.
Its poster child for the typical, poorly designed and installed mass produced percussion breech.
Note the cross drill, poor ignition is the usual result especially if a number of shots are fired, though this may be relative. Note the large fouling/rust trap. This traps fouling and also cleaning solvent and oil which makes for increased corrosion and more misfires from contaminated powder charges unless great pains are not taken to get the oil out of the "trap" before loading. Note the fouling encroachment on the threads, this is relativly minor compared to some I have seen.
Fortunately the rifle was not used with some of the "replica BPs". AS it is I am surprised the corrosion is not more advanced but water based claeaning followed by a decent gun oil on a dried surface will prevent BP fouling from doing much dmage even if its not all removed.
I would also point out that sloppy assembly such as this also increases breech thrust on the plug since the gasses had a larger area to push against.
Yes I been shooting MLS since about 1964. I have been taking them apart and putting them together since about 1967. So rather than tell me how good your luck has been, pull a breech or two and tell us what you find. Maybe you'll get lucky. But most will be found to be similar to this unless I am mistaken, which I doubt.
It is simply impossible to make a mass produced ML and sell it for less than the parts cost to make a high quality rifle and not cut some corners.
Took me a while to find the pics so forgive my delay in responding.
Dan
Enclosed are some pics I took of a very big name high end priced mass produced ML breech from a rifle that came into the shop for inspection in 2003. Two as removed and one after cleanup.
Its poster child for the typical, poorly designed and installed mass produced percussion breech.
Note the cross drill, poor ignition is the usual result especially if a number of shots are fired, though this may be relative. Note the large fouling/rust trap. This traps fouling and also cleaning solvent and oil which makes for increased corrosion and more misfires from contaminated powder charges unless great pains are not taken to get the oil out of the "trap" before loading. Note the fouling encroachment on the threads, this is relativly minor compared to some I have seen.
Fortunately the rifle was not used with some of the "replica BPs". AS it is I am surprised the corrosion is not more advanced but water based claeaning followed by a decent gun oil on a dried surface will prevent BP fouling from doing much dmage even if its not all removed.
I would also point out that sloppy assembly such as this also increases breech thrust on the plug since the gasses had a larger area to push against.
Yes I been shooting MLS since about 1964. I have been taking them apart and putting them together since about 1967. So rather than tell me how good your luck has been, pull a breech or two and tell us what you find. Maybe you'll get lucky. But most will be found to be similar to this unless I am mistaken, which I doubt.
It is simply impossible to make a mass produced ML and sell it for less than the parts cost to make a high quality rifle and not cut some corners.
Took me a while to find the pics so forgive my delay in responding.
Dan
One more thing, you will note that the machining is better that I had stated in a previous post. I have not looked at the pictures since I pulled the breech. This one is actually nicely machined and IIRC the nipple even fit well. Had they spent an hour or two removing the bevel on the end of the threads and fitting it tight to the internal shoulder it would have been very acceptable. BUT.... This would add 100 bucks or more to the price I suspect and 99% of the customers could not see any difference. Unless they had xray vision.
Dan
Dan
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I was recently given a Pedersoli Mortimer flintlock shotgun/rifle combination. I like fowlers and the gun reminded me of my original Nock fowler and Mike Brooks gun that I use for pheasant and trap shooting.
The Pedersoli had never been fired and was in very good condition. It's much heavier than either the original Damascus barreled Nock or Getz barreled Brooks, but I like the versatility of interchangeable barrels. While disassembling the gun, I noticed that the vent and flash hole liner were frozen, but after removing both noticed the channel from the ante chamber to the chamber was quite small.
Should it be enlarged? It's about 5M now, and I wonder if it will have a tendency to foul and obstruct ignition when shooting 2F. I like to teach flintlock wing shooting and would like to use the Pedersoli as a loaner gun. Inconsistent ignition will discourage new shooters, so I'd like ignition to be reliable so that they can focus on their own performance rather than fret over factors they can't control. The Pedersoli is so robust I don't have to worry about rough treatment from inexperienced kids, and it's heavy enough to eliminate any felt recoil. Has anyone had experience with this model firearm? Were they satisfied with ignition? Did they drill out the channel or wish they did?
The Pedersoli had never been fired and was in very good condition. It's much heavier than either the original Damascus barreled Nock or Getz barreled Brooks, but I like the versatility of interchangeable barrels. While disassembling the gun, I noticed that the vent and flash hole liner were frozen, but after removing both noticed the channel from the ante chamber to the chamber was quite small.
Should it be enlarged? It's about 5M now, and I wonder if it will have a tendency to foul and obstruct ignition when shooting 2F. I like to teach flintlock wing shooting and would like to use the Pedersoli as a loaner gun. Inconsistent ignition will discourage new shooters, so I'd like ignition to be reliable so that they can focus on their own performance rather than fret over factors they can't control. The Pedersoli is so robust I don't have to worry about rough treatment from inexperienced kids, and it's heavy enough to eliminate any felt recoil. Has anyone had experience with this model firearm? Were they satisfied with ignition? Did they drill out the channel or wish they did?
