i am really wanting to get my flintlock ready for late muzzleloader. still have an week of rifle to go (if i am not able to kick this cold i have) and then an two week break. in that two week break, i was going to play with my knight original disc and my 54cal hawken see if i can one or both hooked up. but on jon's site, he got my gears going.

I have went to english flints and rmc liner. went as far as grinding 2f goex in the WOODEN mortal and pestle.

still having hangfires.

would getting some goex 3f be an good move?

If you're going to buy powder just for the pan. I'd get 4F, but I think you might have other problems. The ground up 2F should have worked ok.

yes the 3f was always best in my flintlock. The RMC liner sucks IMO, slowed down my kentucky flintlocks ignition

i am not going to give up on the rmc liner until I run down the problems. I know i can get 3f locally, pay though the nose for it, but I can get. I can wait until I do my bulk order after me and jess get our taxes back and add 4f to it.

i could just be not added enough or too much powder. alot of work to do, may have to wait.

they do cause you some grief from time LOL. My lyman GPR flinter was a headache for me at first.

Flintlocks actually work fine with FF as both the main charge and the priming charge...

I suspect the location of the touchhole is the problem...I should be high, centered over the pan...If you draw a line across the top of the pan the bottom of the touchhole should be just above that line...Too many factory made rifles have that touchhole low so it can fill up with powder, this is what causes hangfires...

I have corrected several by making a liner and drilling the touchhole off centered so it's in the correct position...

That ground up 2f should work fine as a prime. And the RMC vent liner IMO is the best touch hole liner on the market. I will not shoot a rifle without one. I am guessing the problem is the touch hole.

Next time you load.. get some fuzzy pipe cleaners. Push one of them into the touch hole then close the frizzen. Now load the main charge and ball as normal. SLOWLY pull that pipe cleaner back out of the touch hole. What this does is drags powder with it, right to the back side of the touch hole.

Some rifles like their pans filled on the outside of the pan, while my Lyman GPH like the powder close to the touch hole. You have to experiment. How are you putting the powder in the pan? Just tapping out of a horn? If so, push a little up near the touch hole.

Also a sharp flint is important to good ignition. It creates long hot sparks. Also what some call a hang fire, other do not. But you're experienced enough to know the difference. And you're sure the bore is nice and dry when loading.. So like you said, just keep playing with it and trying it in different ways. Soon it will start to fire.

A well tuned flintlock is as fast as a cap lock and as dependable too. One reason I guess I like flintlocks.

i am using an pan charger, I don't own an horn yet. (i can image explaining that to jess). putting the charge next to the flash hole. half way. maybe 2 to 4grs. I am not planning on working with the two guns i have ready now.

I'm fairly new to the flintlock game but here is what I do. The first thing I did was got my dremel tool out with the buffing wheel and valve grinding comound and shined up the pan so it was like glass.

Before shooting. Clean off the oil from the pan and barrel with a combination of windex and isopropyl alcohol. Dry.

I find if I don't not follow my loading process exactly everytime I may get away with 2-4 shots but more than likely, I will not.

1. Wipe flint, pan and frizzen with alcohol windex patch. Swab barrel afterwards with same patch.
2. Dry flint, pan, frizzen and barrel with a new patch. Save for next shot.
3. Plug vent with pick, paperclip or whatever you like. Close frizzen.
4. Charge barrel, load ball
5. Remove pick. Charge pan. My pan on the GPR is about 1/5 full banked away from the vent. Close frizzen.

I use 4f as prime and either 2f or 3f main charge and a RMC vent liner.
Works for me but as always, your mileage may vary.

Good luck.

HA

Expanding on Cayugad's point about the flint, what are you using to secure the flint? You should be using lead it holds the flint *a lot* more rigidly than the leather. This translates in to more sparks per frizzen strike and less hang fires.

Put a lead ball on concrete (driveway, sidewalk) and tap it with a mallet or hammer to flatten, trim to the correct shape with snippers. Wrap the lead around the flint just like you would with leather. Tighten the jaws. Wait a little while. Lead being a soft metal it will need some time to conform to the shape of the flint and fill in to the groves of the c0ck jaws. Re-tighten. Once the lead has taken to the correct shape that flint will not budge. It also makes knapping much easier.

Good luck!