How long does a touch hole liner last

[Garyrad]

Hello, I was just wondering how long a white lightning touch hole liner should last. As it wears does it affect the point of impact of the rifle. I installed a new liner last year and the gun shot 7" low. After getting it sighted in and shooting 100-150 shots it is shooting 4" high. Could this be caused from the liner?
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks, Gary

[smylee grouch]

Liners can burn out and be wore out by use of a vent pic. A larger hole might reduce your velocity and maybe affect four point of impact and increase group size.

[MuskratMike]

Several of my guns have had 2 thousand rounds through them and the touch hole is still good. Many of the vent picks I have seen people use or for sale are way too big, especially the twisted forged ones. I use a small diameter piano wire (slightly smaller than the diameter of touch hole). Being smooth and small diameter it cleans out the touch hole without damaging it. I fear more touch holes are damaged by overly large vent picks than by shooting. Just the opinion of an old guy, take it for what it's worth.

[Daryl]

Tapered as in forged tooth picks are wonderful looking tools. They are also hard on vents, as MMike and the S.Grouch noted above.
Getting an elevation change is likely position in shooting or possibly lighting or some other change, not a vent change.

[Elnathan]

I've tried a couple different types of picks, and so far the best has been a piece of copper wire, made from a scrap of electrical wire with the insulation stripped off. Cheap as free, softer than the barrel and vent, and with the added bonus of being unlikely to perforate a kidney if I slip and fall on it, unlike certain needle-like other designs.

The square twisted iron ones that everyone sells are little hole reamers in disguise!

[Dphariss]

Make a vent pick from 1/16” brass wire. Many hardware stores sell this packages in 10-12” lengths in their metal racks. I hammer lightly it to workharden and taper it.  Since its brass it can be hammered square with no worry about reaming the vent and it works very well. If you need to pick the vent all the time.
An enlarged vent will allow powder to escape when the ball is pushed down and the air escapes. This will change charge weight and it will cause velocity variations due the vent size as well. If the frizzen is closed it may be found to be primed after loading.

[Dphariss]

Elnathan’s copper wire is a good idea too if you have some left over from a wiring job.

[MuskratMike]

Here is one of the ones I make. The piano wire can be bought in packs of 3 sizes if memory serves me right. Find the size that easily slips in the hole epoxy, JB weld or super glue it into an antler tine for a more primitive look and there you are, won't easily bend and is slick and smooth. Just an idea.

[Daryl]

A good one at that. Some hobby stores sell brass tubes in varying sizes to down below 1/16". These are hardened but not brittle and would also work fine if glued into a handle
of some sort. The hole in the middle is VERY tiny.

[Spalding]

Thread drift here, but I make my picks out of that cheap soft annealed steel tie wire, file a point on one end and twist a loop on the other. Probably takes longer to explain it than make one.
All my rifles have stainless white lightning liners and I’ve never noticed any wear.
Bob

[smallpatch]

I’ve got 5 or 6 vent picks, AND that’s about how many times I’ve used them. Total!

[Daryl]

Shooting 3F, GOEX, I've never had to use a vent pick. With 2F, in the .40, .45, .50 and .62 smoothbore, odd time I've had flash in the pans due to a small chip of fouling blocking the vent.
This only happens after many shot, perhaps close to 20 or more.
I never wipe the flint nor the frizzen.

[MuskratMike]

I'm with Daryl on this although I can't say I've never had to open a vent, probably just my bad luck. I have a vent pick on all my bags just to be safe. If the humidity is high (for us) I will wipe my flint after every 15 shots or so. I also only use Goex 3F for my main charges and Goex 4F for the pan regardless of caliber.

[Garyrad]

Thanks for the info. I hardly ever use a pick and when I do its brass. The liner started out less than 1/16" and now it is over a 1/16"and oval. Also, when loading a good amount of powder is coming out the hole sometimes causing a little bit of a hang fire. I am just trying to figure out what is causing this.

[Daryl]

If you are losing powder out the vent when seating the ball, perhaps it is leaving the charge, further from the inside of the vent.
Taylor had a rifle that needed a new vent, as we notices a difference in it's sound, shot to shot. Of course it did not shoot well, either.
A new vent fixed everything. I like vents from 1/16" up to about .70".
Try loading with the cock at 1/2 bent and the frizzen closed. Most people will frown at this, but it was the way ALL military muskets were loaded with paper ctgs, "by the numbers".
Cock to 1/2 bent, tear base of ctg. off with teeth, prime then close frizzen, insert the ctg. into the muzzle and ram it home, throwing the rod on the 'charge' 3 times.
Something like that, but in that order.
If you are losing prime as you seat a ball, then after loading with the frizzen closed, you should find the pan full. If there are only a few granules of powder in the pan, NP - carry on.

[Hungry Horse]

 An interesting vent pick a friend found stuck in a hole under the cheek rest on an old muzzleloading rifle he bought at a yard sale was made out of a big old buck thorn. I alway wondered why the used a tough old thorn, and came to the conclusion it was so they didn’t wear the touch hole out. The gun had no vent liner, and would still hold powder without self priming. That thorn had a little round knob carved to look like part of the cheek piece molding. The owner had owned it for years before he discovered the thorn vent pick.

Hungry Horse

[Pukka Bundook]

I like a 5/64" touchhole.
Never really have to use a pick.
I have a feather for monsoons.

Col. Peter Hawker recommended a piece of copper wire attached to a button hole for if you needed a probe .
He said copper wire won't run you through if you fall.
All the fancy touchole picks we see these days, but the "father of modern game shooting" as he was called, carried a bit of copper wire.  LOL!

[Daryl]

I'm going to guess over 100 years, at least.

[Not English]

About the only time I use a vent pick is  when I pull the toothpick out of the touch hole of a gun that stayed loaded overnight when hunting. I've also used them quite a bit when helping friends trying to get their caplocks to go off.

[TDM]

I’ve got 5 or 6 vent picks, AND that’s about how many times I’ve used them. Total!

You took the words right out of my mouth. I have a bunch, but rarely use them.

As for the vent liner, unless abused, it should last for several thousand shots, maybe more.

[Daryl]

Hello, I was just wondering how long a white lightning touch hole liner should last. As it wears does it affect the point of impact of the rifle. I installed a new liner last year and the gun shot 7" low. After getting it sighted in and shooting 100-150 shots it is shooting 4" high. Could this be caused from the liner?
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks, Gary

I do not understand your statements of:
 
   You said: "I installed a new liner last year and the gun shot 7" low."
Question: Where was it shooting before you installed the new liner?

   you said: "After getting it sighted in and shooting 100-150 shots it is shooting 4" high."
Question: "sighted in" does that mean you had it shooting dead on, then after 100 to 150 shots AFTER that, it's shooting 4" high?


 

[hanshi]

The OP's description is a bit puzzling and not easy to visualize.  But as to vent liner problems causing this strikes me as somewhat illogical.  The differences of 7" high/4" low can't be caused by a few shots with a new liner.

All my guns have ss liners I originally drilled out to 1/16".  After an untold number of shots in a few and significant shooting with the rest of the rifles the vent liner holes still appear to be the original size of 1/16".  Quality liners last a long, long time.  I rarely need to pick the vents for any reason.

But I do have a bunch of picks from the nice twisted steel ones to bird feathers.  I made several from copper wire, mild steel, etc.  When loading at the range I leave a feather or wire sticking in the liner when seating the load.  I've never noticed more than a few kernels of 3f in the pan even when striking the offside lock panel with my palm.  For truly odd poi changes looking elsewhere is the thing to consider.

[Daryl]

One thing about white lightning vents, is if they are not countersunk into the barrel far enough, the wall between the pan and charge will be VERY thin and this will negatively effect
it's longevity.

[Garyrad]

Thanks for all the info. To reply to the question if the gun was sighted in. It was dead on in both cases.
Thanks, Gary

[Rado]

I'm going to guess over 100 years, at least.

 
At least this guy whont have any ignition problems...so long as he fires before the powder charge has trickled out.
This is from a currenct auction on egun.de
From Afghanistan, probably a captured British weapon.