archer58

Guys, I think that I'm letting the pan charge spread out too much. After I've carriedthe gun awhile ,I have checked the pan and on some occasions the charge has been up against the flash hole and cupped in the bottom of the pan.Should I be replacing the charge if it not sitting in the middle or far side of the pan??? Thanks Pittsburgh and Cayugad.

cayugad

If the powder in the pan is dry, just tip the rifle so the pan is down, and tap it with your hand. The powder will move away from the vent liner. When I hunt, I replace the powder often. Especially if it is damp out. On the range I do not have to of course.

Sharp Shooter

This brings up a question, when I go elk hunting next year I will just sling my flinter on my shoulder. How will this effect where the pan charges moves to?

cayugad

Sharpshooter your point is well taken. It might very well effect where the powder in the pan gathers, I never put a flinter on a sling over my back and then walked around. I would think it is going to move a little under the frizzen.

Perhaps a better idea is keep your small pan charger on a leather thong around your neck and then charge the pan prior to shooting. This will insure the charge is fresh, the pan is charged correctly and it will add a little degree of safety as you walk around, with a loaded rifle. Remember, flintlocks can go off without powder in the pan. All it takes is the flint to make contact with the frizzen and throw a spark in the right direction. Whether this would happen or not is a game of chance, but that would be my luck.

When I hunt with my Flintlock, I have the pan charged and a leather frizzen cover on the frizzen with the hammer on half cock. This way I know the rifle is not going to spark by accident and I am fully primed.

geoffh

If it doesn't seal up tight when closed you'll more than likely leave a trail of 4f on the ground...take the lock out of the stock and with thefrizzen closed look for any daylight along the seam. Some folks like to seal the edge with grease, just make sure it's cleaned off every shot and that may keep things sealed up enough

On the slow burn thing... it may be only noticed if the gun doesn't go off.
Sounds like too much powder, keep it downto 1/3to 1/2 full and make sure you pick the holeevery time you load. If it doesn't go off pick it again. May need to open it up slightly to 1/16"

lemoyne

Most people put to much powder and a lot of them put it in the wrong place, puting the powder away from the flash hole works best if you cover up the flash hole it has to burn through it to set the load off this takes longer.
My method is to start at the outside edge of the flash pan and taper it down as it goes toward the touch hole stoping a little short.
I use flowered blasting powder its about 6F and it has no graphite in it so the spark does not have to burn through the graphite to flash the prime. This is what works for me. Lee

nchawkeye

There are flintlocks, and then there are properly made and tuned flintlocks..
With a properly made flintlock the touch hole is behind the frizzen when closed, so powder can't cover...In this case, you don't have to prime half full, tilt the rifle away from the touch hole, etc., etc...During the offseason is a good time to correct these problems.

lemoyne

Thats true and the way I make them but you would not believe the way I have seen people overload the pan too much powder actually gets in its own way.

archer58

Thanks one and all for your help.
I know I didn't have the charge in the right place. I was running the charge into the touch hole and covering it.

I'll change the location to the outside of the pan.

eldeguello

Basically, to be fast, a flintlock must have the touch-hole slightly ABOVE the top of the level of the priming powder. This is so the intial flash of the powder ignition is able to touch the main charge on the other side of the touch-hole.This means the level of the priming charge needs to be about 1/16" below the touch-hole, and the hole itself has to have a short section through which the flash must pass to reach the main charge-very thin walls to the hole!

If the flame has to burn down to, then burn through powder in the hole, ignition becomes delayed.

In addition, when it is in the fired position, the tip of the flint should point down into the middle of the pan when the frizzen is open.

This shows where the touch-hole should be in relation to the powder pan.