Why the "Traditions Kentucky" rifel can be unreliable and how to reduce this.

I've found that once you put a sharp stone in the lock, the frizen will ignite powder. It does not seem to be a poorly made frizen is my point. But the flashes in the pan have been my biggest issue with these spanish models (2024, I think). So an investigation into the barrel was warranted to find the odd manufacturing practice. The removable touchhole is drilled through the barrel and into the entirly non-removable breech plug itself. The breech plug has a narrow hole only the diameter of the narrow end of the stick shown, leading to the main barrel, which holds the primary charge.

The reason for the odd touchhole is to reduce manufacturing costs. High-end flintlock barrels are somewhat conical, appropriately increasing the barrel material as they reach the area where the main charge will occur. The drilling of the touchhole weakens the barrel, and yet this is exactly where the barrel needs to be the strongest. The result is that cheaper European factory guns like the TKR are slower, as the charge must travel from the pan, through the breach plug hole, then into the main charge.

So you need to tap the butt of the gun after charging well and hope your powder falls into the narrow hole of the breech plug inside the barrel. This small bit of powder must then be lit by the prime charge through the especially narrow touchhole. Your powder must be fast and very clean if you hope to come near to repeating shooting rifle. The rifle is never reliable, and the touchhole tube in the breech plug needs a special cleaning procedure at the end of every shooting day at best and at worst cant be expected to fire no more than a few rounds with well-burning bp.

I have experimented with a white lightnin touch hole and seen if this improved the reliability of the rifle by opening up the passage of the touchhole to mitigate the slow effect of the prime hole on these guns. No doubt, on its own, this improved reliability, the gun still needed significant tapping and smacking to ensure the primary charge, fed through the muzzle, reached the touchhole chamber beside the touchhole exit inside the barrel.

Recently, I have purchased a 36-inch drill extension, ground down the head, ground a groove into a bit to allow the receiver end of the extension, and secure screw, with bit, through the half-inch barrel to drill a 3/8-inch hole into the breach plug at the other end. This larger breach hole will increase the chances of adequate main charge reaching the touchhole chamber with less tapping and bumping.

A breif test has shown a dramatic improvment in reliability of the rifle.