Fusil de Chasse- The First Shots

[Bob Gerard]

I finally had some time today to shoot my newly built Fusil de Chasse.
I set my target at 35 yards and fired five lightly patched round ball (.580's) and then one nice blast of #7's to pepper the paper.
The charge I started off with today was 75 grains of 3f. I used an overshot card to give a good gas barrier and then seated the patched ball over that.
It aims very well and has very little recoil. That will change as I up my charge later.
The bird shot did a nice pattern I guess. I think for a 35 yard hit I might have some good luck with squirrels. I will also try using plastic wads and see how they do.
One thing that I did not like were the pan-flashes I had. I noticed that this L&R lock uses a very small amount of priming (I used 4f) or else the frizzen will not close completely. The reason was the pan is quite shallow and the frizzen pan cover has a protrusion on the inside lid that goes into the pan. If there is a bit too much priming then the pan will not shut. So I had to reduce the amount of priming and was getting misfires.
I decided to try and tweak the lock by grinding the pan a bit deeper and also grinding off much of the protruding part on the inside pan lid. This will allow for more priming and a hopefully better ignition.

The first photo shows how I just modified /deepened the pan and ground off much of the pan cover protrusion.

At any rate, for my first day out with the gun, I am pretty satisfied with what it can do.
Better things to come I think 

[rich pierce]

Good start and good thinking on that pan cover. Ideally a pan cover should have a bit of a concave notch directly above the touch hole (just the opposite of what you showed). It doesn’t hurt to deepen the pan or widen it as long as you preserve enough ridge to give a decent seal.

[Bob Gerard]

Rich- yes I deepened the pan as seen on the photo. It was a third less deep than it is now. I also ground away the protrusion that was going into the pan and leveled it almost flush with the pan cover. A small rim still is there but I will test this to see if it does the trick before I grind any more away.

[Mule Brain]

Interesting use of a plant stand

I would also try running FF instead of FFF, to see she does 

[Bob Gerard]

Yeah, my wife was wondering where her plant hanger went🤭
I will be working more on the loads- this was just to get a sense of how it feels and tweaking it, like I needed to do with the lock. I am pretty happy with it so far.

[Eric Krewson]

I use 1F in my 12, it made a world of difference over 2f for grouping.

[Clark Badgett]

I've never understood that protrusion on the L&R frizzens. It definitely would not waterproof them; in fact it would probably do the opposite. I got that same lock for an upcoming trade fusil project and that feature will get ground completely off.

[rich pierce]

I've never understood that protrusion on the L&R frizzens. It definitely would not waterproof them; in fact it would probably do the opposite. I got that same lock for an upcoming trade fusil project and that feature will get ground completely off.

Legend or rumor is that it makes it look like a perfect pan to frizzen fit - no daylight through the crack.

[Clark Badgett]

I've never understood that protrusion on the L&R frizzens. It definitely would not waterproof them; in fact it would probably do the opposite. I got that same lock for an upcoming trade fusil project and that feature will get ground completely off.

Legend or rumor is that it makes it look like a perfect pan to frizzen fit - no daylight through the crack.

I think I would rather have a little light than a moisture superhighway. Maybe I'm just dumb.

[Bob Gerard]

I was thinking about giving L&R a call about that frizzen cover design. Seems to be more of a problem than a solution.

[Daryl]

I currently have 2 guns with L&R locks, and no problems with either.

The L&R Dickert lock I put on my .45 flinter, was the fastest flint lock I have ever witnessed.

Their design has never bothered me. In fact, that pan/frizzen design was on an original English pistol I just saw recently, right here at ALR.

[rich pierce]

I currently have 2 guns with L&R locks, and no problems with either.

The L&R Dickert lock I put on my .45 flinter, was the fastest flint lock I have ever witnessed.

Their design has never bothered me. In fact, that pan/frizzen design was on an original English pistol I just saw recently, right here at ALR.

Daryl, in 1978 a friend and I each built our first longrifles from blanks. He used an L&R Dickert and I used a Durs Egg. We used to get others to say which of our locks were faster. We couldn’t tell but folks are still impressed. I think there have been some recent alterations or different approaches to some L&R locks that are questionable.

Back on topic, I’m thinking the modifications made to the pan and pan cover should set him up for consistent ignition.

[Clark Badgett]

I currently have 2 guns with L&R locks, and no problems with either.

The L&R Dickert lock I put on my .45 flinter, was the fastest flint lock I have ever witnessed.

Their design has never bothered me. In fact, that pan/frizzen design was on an original English pistol I just saw recently, right here at ALR.

Daryl, what you saw on that French video is not the same thing. Those locks had the bottom of the frizzen concaved, the current L&R frizzens have a protrusion that fits inside the pan itself. A proper waterproofed pan will have a raised lip around the pan with the edge of the frizzen fitting over that.

[Daryl]

Oh - was the French locks, eh. I kinda remember that now. TKS for the clarification.
Still had no grief with it/them.

[Bob Gerard]

I am happy to say that the modifications to the pan and pan cover were just what this lock needed. I had 100% ignition when it sparked! I was wondering why the heck several times the lock threw no sparks- even with a brand new 7/8" gun flint? Of course my mind went to issues of frizzen hardness, feather spring strength and so forth. Until it dawned on me to try inverting the flint. On all my other flintlocks, it didn't matter if the bevel was pointing upwards or down to achieve good sparks.
I flipped the flint so it beveled downwards. I was doubtful because the flint would only be striking the lower half of the frizzen, but I was searching for an answer.
Dang that baby let off a shower of sparks! I tried over and over and it never failed throwing great sparks. I suppose the angle of strike for this lock is more critical than my other ones.
So, what I learned about this lock were a few things:
1. The pan needed to be deepened;
2. The pan cover protrusion needed to be ground off so it didnt insert into the pan, and:
3. The flint needs to be pointed bevel down.

Here's how it does now:

[rich pierce]

Looking good!

[Daryl]

Seems to be working great, Bob. Just be aware of the fint's positioning, so the screw or top jaw isn't striking the frizzen. Your
positioning is bevel up, not bevel down. The flint's striking surface is pointing/angled more downward, not beveling downwards. 
The nomenclature can be confusing.

[Bob Gerard]

Thank you Daryl! I learned something more now 🙂.