Missed Opportunity

[Tizzy]

Thank you Gents for your responses. Dphariss, to answer your question , the powder doesn't look like that in the vent on a regular basis.  When I load, I give the rifle a good slap on the sideplate to get the powder as close as possible with no achievement on the norm. However, I have noticed a grain in the vent occasionally while on the range, but this is an exception and not the norm. I like the idea of opening up the vent a hair. It couldn't hurt, and if it doesn't work I'll just replace the vent liner with a white lightning.
 Jerry and Daryl,thanks for the idea of taking a little beef off of the front of the pan to center the priming charge on the vent.  I would have never thought of that. That's the wonderful thing about this forum....so much knowledge and ideas from many different sources.
I had originally scheduled some cosmetic surgery for the rifle after deer season. Mainly correcting the newbie mistakes of leaving to much wood on the forearm, leaving the lock panels to wide, and the wrist to thick.  While giving her the facelift,I'll work on making the fixes discussed earlier.
 

[Daryl]

Tiizzy- Jerry's idea, not mine - but when I saw it, I thought- now why didn't I think of that.  In all honesty though, the picture shows an almost excellent vent placement. It can't be more than 1/16" ahead of centre. I'd not change a thing.

[Dphariss]

I agree the vent position is not going to be a problem.

Dan

[Tizzy]

Hmmmmm. Well, if the vent position isn't the problem, then I guess I should just open the vent up a little. While I do feel that I pay propper attention to ensure the vent is clear, if opening up the vent doesn't fix the problem I am going to chalk it up to operator's error. 

[Daryl]

I have a rifle that must use the screw-driver vent due to a high thread and an inability to open up the hole sufficiently for the White Lightening liner.  I was able to measure the depth of the flash channel and noted it was long, long enough to use a diamond stone in a dremel tool, to dish the vent liner around the hole to just below the depth of the screw slot- not a cone per-say, but dished. This allows the powder to come up to the side of the vent as in Dan's photo and ignition is as perfect as it can get, with the cheap, poorly made, screw slotted vent.

The problem was the length of the flash channel - once rectified, it works just fine, even though the vent hole is way too high above the pan. Before firing, I tilt the rifle to the left, so the priming comes over against the side of the barrel and thus the vent. Ignition is now pretty good.  Forget about buggering up the screw slot- doesn't matter. When the vent needs to come out due to wear, use an easy-out, just as you would with a Whitelightening liner.  Mine has a 1/16" vent hole and it doesn't need to be any bigger.  Use a 1/16" drill to open your up if it already isn't that size.

[Tizzy]

Thanks for the tip Daryl. I had previously thought about coning the outside of the vent in an attempt to funnel the flame into the main charge. I didn't think to dish it out in order to get the powder up closer to the charge. It makes complete sense though. The vent is already sized pretty close to 1/16. The dish out on the vent won't bother me, as my rifle isn't exactly what you would call "artwork." Ha Ha While it won't ever end up in the Smithsonian, what that Rice barrel will do is place a ball where I want it to go with 70 gr. FFG, .490 ball, and a .015 patch. That is, as long as it is aimed at paper and not a deer...