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Thread: Flintlock Pistol

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Flintlock Pistol

    I have both flint musket and rifle but can't remember having a pistol before. I shot it for the first time yesterday but had a minor problem that I hadn't anticipated! When i rammed the patched ball home, the majority of the powder expelled from the touch hole! Not ideal, but I carried on shooting by putting a paper clip in the touch hole while loading.

    So, do I use No4 powder instead of No2 or make a vent plug for loading? Being a flintlock, it seems to need quite a large load and I'm not sure if the coarser powder will burn quick enough.

    Steve.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    St.Leonards on sea
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    18
    I use those Tepe interdental cleaners they look like small bottle brushes, get a multi pack and see which one fits securely in the touch hole. I use the yellow ones in my Kentucky flinter. It keeps the flash hole clear and helps with lock time also keeps it clear of fouling.
    Regards Ian.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    doncaster
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    2,468
    If most of the powder charge came out of the touch hole then your ether using a flash pan powder for the main charge or the touch hole has been drilled out way to big!
    I've used a few bp flint locks (rifle, musket and pistol) and non had that problem, the pistol was using kranks fine (sorry but cannot remember what the owner was using for the fash pan, but knowing him it was kranks fine that he ground finer) if I remember correctly he had to drill out the flash (touch) hole very slightly bigger to enable the flash to get where it was suposed to go.
    "Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened" Winston Churchill
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Huntingdon
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    What caliber is your flintlock?

    Is it a smoothbore or rifled?

    tac

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Tenterden
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    Its a .44 rifled 'Kentucky' type replica pistol. The touch hole measures nominally 2mm which is a little large (round about 1.6mm seems to be recommended)

    Swiss No2 grain size distribution is 0.5 - 0.8mm and so it would need quite a degree of grain interlock to resist a hole twice the grain size. What I've just noticed is that the touch hole is drilled at about 60 degrees rather than 90 degrees which would make it a little harder to install a liner. The angle of the touch hole probably doesn't help the initial problem much.

    Ian - the Tepe sounds good. I usually have those around for cleaning anyway and I can't get them between my teeth whatever the dentist says.

    Maybe this is a common problem? I don't know though as I've not had an F/L pistol before.

    Steve

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Haywards Heath
    Posts
    243
    The Tepe is a good idea but the paperclip is just as good. I use a pin myself with a small bit of ribbon attached so it can't get lost. I use Swiss number 1 in my original Egg and it would happily blow all the powder out without a pricker being in the touch hole.
    If you must drive on the right, move to France

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