The ubiquitous Flash-in-the-pan or No-Flash-in-the-pan was coined perhaps around the time of the American Revolution or likely earlier. For me, as a hunter, this is intolerable. Here in New  Hampshire, Deer are not as plentiful as our southeastern states, so having a flash- in-the-pan no fires in the deer woods is no fun!

But it need not be so!

My fix was simple after tons of internet research, changing my flint grip from leather to lead helped but it was to drill the touch hole to 1/16 inch or 0.0625. This is slightly larger than the original touch hole. See the website below. Also do not cover the touch hole with priming powder! My shot groups at 75 yards are around 4 inches with open sights. I don’t expect to exceed 50 yard in the local deer woods but a steady rest bipod or tree branch will help.  

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/drilled-touch-hole.27721

My Flintlock (Cricket) is a true Lancaster Pennsylvania Rifle of Jacob Dickert fame, some call it the Kentucky Rifle of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett fame.

Here, after a shot it looks a bit dirty, like this but you can see the touch hole larger to 1/16 inch which appears to have cured the ignition problem. Others instruct to run a spit (spit saliva) patch after each shot and then a clean patch. That works for me. Black powder residue is very dirty and cruddy but works the best in a Flintlock and patched round ball. Save the Pyrodex for your in-line muzzleloader.

I built this rifle from a very high end kit from Jim Chambers Flintlocks Ltd. My Flintlock came with a threaded device called a threaded touch hole liner and named White Lightnin’ to improve ignition by which the flash of powder in the pan would ignite the main charge in the barrel. The original hole itself is smaller than 1/16 of an inch.

My Flintlock is basically new (70 rounds fired) and had as many ignitions as I did of flash pan misfires. Cleaning the barrel and vent hole was done at every shot and even then had misfires. If the hole itself if not placed correctly with the pan, it is a problem but can be resolved. My touch hole was placed correctly, as far as I can tell but still misfired so I drilled the hole to 1/16 inch and basically cured the ignition problem to a large extent.  Every rifle is different. Some experts open the hole right away to 1/16 inch others shoot it till it widens over time. As a deer hunter I want it all the time. The touch hole can be opened further, see the website above but if too large will cause loss of pressure and slower ignition time, delaying the ignition. The great thing with a touch hole liner is that it can be replaced.

Good Hunting!