Vent pick and picking the vent.....

[Marcruger]

I was taught (by a target shooter) to always be consistent with technique, and always pick the vent. 

After I shoot, I wipe the frizzen and pan first.  I then pour in the BP, load the ball/patch, and seat the charge firmly. 

I then pick the vent or touch hole with a brass pick before priming.  The reason in not mainly to clear the hole.  Rather, I do it for two other reasons:

1- The pick creates a tunnel in the main charge, thereby allowing the priming flame to reach across the whole charge, rather than BP burning across from the vent side.  While measured in fractions of a second, in my book every fraction counts on target. 

2- I can feel the pick go "cruuunch" into the charge.  It is a test for me to ensure that the charge is fully down and consistently compressed.  I have seated and compressed a charge in the past, dead sure that it was fully seated.  When I picked, it didn't crunch.  I went back and pressed harder on the rod, and sure enough, "pop" it moved another 1/8" or 1/16".  If I had not picked, I'd have never known.  It happens with me at least once each range session.  Picking each time, at the point in loading and priming I do it, is my "insurance policy". 

Hopefully this will help someone at some point.  God Bless, and have a great day,   Marc

[MuskratMike]

Marc: Show me someone who does it "sort of the same way" each time they load and chat away with you while you are concentrating on reloading and I will show you the first guy at the shoot who has a dry ball. I also try my utmost to do it the exact same each and every time I reload. Good food for thought. Thanks for posting it.
Mike

[Marcruger]

Right you are Mike!   Talking and loading is akin to drinking and driving - it won't end well.   

[Daryl]

A fellow I met and became close friends with, back in 1972 by the name of Lester H.Hawkes, said to me:
Daryl, 50% of your accuracy with muzzleloading rifles is consistency in loading, shot to shot. He also taught
me how to obtain what I was searching for, good muzzle crown and tight combinations, to clean the last shot
as I load the next one, just as taught in 'The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle', by Major Ned Roberts, in 1934.

[smylee grouch]

I also try to remember to pic the vent for those same reasons Marc and one other, the idea in my mind that I have done every thing I can do to make the gun go off, the rest is up to me and not the gun. Sometimes it's a mind game

[Hungry Horse]

 I pick the vent when it don’t go off. I used to pick it all the time, and got miserable ignition, and had to change the vent liner just about the time it started to get really reliable. Then I thought what if all these guys have it wrong, and the vent can be a little bigger, and still give you reasonable accuracy, without rootin’ around in the touch hole all the time, and enlarging it. Well, I’m not shooting any worse, I’m haven a lot more fun, and I haven’t changed a touch hole liner in years.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

I'd have to say, if picking every time works for you, then do it.
I'm with Hungry Horse - I pick the vent if it fails to go off, but not until.

[MuskratMike]

If you wait to pick until it doesn't go off let me know what the south end of a north bound deer looks like because that is the view you will have at the worst possible time. But hey each to their own.

[Bob Roller]

The last rifle I made was a 58 caliber full stock and used the last Ketland lock I made.I insert the pick first,then the charge
and then the patched ball,withdraw the pick and prime.That gun had the speed of ignition that I thought was as good as a
caplock.
Bob Roller

[Daryl]

If you wait to pick until it doesn't go off let me know what the south end of a north bound deer looks like because that is the view you will have at the worst possible time. But hey each to their own.

I have never had a fail to fire within the first 20 shots, Mike. If I had to make 20 fouling or practice shots before attempting to shoot that deer, perhaps I would see what you describe. 
Otherwise, not a chance.

[smallpatch]

I've found, with most new, coned touch holes (White Lightning), are pretty much self cleaning.  The venturi effect blows high pressure gas out of the touch hole, clearing them well.
I can't tell you the last time I've used a vent pick.  Of course, it"s very dry here, and that probably helps.

[Joe Wood]

All of my flinters have enlarged toucholes and I stick a feather in the touchole before loading. Works great to keep everything clear and keep powder from clogging up the touchole. I drill a small hole in the bottom of the stock a couple inches behind the trigger guard to keep the feather in. Very frequently seen in originals.

[alacran]

When you start thinking of your muzzleloader rifle as a cartridge and apply the same reloading principles that you would with a centerfire cartridge, you will have consistent results.
And like Daryl I only pick if the need arises. Shot a match last Saturday, 22 shots including the sighters. Humidity north of 80%, never picked the touch hole.

[Daryl]

I will say that I had to keep a look-out with the .40 and .45 barrels I had on the "Day" rifle I had if using 2F. For some reason, when using 2F with that rifle,
I would sometimes get a flake of fouling blocking the vent, which would cause misfires. Again, this didn't happen until I had fired 20 or more shots, but it did
happen now and then. When the misfire happened, I would look at the pan and see the flake blocking the vent. Pick through the flake, re-prime and it would
be good for another 20 or more shots. I assume this was due to the slight gap between the pan and the barrel. Sooner or later, the flake would block the vent.
This did not happen with 3F.

[ScottNE]

All of my flinters have enlarged toucholes and I stick a feather in the touchole before loading. Works great to keep everything clear and keep powder from clogging up the touchole. I drill a small hole in the bottom of the stock a couple inches behind the trigger guard to keep the feather in. Very frequently seen in originals.

I’m considering this for a rifle I’m building, primarily because it seems more accurate to originals. My only concern is, do you think that a larger touchhole, allowing much more gas to blast out, can impact accuracy noticeably?

[Daryl]

A larger vent/touch hole will increase the pressure out the vent with necessarily increased loads to get the same accuracy as before.
Greater pressure out the vent will increase the wear/burnout rate of the hole as well.
With a linger, 1/16" seems to be a good size to start with.
For a gun that is not shot much, a larger hole should make ignition quicker and more positive. I can see that for a strictly hunting rifle.
A gun used for trail walks too, the 1/16th" vent is what I would go with.

[R.J.Bruce]

With no one to teach me anything muzzleloading related back in 1971 at age 17, I learned out of the Lyman Black Powder Handbook, copies of Muzzle Blasts magazine, copies of Muzzleloader magazine, and experience from shooting that first .45 caliber longrifle.

After my first hangfire, I just decided to pick the vent every time just before I primed the pan to shoot. My reasoning at the time was to ensure that there was a clear channel into the powder charge.

All I know is that loading the same way every time, which included blowing down the barrel, and bouncing the ramrod lightly off of the seated patched ball, in conjunction with picking the vent before every shot, gave me nearly instantaneous ignition.

A tightly patched ball, and with the heavy denim material that was purchased from a fabric store filling the grooves completely, made for nearly minute of angle accuracy out at 100 yards. Five shot groups at 100 yards could be covered by a silver dollar.

All patches were liberally lubricated with spit, and cut at the muzzle with a razor sharp patch knife. The vent hole was simply drilled directly into the wall of the barrel. No touch hole liner.

Like Marcruger, I felt for the resistance of the copper wire vent pick against the compressed powder charge. After that first hangfire, it was years before I experienced another one. I was fortunate in that all three of my longrifles had well assembled, and very well tuned Siler flintlocks.

[Marcruger]

Hi R.J.,

"Like Marcruger, I felt for the resistance of the copper wire vent pick against the compressed powder charge. "

Thank you.  That was really the point I was trying to make.  It is a good insurance policy that my load is compressed.

God Bless,   Marc

[AZshot]

My little bit of experience with a flintlock is that when I do not make a channel all the way through the charge with a pick, I get a flash in the pan about 4 of 5 times (misfire).  When I create the channel, I get almost 100% ignition.  Easy choice for me.

[MeliusCreekTrapper]

When I first started shooting flintlock, I always picked the touch hole, right before priming the pan. Lately, I have been getting lazy and have noticed an increase in the number of hangfires I am getting. I have a small wire pick hanging with my powder measure, no excuse on my part to not use it. If it saves just one hangfire, it is worth it.

[Birddog6]

The last rifle I made was a 58 caliber full stock and used the last Ketland lock I made.I insert the pick first,then the charge
and then the patched ball,withdraw the pick and prime.That gun had the speed of ignition that I thought was as good as a
caplock.
Bob Roller

Bob,

That is exactly how I have done it for many many years.  Works for me too.

Keith

[Marcruger]

Keith and Bob, I think both of our methods work the same.  Doing it right before priming gives me the advantage of being able to check powder compression.  Just a thought.  Best wishes, and God Bless,   Marc

[alacran]

Just shot at the Buck Creek Rendezvous in Southern Indiana.
Rained all day Saturday, on and off on Sunday. 22 shots with rifle, 22 shots with Smoothbore. One fowling shot with each. Never picked the touch hole.
Had to wipe the pan every time, as they were soaked after every shot.
No hang fires, no flashes in the pan.
Rifle has a Nock patent Breech, with a 5/16 white lightning liner. Smoothbore I coned from the inside.

[okawbow]

I don’t own, and wouldn’t own any flintlock that needed the vent picked each shot to function. I blow down the barrel between shots,  or at an event that doesn’t allow that, I run a slightly damp patch down and check to see if air blows through the vent. Before loading the first time, I run a tapered pipe cleaner into the vent to soak up any oil that the cleaning patch missed. Never pick unless the vent seems plugged, and almost never get a flash in the pan or hang fire.

[Craig Wilcox]

I've never found out why some folks blow down the barrel after firing.  Is it to get rid of the smoke that might be lingering in the barrel?  By blowing down the barrel, you are introducing moisture into the barrel.

You are going to be reloading right quick, and it seems that the ball, inside the lubed patch, is going to blow out all the smoke and/or moisture right out the touch hole.

I do stand ready to learn.