Leonredbeard
54 Cal.
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2004
- Messages
- 1,863
- Reaction score
- 4
I took the redhairedgal out to the public range yesterday morning. I wanted to see if she could redeem herself after the non performance at the Rifle Frolic Labor Day weekend. To my astonishment she went eight shots for eight spins of the wheel. 100% ignition. I would have fired more but I ran out of .590 balls after the third shot. So I sent five .530 balls downrange with varying amounts of patching and with equally varying placement of shots, but I had to keep shooting. Next time I will do a better job of getting the right balls into the box.
The Lord helps me keep on learning. I had mention here I am sure about the way Keith Casteel had shaped his pyrite for his rifle. So I took a piece of pyrite and left it twice as thick as I usually do and shaped a wedge on one edge to a point. THIS MAY BE THE SECRET TO GETTING RELIABLE FIRE FROM A WHEELLOCK! The pyrite has to be thick enough to avoid breakage. But the point for scratching the wheel across must be thin enough to build the necessary heat and knocking bits of orange hot pyrite off and into the waiting prime. I also clamped it directly into the jaws of the dog without leather. Leather may decrease the amount of spark by acting as a shock absorber. Just a theory right now, okay.
So here are a couple of picks of the pyrite after returning from the range. One pic shows the basic shape and the other shows the wear on the sharp edge. The wedge can be renewed repeatedly until the pyrite is too short hold in the jaws of the dog.
God bless.
volatpluvia
The Lord helps me keep on learning. I had mention here I am sure about the way Keith Casteel had shaped his pyrite for his rifle. So I took a piece of pyrite and left it twice as thick as I usually do and shaped a wedge on one edge to a point. THIS MAY BE THE SECRET TO GETTING RELIABLE FIRE FROM A WHEELLOCK! The pyrite has to be thick enough to avoid breakage. But the point for scratching the wheel across must be thin enough to build the necessary heat and knocking bits of orange hot pyrite off and into the waiting prime. I also clamped it directly into the jaws of the dog without leather. Leather may decrease the amount of spark by acting as a shock absorber. Just a theory right now, okay.
So here are a couple of picks of the pyrite after returning from the range. One pic shows the basic shape and the other shows the wear on the sharp edge. The wedge can be renewed repeatedly until the pyrite is too short hold in the jaws of the dog.
God bless.
volatpluvia
