Looking for a little advice

[tbrwlf]

Let me start by saying I have shot percussion guns for a long time. I am relatively new to flint. I keep my guns very clean and shoot only black powder.

I have a pair of Pedersoli Frontier Carbines. .45 and .54 both in flintlock.

They are both exibiting the same issue.
I load the gun properly. ie powder(3f), patch, ball.

I have use a pick on the venthole each time I reload it.

I then prime the pan with 3gr of 4f.

#### it, release the first trigger.

When I release the second trigger there is no igintion. Sometimes the flint doesn't spark( I have ordered new flints), most of the time even if it sparks there is no ignition.

I am missing some step in my loading procedure. I just can figure out what.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Judge Vandelay]

Well, I'm no expert but perhaps others will chime in as well.

If the flint sparks and ignites the powder in the pan, then the flint is clearly doing its job. In a situation like this, it may be that you have too much powder in the pan. Also, you may want to position the powder away from the touchhole. The only other thing that I can think of is using a pick to clean out the touchhole but you have already mentioned that so I can't be of much help there.

If you're having trouble getting the flint to spark:

o make sure the flint is sharp
o make sure the flint is held tight
o make sure the flint is close enough to the frizzen to strike it just right
o make sure the frizzen is clean

If you do these things, you should be ok.

I say "should" because your problems may also be caused by holding your tongue in the wrong way or any other of about 150 things that have to be perfect before the Gods smirk at our feeble efforts and allow the blasted flinter to go "bang". It can be a frustrating experience. I know.

Best of luck.

 

[piper394]

So, are you saying that the priming powder fails to ignite or that it fails to light the main charge?
Flintlocks can be fussy things. If your spark is not adequate it can be for a couple of reasons 1: your flint is dull, it can be sharpened usually a couple of times depending on how short it gets. You can do this by tapping the top leading edge with a small brass hammer or even the back of a knife blade to knock off some small chips(do this with the gun unloaded.2: your frizzen is too soft which requires that it be rerhardened or refaced either of which can be done by a competent gunsmith.3: the flint is striking the frizzen at the wrong angle, with the hammer released the edge of the flint should be aiming for the middle of the pan. A wrong angle can throw your sparks somewhere other than at the priming charge. One thing to try is to turn the flint upside down sometimes the other angle is enough to make a difference. The hammer can be heated and bent slightly , again by a gunsmith if you're not comfortable doing it yourself.
Good luck

 

[mooncoon]

First the spark issue; the flint needs to be sharp and they become dull with use. You can sharpen them using a small (3/16"diameter) brass drift at a 45 degree angle on the very edge of the flint and struck with your short starter. You want to remove a row of flakes across the cutting edge of the flint.
If the frizzen does not spark with a sharp flint or is very unreliable at sparking your frizzen may require re hardening with kasenite. Italian frizzens are mild steel that has been case hardened and if the casing has worn through, the frizzen will not spark.
If you are getting a flash in the pan but no ignition, try piling some powder against the flash hole; contrary to conventional wisdom but it may get a bit more flame into the vent hole. You may have to drill the vent hole a bit larger; say to .080" or so in diameter.
If the gun does not fire dependably on the first shot but more or less works after that, you may have oil in the breach area; fire a small blank charge first before shooting for score. Similar to firing a couple of caps before loading a percussion gun

cheers mooncoon

 

[Smokepole]

An angel has pissed in your flashpan.

 

[Ol' Flinter]

A good flinter should fire with at least 95% reliability if the flint is sharp, frizzen hard and the sparks hit the pan. Virtually any sparks landing on 4F priming powder will ignite your priming powder. All the above advice (except possibly for the angel) is right on and the lack of sparks suggests a soft frizzen face or possibly oil on the frizzen face. Keep oil off the frizzen face and flint or clean off any oil from storage before you load up. If the pan flashes reliably but the main charge doesn't ignite then look for any sign of an obstruction in or inside the flash hole (I once had a piece of cleaning patch plug things up). The strange part is that both guns exhibit the same problem so the problem is almost certainly with something you are or aren't doing. With the gun empty, in a darkened room drop the hammer on the frizzen a few times and observe whether the sparks actually fall on the pan. If not then adjust the flint position. Use the biggest flint you can fit in the #### and still clear the frizzen when at half-#### and the frizzen closed over the pan: probably 3/4" square or larger.

Good luck