I haven't shot the kentucky in quite a while so i loaded up 60 grains fffg goex " target load" and a homecast .490 roundball, New .018 pillow ticking patches that i lubed with bore butter a few days ago. The patches loaded a little tigther than the .015 tc patches i used after shooting 6 shots today and finding all the ticking in perfect shape after being fired, This is the only patch i will use from now on. 6 shots today measured a little over 1 1/2" @ 50 yards. Im in need of a new vent hole liner. Im getting some bad hangfires due to an enlarged vent hole. Now i'll go melt the rest of the all lead powerbelts i have and mold them up in my .490 RB mold.

Take your 4f powder used for your pan and grind it up using a morter and pestal into a fine powder. If your picking the vent hole after you load it, it will hang every time. Doing this pushes powder away from the vent hole. With a big vent hole you can pick after the shot before loading and then use the fine powder and make sure you evenly distribute it in the pan and some gets in the vent hole. If your cleaning between each shot, this might get some water or cleaner in the touchhole or in the breeech area, which will slow down times too. Do not use too much powder in the pan. Too much powder will make your lock times longer, but hey, a full pan of powder sure looks great for those camera shots. Clean your pan between shots on humid days. Simply brush it and maybe wipe it with a dry cloth.

The other thing that will decrease lock times, not vent hole related, is to polish the inside(and outside) of your lock. I usually get some jewelers rouge and polish it on a buffing wheel or using a dremel tool with the buffing wheel, which can be difficult because some of those parts are small. At any rate, any part that comes in contact with another piece of metal gets polished to a mirror finish and then oiled with your favorite gun oil. This will slightly decrease your locktime and make your lock feel much smoother. You will have to take the lock out to periodically clean it, especially if you have been hunting in wet conditions. The only part that you really want to do on the outside of the lock is where the frizzen cam rubs against the lock. Some locks with roller bearings where the cam is you really don't need to polish this spot.

I'm sure you know this already. Just saying it in case you missed something.

Some thing a lot of new FL people do not realize is that you should only use a small amount of powder in the pan and that you should tip the gun away from the flash hole so it is away from the flash hole and angled toward it, this will give the fastest lok time. If you cover up the flash hole with the powderit has to burn down to it like burning a fuse. Lee

I use very little powder. I was looking at my vent liner and the hole is just enlarged badly. Before i was able to prime and fire it like a caplock and now its just draggin its lock

Maybe i wont replace the vent liner! I just fired 2 shots and used Maybe 1.5 grains of 4f in the pan and it went off fast! I think the enlarged vent + dropping the pan charge down greatly was a good thing. The tom fuller flint is still doing an amazing job.

Also decided that i'll order my GPR in .54cal flintlock and then order a .54 percussion barrel and lock. $94 for the .54 percussion barrel! Shame the lock is going to cost me damn near $70

Use a vent hole size of 1/16" for 3f and a 5/64" for 2f powders. Pick the vent before you load your next shot and make sure your pan is dry before you put your pan powder in and wipe the underneath of your frizzen as well. Black powder residue will draw moisture within a minuite or so. It may look dry but the fouling will draw moisture. Like the others said bank your prime away from the vent hole.

There are lots of tricks to the flinters and I could go on for a while. Stick with it as there is no greater reward than hunting with flinters, with the possible exception of stickbows.