This morning i set out to reduce the diameter of the head of a Lehigh ventliner to 5/16". When purchased they have a diameter of 3/8". The high speed steel cutter wasn't able to do the job. The cutter just rubs on the rim of the Lehigh ventliner. My plan to use a Lehigh ventliner in my QRBP with a 5/16" chamber came to an abrupt halt. The Lehigh ventliner is too hard for my tools to machine.
My homemade stainless ventliner finally showed some flash hole erosion this week. It was born with a 0.029" flash hole, and now it is 0.030". I didn't count how many shots it endured, before it eroded, but i am guessing about 300. I planned to keep count of shots it took to erode the plug another 0.001", by counting spent primers. Then i planned on using the Lehigh ventliner, and see how it withstands erosion. The only way i will be able to use a Lehigh liner, is if i modify another QRBP so it has a 3/8" chamber.
Thanks for the information ron... I knew it was hard but hardness numbers really do mean anything to me because I have no formal training in that area... but! your written word is something I can understand.... and appreciate
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
Last edited by sabotloader; 04-09-2011 at 07:14 AM.
That is funny. Actually in the beginning i had Dave make these vent-liners for two reasons. The first was people were selling them at way to high of a price. The second was to with stand better in the high pressure loads of smokeless powders.
One of my cheap old CVA guns fired 750-1,000 rounds before it started to lose accuracy and get a lot of blowby. Replaced the $8.00 breechplug and accuracy was restored.
The other day, i was up in the hills punching paper at 100 yard. While reloading, a small bunch of turkey began browsing, slowing moving, behind my target. Being involved in my rifle, i didn't notice, until i got ready to shoot. Wow, was i ever surprised, when i started to aim. There i was with a loaded rifle, looking at a few hen, and 3 gobbler. Two gobbler were decent, and one of the two, was a beauty, with a long beard that really belled out at the bottom. He did a little display as he fed. Rifle/shotgun season started today. That day, i let them walk on by, and then fired a round at the target. One of them jumped about 5' into the air, but the others didn't hardly flinch. I continued shooting paper, and they continued browsing along. I watched where they went.
Today i took a little hike, but never caught sight of them. Once while i was breathing, i remembered i had a carbide cutter that i never used, and wondered if it would be able to cut the Lehigh ventliner. When i returned home, i gave it a try.
I plan on using the V2, and practice shooting off my hind legs while using a bipod. By the time i notice 0.001" erosion in my homemade ventliner, i imagine i will have made a couple three hundred shots. I wonder how many shots i will need to take, to see erosion in the Lehigh ventliner. At any rate, i should be a better stand-up shooter when that happens, what with all the practice i will get.
Used to attend a buffalo shoot. It was all the steel siloutte targets, all set at 200 yards, plus a big steel buffalo. You had to shoot a rimmed cartridge to particate. My favorite shot and position was the chicken , standing at 200 yards with my 30-30 Canadian Centennial Commemorative w/26" octagonal barrel, and a peep sight.
Used to attend a buffalo shoot. It was all the steel siloutte targets, all set at 200 yards, plus a big steel buffalo. You had to shoot a rimmed cartridge to particate. My favorite shot and position was the chicken , standing at 200 yards with my 30-30 Canadian Centennial Commemorative w/26" octagonal barrel, and a peep sight.
Have fun.
Seems that chicken would have been quite the challenge at 200 yard, when standing.
We used to belong to a range, and it was some simple. It cost something like $20 a year or $30 for 2 year. There were handgun chickens, and pigs, and some other silhouette , and rams. There was a place to hang a gong at 330 yard. The gong started out being 2' round, and 1' round, but that got all shot up. We brought 1' square 1/2" steel for the gong, and hung it using #11 wire. It got all shot up, so we brought a 6" square 1" thick steel, from the job, and hung it using #11 wire. It lasted for as long as the range did, but for having to replace the #11.
I was last night thinking about shooting a steel gong instead of paper. Seemed to me that 1/2" steel would work well for muzzle loader speeds. Hope i can find a tree to hang it from; i think it would fell my target frame if hung from it. Seems like i have some #11 around here someplace.
A Ventliner Tale
