Retrofitting percussioin to flintlock - Hatfield rifle

[Jerry V Lape]

Anyone with experience with the Hatfield percussion rifles?  Were the barrels any good?  I have one coming to me but it is percussion made up like a converted flintlock.  If the barrel is worthwhile, I will convert it to flintlock if possible.  Appears there should be no particular difficulty but I don't know whether it is a worthwhile project. 

[J.D.]

Kinda depends on which generation of Hatfield the barrel is from. Some of them shot real well, some later versions didn't, so it all depends.

IMHO, the only way to find out how it shoots is to clamp to a 4X4 and shoot it for accuracy.

God bless

[northmn]

From what I have heard from those using Hatfields they shot OK but the flintlocks were kind of iffy.  I do not know if it is because those that owned them were not "up" on flintlocks, or tended to use the cut flints, or becasue the locks were not very good.  Track of the Wolf sells a mainspring, sear spring and complete lock for Hatfields.  The complete lock would be the way to go, of course for conversion.  If the touchhole does not line up from a normal insert I have made them out of stainless steel bolts and drilled them to be at the "sunset positon".  I do not know what the threads are on the Hatfield drum, but are likely metric, whcih may require either matching or redrilling.  As to being worthwhile, that is personal.  Could you get a good kit with a straight barrel at about the same cost as the gun + lock where the barrel would be a known entity and the lock a good one?  Do you want to mess with a kit? etc.

DP

[peterw]

The barrel in my friend's flintlock .45 Hatfield rifle : straight 39", 13/16", 1:48,  8 grooves (depth .006). This is light, very good shooting rifle (40-45 grains of BP and .445 ball).
The thread of vent is metric (M8-1.25). TOW sells it.  There is no problem to change percussion to flint lock (if you use Pedersoli lock).
  

[JohnnyM]

My first muzzleloader ever was a Hatfield flintlock in .50 cal.

They have very good barrels as mentioned above 39" straight.  Mine has a nice plum brown finish.  Buckhorn sights with well defined notch.  I have heard that some were not good but I think that was later after Hatfield sold the design to other parties.  The Cabela's rifle looks very similar.  I have heard that some flintlocks were soft  and would not spark but I don't have that problem but it is a large lock and takes a 7/8" flint.   I bought mine directly from Hatfield in the early '80's.  I have since moved on to custom rifles but I still have that gun.
I believe the percussion models were a drum style and conversion to flint  should be straightforward.  The key is finding a good lock that will fit.  Also be aware of the vent location as some may sit too low in the pan.

[Sequatchie Rifle]

What about converting the flint to a percussion?  Is is any trouble?  Does TOW sell the appropriate parts?

Bill

[ChipK]

I used to have a flintlocked Hatfield and it shot just fine.  Lots of trouble with the lock though.

The breech had a smaller chamber in it than the bore, I used to run a .22 brush into it in order to keep it clean.

When it went off it went true, I won a lot of matches with that rifle.