Traditions PA longrifle

[cades83898]

Has anyone enlarged the touch hole on a Traditions PA longrifle? I can't simply fill the pan, I have to trickle powder into the touch hole to get ignition (when I actually get a spark that is)People have told me that the touch hole is too narrow. How do I go about enlarging the hole and what do I do about a vent loner after that?
I'm still getting poor sparks from my lock (the new one hasn't arrived yet). Has anyone else had this problem with this rifle ?
Thanks
Craig

 

[Rebel]

Not sure i understand what your are actually talking about. If you are talking about the size of the hole in the ventliner, you can just drill it out to 1/16" or 5/64". Not sure what you mean by to narrrow. Sounds like you are talking about the pan and not the vent liner.

 

You don't mention what kind of flints yore use'n,.... I prefer the black English knapped flints myself.

Don't "over fill" yore pan with prime'n,.... 3-5 grs. should work fine.

I enlarge the holes in my liners to 3/32", and git good ignition, but I've never shot a Traditions PA rifle so YMMV.

YMHS
rollingb

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Has anyone enlarged the touch hole on a Traditions PA longrifle? I can't simply fill the pan, I have to trickle powder into the touch hole to get ignition (when I actually get a spark that is)People have told me that the touch hole is too narrow. How do I go about enlarging the hole and what do I do about a vent loner after that?
I'm still getting poor sparks from my lock (the new one hasn't arrived yet). Has anyone else had this problem with this rifle ?
Thanks
Craig

Hi Cades,
I have Traditions Pennsylvania longrifle too and I have no problems with ignition. The screw-in vent that came with the rifle is coned and works fine. Here's what I do with mine to get reliable fast ignition. I use FFFg powder with this .50 cal rifle as both the main charge and the prime. When I first got the rifle, I tried some FFg Pyrodex (what I had on hand) with it and pur a fair amount of powder in the pan. It lit is just fine, but did the slow phssssssssssst Bang!

Then I switched to 3Fg and ignition was much quicker. From reading in this forum, I found out that I was filling the pan too full and at least dropped back to keep the powder level below the flash hole. Otherwise it has to burn down through the powder until it gets to the flash hole to ignite.

Then I read about using very small amounts of powder away from the flash hole and tried that. The idea is that more of the flash goes to the flashole more quickly, because there isn't anything in the way. I now put only a small amount of powder against the right side of the pan. It only covers about 1/3 of the pan and is well below the top of the pan. Ignition is almost instantaneous. You don't really hear a two stage ignition. It just goes BANG!!

Also take a look at your flint. I used the crazy expensive sawn agate flints at first because that's all I could find. Now I have the black hand-knapped English flints and prefer them by far. If you adjust your 5/8" flint correctly, it will shower an amazing amount of sparks. Roundball gave a good description in another thread. Basically this is the drill:

--Pull the hammer back to half cock and close the frizzen. Adjust the flint so it lines up even with fizzen. Make sure it's not too far to either side, especially not so far to the left that it hits the barrel when the hammer drops.

--Then adjust it for length so it just barely is comes within about a 16th of an inch or less of the frizzen. The edge of the flint should angle down slightly. Put the bevel up or down, whichever works to get that slight down angle. It's the goldilocks effect. Too much angle and you'll break flints pretty quickly. Too shallow an angle and you'll crush the edge. Adjust it just right and you won't believe the shower of sparks you get.

Another thing I do is use a brass pan brush to clean the pan and the underside of the flint after every 4 or 5 shots.

If you try all this and still have trouble with your ignition, then go ahead and try drilling it out.

As I said, I have the same rifle and after making the adjustments above, it has become exremely fast and reliable...all with the original flash hole.

Hope this helps,

 

[[email protected]]

I agree with TWISTED instructions...
I shoot a Traditions SHENNANDOAH and never had a problem.
3f and BLACK ENGLISH flints....
never had to enlarge the vent...every gun is an individual...you might have to drill yer vent...

*** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[Davecoughlin]

Flintlock,

I agree with most. The Traditions has a patent breech. The narrow opening at the bottom can cause misfires unless you use 3F. Since switching to 3F I get nearly no hangfires or misfires. I have one with a bored out touch hole and one that isn't. no real difference.

Jester :m2c:

 

[Jbar4Ranch]

Then I read about using very small amounts of powder away from the flash hole and tried that. The idea is that more of the flash goes to the flashole more quickly, because there isn't anything in the way. I now put only a small amount of powder against the right side of the pan. It only covers about 1/3 of the pan and is well below the top of the pan. Ignition is almost instantaneous. You don't really hear a two stage ignition. It just goes BANG!!

There ya go! Positioning the priming charge against, or into, the vent, and using way too much priming powder are probably the two biggest mistakes people make with a flint gun nowdays.

 

[cades83898]

When I only put powder on the right side of the pan and none in the touch hole, I don't get ignition. Also, my vent liner is not coned.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

When I only put powder on the right side of the pan and none in the touch hole, I don't get ignition. Also, my vent liner is not coned.

Hmmm....strange. Mine is removable with screw drive, and definitely coned. This is the longrifle we're talking about and not the PA Pellet rifle isn't it?

 

[Old Charlie]

On my GPR it seems that the position of the flint makes all the differance in the world. At least that seems to be the latest thing I have found. What the heck I am having the time of my life trying to make the thing fire fast.
Old Charlie

 

[freetrapper20]

I have seen Traditions Pa. rifles (Flint) that shoot fine right out of the box and other that don't do so well. I picked one up cheap, new, never fired cause the owner could never get it to spark and go off. In this case the pan didn't line up with the touch hole. I know others who drilled out the touch hole a bit and never had another problem. In this case I used a dremmel tool to make the pan a bit deeper to line up better with the touch hole. I still had some problem with getting good spark cause the lock just didn't seem up to par. Just seemed to be one of those that slipped thru the cracks. I eventually converted it to a percussion cap gun cause I don't have faith in their flintlocks, but feel their percussion locks hold up OK. Opening up the touch hole and using 3F powder may solve the ignition problem when the gun sparks. If you are using good flints, positioned right, etc., and cannot get good sparks maybe the new lock will help you. If not you can try a substitute lock of better quality or convert....or send it back.....Good luck!

 

[cades83898]

I just got some knapped flints and the lock seems to be sparking much better now (though I haven't actually fired it with powder and only did 5 test pulls). None the less, each pull created good sparks. As far as my ignition goes I think I have the same problem of having the touch hole parallel or slightly under the plain of the pan. Therefore, I also have dremmeled the pan down a bit and I think that I will grind it down a bit further. I plan to switch to 3f but nobody in my area has real powder now. So, I guess I'll have to wait a month or so before I can try that. Also, I'm going to look on Traditions web-site to see if I can find a coned vent liner. Mine must be the old style since it's not a pellet rifle.

 

[Howard]

Two additional habits I got into with my Lyman flinters were (a) to block the touchhole in the vent with a toothpick before loading the main charge and (b) to prime away from the vent, filling the pan one-third to one-half full. :results:

 

[[email protected]]

Mine must be the old style since it's not a pellet rifle. ...( THIS IS WHAT YOU SAID) JEST HAD TO COMMENT ON THAT....
Yes ....you got the old style...use the ole style GOEX powder....dont mess with tripple 7 ...pellets and all that pyrodex stuff....2f down the barrel...tap the rifle on the left side ( this knocks sum powder in the paten breech next to the vent) and put a tiny tad of 3 f in the pan...
the rifle should fire!
iffin it dont....screw out yer vent liner and drill it out a bit from the inside.....
if it dont fire then ....Id say yore barrel is all gunked up....have ya ever cleaned it REAL good ???inside with soap and HOT water???
I have had a BUNCH of TRADITIONS flinters and never a problem.....

**** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[freetrapper20]

If you care to, send me your mailing address and I'll send you the touch hole liners I don't need anymore. I think I still got 2 of the coned ones.

 

[sebago]

I plan to switch to 3f but nobody in my area has real powder now. So, I guess I'll have to wait a month or so before I can try that.

I'm not sure where you live in Maine but if it's not too far the Maine Powder House does sell real black powder over the counter as well as through the mail. Call ahead though to make sure there's someone around.

 

[freetrapper20]

Forgot to mention: With flinters, my experience is that real black powder is the best thing. Pyrodex, triple seven, etc., are a bit harder to ignite and the few people I know that have tried it have had some problems with it lighting off. You can dump 5 grains or so of 4f down the barrel first to give it some help to use up what you have. But regular black powder should make things better. Use 2f or 3f. I use 2f for the load and 4f for priming. If you use 3f you can use it for both.

 

[cades83898]

Ok, first things first. I don't have a "PA" rifle, I have a Pennsylvania longrifle. I thought that people were using PA as a acronym. After visiting the Traditions I realize that the PA rifle is something different.
All I have ever used is real "GOEX" powder. 2f for the load and 4f for the pan (will be switching to 3f for both I think).
My rifle is very clean. I have a flush kit and all that jazz.
I think my problems stemmed from having a pan that was elevated above or parallel to the touch hole (i.e. the bottom of pan covered almost exactly half of the vent liner as a whole). I have ground down the pan considerably with a dremmel. Also, I have found that sawed flints suck and don't produce good sparks. Therefore, I ordered knapped flints.
Of course, I can't test if this will really improve things since I'm out of powder and nobody around me (Bangor ME) has any(at least right now).
When I get to shoot again I'll report any improvements (highly expected)
Thanks,
Craig
Of course,

 

[Twisted_1in66]

**SNIP** My rifle is very clean. I have a flush kit and all that jazz.
I think my problems stemmed from having a pan that was elevated above or parallel to the touch hole (i.e. the bottom of pan covered almost exactly half of the vent liner as a whole). I have ground down the pan considerably with a dremmel. **SNIP**

Hi Craig,

Sounds to me like you've idenitified the problem. I also have the Pennsylvania longrifle and the touch hole on mine is slightly above the top of the pan. Hope your dremmel attack fixes it. Be careful not to cover the touch hole with powder or it will have to burn down to the vent before it ignites the main charge.

Hope you find some black powder soon. By the way, they use black powder for blasting in quarries, so if there are any quarries around, find out where they get theirs. That's how I found a supply in my area. My local fuel oil company supplies black powder for the slate quarries around here.