Priming the pan with your load powder

[Larry Pletcher]

When I was a young man in the 70's I lived and worked on Haida Quaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands.  They are called the "Misty Isles" for a good reason.  In those days I shot a T/C flintlock .50 cal "Hawken" rifle.  The only powder I could find was Meteor Cannon powder. 

IN 2009 we did video practice, getting ready for slow motion video at the spring shoot.  Included are tried with Swiss Null B and Goex Cannon grade.  Taylor, since you mention Meteor Cannon powder, I thought you might like this.  Some of the Cannon grade chunks were large enough we moved them around to get the Large Siler frizzen to close. Below is the link to the short explanation. At the bottom is the link to the video.

https://www.blackpowdermag.com/may-2009-spring-practice/

Regards,
Pletch

[stubshaft]

Great video Larry, thanks for sharing.

[Pukka Bundook]

Larry,

I'm not sure on the time -frames of these pics in the video, but it does show that if your hold's good on a static target, even cannon powder should work!

Thanks for the link!  Very good to see!

[Joe S]

Pukka

Just got back from a shooting session. I shot 6 times using 1F Goex as the prime and the charge. The flash hole was cleaned between shots. I had two shots that flashed in the pan. The gun I'm shooting is a 10 bore with an 0.082" flash hole. This is about what I have experienced in the past - 1F will usually ignite the charge, but not reliably enough for hunting.

No doubt I could open up the flash hole to some point where I got 100% ignition with 1F prime.

Joe

[Pukka Bundook]

Jose,

Those old muskets we see will usually take a match -head in the touchhole. Maybe they reamed them out  a bit to make them work!

I think with a big 'Bess lock and large touchhole, there wasn't much ignition problem, but for us and now a smaller grain size is often best. I must say though that in my Chambers locked guns, 2F is all I need to carry for prime and charge.

Very best,
R.

[Larry Pletcher]

All of these videos were shot at 5000 frames/second.  One way to relate the different priming powders is to compare when ignition occurs related to frizzen rebound.  Null B usually ignites in these locks about the time the frizzen rebounds once.  Cannon grade ignites in the same locks on about the third rebound.  This obviously varies with different locks.

BTW, if you hunt with cannon grade you may need to position individual granules to get the frizzen to close completely.  We did.

One interesting side bar was seen when viewing these in "Frame by Frame" mode.  We tried to find the single frame where the flint edge stopped.  What we saw was that the flint edge backed up for two frames.  The neck flexes enough that the flint edge actually passes battery and returns in 2 frames. We saw this in all single throated cocks.  It did not happen in a double throated cock.

Regards,
Pletch

[rich pierce]

Darn experimental data keeps messing with what I “know”!

[Pukka Bundook]

Larry,

That flex you noted must account for the very many necked off cocks we encounter.  Certainly food for thought!
I seem to remember Jim C telling me that in some tests, the sparks buried themselves in 4F before they ignited.....is that so? (Memory and all that)

Rich P,
LOL! Yep.

[Larry Pletcher]

Larry,

That flex you noted must account for the very many necked off cocks we encounter.  Certainly food for thought!
I seem to remember Jim C telling me that in some tests, the sparks buried themselves in 4F before they ignited.....is that so? (Memory and all that)
Rich P,
LOL! Yep.

Jim is right. In early tests, about 1/3 of ignition time is mechanical time, and in the remaining 2/3 of the time the sparks are in the powder. . .about to ignite.  This was written in the Historic Arms Making Journal IV not sure of the year. . .early '90s. If you're interested, I can provide a link.

Regards,
Pletch

[Huntschool]

Perhaps its just me.  I have almost always used FFFFg to prime my shots.  Having said that there is one gun that I will use FFFg for both load and prime.  It does work OK on that gun.......