Steve,
When I first got my 1766 French Charleville musket, I was getting several flashes in the pan that wouldn't ignite the main charge in the barrel. Then I noticed that the touch hole wasn't quite on the same level as the pan, so I bored it out a bit larger, and its worked fine ever since.
During the Rev War, some Brit and American troops would bore out the touch hole so that, when they poured the main charge down the barrel, they would give it a slap on the left side and some of the powder would go into the pan and they could eliminate the extra priming steps. After all, the idea was to throw as much lead at the enemy as fast as you could.
Personally, I don't think I'd want to do that but, in combat, I guess you do what you gotta do.
__________________
I'd rather be historically accurate than politically correct.
|