How to fire those crazy Traditional Muzzleloaders.

  They are called muzzleloaders for a reason. . . because everything is stuffed right down the front of the barrel  in a certain way to make it go off. 

  First comes powder. . .
  The second thing stuffed down that barrel depends upon the person and how they will be using it.
  a.  Maybe a patch wrapped around a ball.
  b.  Maybe a Sabot wrapped around a conical
  c.  Maybe a "wad", "Gas check", "Spacer" or whatever you want to call it. followed by some kind of Conical, ball, Sabot, or even lead shot.
 
  When the barrel is prepared, the last thing you are to load up, is your primer, cap, or flash pan powder.

  Usually most guns have a two position hammer. . .

 Position 1, halfway cocked.   This is used to load the primer.  You should NOT be able to pull the trigger and release the hammer.

 Position 2,  fully cocked.   This is the firing position. When trigger is pulled, the gun will go off.

  For a percussion, things are pretty easy.  At position 1, load your #11 cap, pull the hammer back to full position, point and fire.

  For a Flintlock, things are a little more complicated.

  Three things must happen in order to fire a flintlock.

1.  Spark.
2.  Pan ignition.
3.  Main Charge ignition.

  If any of these three things fail,  you will have a dud.

Spark:

  To get proper spark, the following MUST be present and working.

1.  The Flint should strike between 1/3 to 1/2 way down from the BOTTOM of the frizzen.  If it strikes near the top of the frizzen, it only smacks your flint into the frizzen, produces no spark, breaks it off, and destroys everything you ever wanted to happen.  If it strikes properly, the angle of the flint will dig INTO the steel frizzen, shave off a little steal, carry the hot glowing spark down towards the pan powder, push back the frizzen,  and ignite the pan powder.  That is a LOT to happen for step one.

2.  Ignition of the Primer Pan.  In order to have the best ignition of a pan, your powder should cover as much area as possible.  This means a DEEP NARROW pan is not near as good as a shallow wide pan.  A wider pan catches more spark from the lock mechanism.

3.  Main charge ignition.  Your Primer Pan must somehow ignite your main charge.  The only way to do this, is keeping the flame in the vicinity of the main charge.  The closer to the main charge, the hotter the flame, and the accessibility of the flame to the main charge are the igniting characteristics.

   There are a few tricks to encourage fast ignition, sure ignition, and speedy main charge ignition.  When properly done, the lock time of a flintlock is actually FASTER than that of a percussion!  First, you must understand how a flintlock works.  It does NOT work on FORCED fire or FORCED blast like a percussion.  A percussion forces a fire into the main charge, a flintlock doesn't.


   So, lets look at what makes black powder burn the fastest!

1.  Space. 
2.  Area exposed  (from the space)

  What this means, is when loading a flintlock, you are NOT to pack it down tight, ram it down, and call it good.  This may be perfectly ok for a percussion, because the fire will be force into the main charge with a mini blasting cap.

  With a flintlock, you are to STOP as soon as your projectile "touches" your powder.  This allows "space", or "air" around your main charge.  This air allows the flame to migrate throughout your main charge, causing a much faster ignition.  It is also one of the reasons why your flash pan powder burns so rapidly.


   Now, how can we speed up the igintion of the main powder from the flash pan?

   There have been many studies and slow motion vidio's on flash pan speed and igition.  Powder placement  in the pan is almost an non-issue.  It is true that the ignition speed is slower with the pan powder away from the flash hole, but it is still non-negligiable to our human reflexes. So, how do you speed it up?

   First things first. . ..the more powder exposed to the flame, the faster the ignition.  How do you do this?  Take a piece of wire, shove it in the touch hole vent, and make a hole through your main charge.  What happens, is the fire will ignite more of the main charge this way.  If you do not poke a hole in it, ignition is only accomplished on the FIRST grain of main powder that is exposed to the flash pan fire. It must then migrate grain by grain until the main charge is ignited.  Which is better in starting a fire?  a bunch of matches all set to go off, or just one?

   Second thing. . .you want flame as close to the flash hole as possible. . .stick some of that fine grain of 4F powder down that hole and right to the very edge and even cover the hole a little.  It will ignite.

   So now you have it. 

1.  How to adust your flint.
2.  How to load your muzzleloader.
3.  How to  load your pan.
4.  How to speed up your main charge. (Two ways!!)
5.  How to migrate that flame into the main charge via the touch hole.

   When all is said and done, a flintlock will actually have a faster lock time than a percussion.  By the time the hammer hits the bottom, the flashpan is already lit and doing its duty.  On a percussion, the hammer must travel ALL the way down  to the bottom BEFORE even igniting the cap.   After ignition of the cap, the flame must travel through the bolster drum, into the main charge, and then ignite the main charge.