White lightnin installation

[Stuartg]

I installed mine on a harbor freight drill press ($50) using a drill press vise. The key here was ensuring it was level, as it's a C weight swamped barrel. I'm sure there are many guys out there that use a hand drill but when a $270 barrel is at stake, I'm going with my drill press.

[jcovais]

yeah I kind of figured the drill press was the way to go   it is nice to know a cheap Harbor freight press will do the job, any trouble with it binding up while drilling? 

[Stuartg]

Not at all. I use it to drill barrel tennons, rr pipes, tang bolts, lock bolts, you name it with no problems. I did buy a centering jig from RE Davis and it works perfectly.

[Joe S]

If you install the liner deeper, you will have a longer touchhole, ie, the wall thickness between outside barrel surface to the cone will be longer. Then you increase the 'fuse effect', undermining the efficiency of the vent.

According to Larry Pletcher’s data, there is no such thing as a fuse effect:

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/filled-vent-test-is-it-slower/

Filled vent experiment – “fuse effect”

We recorded 5 trials for each vent condition. The average time for the clean, empty vent was .028 seconds. The filled vent average was .031 seconds. As you would expect, the slowest time we recorded was in the filled vent phase (.0363). However the fastest time of the day was also in the filled vent phase (.0233). (We also did a single clean vent trial where we banked the prime away from the vent and recorded at time of .067 – more than two times slower than the clean vent average.)

These averages are quite close together. We expected a larger difference because our ears tell us a hang fire has taken place. And, here is the most unusual finding. The fastest time (.0233) we recorded sounded as if it was a hang fire. The slowest time (.0363) recorded sounded like a sharp crack – no hang fire – sounded like a .22 rim fire. This reinforces a belief I have long held that our eyes and ears are terrible tools for judging flint events.

The analysis is a bit more complex for the efficiency of a coned vent, but Pletcher’s data also do not support the idea that a coned vent is faster than a straight hole.

A coned vent may be more reliable, but that is a different question altogether.

[WadePatton]

Thanks for the refresher. 

factual data is always a great "jumping off" point. 

According to Larry Pletcher’s data, there is no such thing as a fuse effect:

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/filled-vent-test-is-it-slower/

Filled vent experiment – “fuse effect”

We recorded 5 trials for each vent condition. The average time for the clean, empty vent was .028 seconds. The filled vent average was .031 seconds. As you would expect, the slowest time we recorded was in the filled vent phase (.0363). However the fastest time of the day was also in the filled vent phase (.0233). (We also did a single clean vent trial where we banked the prime away from the vent and recorded at time of .067 – more than two times slower than the clean vent average.)

These averages are quite close together. We expected a larger difference because our ears tell us a hang fire has taken place. And, here is the most unusual finding. The fastest time (.0233) we recorded sounded as if it was a hang fire. The slowest time (.0363) recorded sounded like a sharp crack – no hang fire – sounded like a .22 rim fire. This reinforces a belief I have long held that our eyes and ears are terrible tools for judging flint events.

The analysis is a bit more complex for the efficiency of a coned vent, but Pletcher’s data also do not support the idea that a coned vent is faster than a straight hole.

A coned vent may be more reliable, but that is a different question altogether.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Unless you're using a WL liner from Chambers or made by them, you may have an aftermarket WL liner knockoff. They are out there. Jim Chambers told me his liners use a slightly smaller than 1/16" (.055" maybe, I forgot) vent hole and he told me he always opens them to a full 1/16".

I first noticed the knock-offs when I built a rifle and used the hole same size. After the first shot it fouled, and when my pick would not fit (very small, 1/32" maybe) I became concerned enough to contact Chambers where I found out the Knock-offs. I only get my WL Liners directly from Chambers now.

[flehto]

The last 1/4 dia WLs I bought caused the TH land to be a feathered edge w/ a ctsk of the proper depth....forgot where they came from. Ordinarily I buy only from Chambers and will do so in the furture.

Pictured below is my free standing drillpress which has a wooden table bolted on....this allows me to drill all the bbl lug holes  w/ the same setup and also  all the RR pipe holes w/ another setup. All the 1/16 dia holes are drilled through both the wood and metal at one time.

Installing a WL is easy using the pictured setup....a shim is taped towards the muzzle to make the bore horizontal and the bbl just lays on the table A small drill picks up the center punch and is drilled through folowed by the tap drill.   The hole is ctsk and the tap is centered w/ the hole. Lube is applied to the tap. The drillpress is turned on and then off and  while the spindle is coasting, the tap is brought into the hole and After a few turns the spindle stops. The tap is unchucked and the tapping is completed on the bench by hand. This procedure ensures a  tapped hole that is perpendicular to the bore......Fred




 

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

When I install my WL liners, I shim the barrel so the flat that I'm working on is  90 degrees to the drill. If you line up on the bore you will be drilling into an angle.

[Dphariss]

If not perfectly straight they will not seal properly as the one pictured here seems to.
If you make guns buy a drill press.

Dan

[Dphariss]

By "perfectly" I mean pretty darned close. Perfect is pretty hard to do

Dan

[Stuartg]

Good points! When I installed mine, I shimmed it in my drill press vise and threw a level on top to ensure it was at the desired angle.