Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Touch Hole Bushing?

I've been shooting percussion guns for years, but I just bought my first flintlock, a T/C Firestorm. I know the traditionalists aren't fond of them, but I'm a hunter, not a re-enactor, and the stainless construction and removable breach plug appeal to me. I will be using real black powder and PRB's.
My question regards the touch hole bushings. How long can I expect one to last, and what sign should I look for to indicate that one needs to be replaced? I have stocked up on a few packs of them, because T/C sidelock parts are getting scarce.

You'll probably never actually need to change a touch hole liner. They are stainless if I remember correctly.


Mild steel ones or traditional holes in the barrel will eventually enlarge to the point it gets too big. I've never had a stainless liner go.



I use stainless liners in all my customs I build and they aren't even removable. If they ever do to bad I can drill it out and drill 1 size bigger and install a new one...but ain't likely unless you shot A LOT and pick the touch hole with something harder than the liner that wears on it...



FYI....not sure of you researched the barrel twist. Can't remember if the firestorms were 1:48 or 1:28 or what.

As a rule of thumb

1-48" is a middle of the road. Some will shoot roundballs. Some won't. Some will shoot bullets and even sabots. Some won't. My TC was a 1-48 and shot short ball-ets and PRBs great. Longer (heavier) bullets not so we'll

Slower than 1-48 is typically a roundball gun but you might get something else to shoot. I doubt your firestorm has a slow twist


1-28, 1-24 etc are sabot and longer bullet barrels. Might get a roundball to fly...but that's a lot of rotation.


That's the beauty of muzzleloaders. Can experiment and test different stuff easily.

Great info, Mauser'06. Much appreciated!
The Firestorm barrel is 1-48, same as my T/C Greyhawk, which does well with round balls. I'll have to see how this one handles them.
Thanks again.

Had a Pedersoli Mortimer about 20 years ago. Ignition wa awful. Then I read a piece by Ross Seyfried on his experience with the same rifle. Followed his directions and opened the hole to .0625 and coned the backside so the main charge was very close to the hole. Ignition after that was fast and sure, seemingly as fast as percussion. Actually, I did the modification on a spare one, and kept the original as-is, just in case. I suggest you have a spare, and test both for good ignition, but suspect you'll never wear one out. I rotate the breechplugs of my inlines the same way.

I've read that old military guns like the Brown Bess used to erode pretty badly, but thise barrels were probably pretty soft, and those guns stayed in service for a long time. In one of the Bernard Cornwell novels about Richard Sharpe, he teaches soldiers to give the musket a sideways kick instead of priming from the cartridge when pressed for time. The holes were large enough that powder would flow into the pan from the chamber.

Had to let that one go, regrettably, and new ones are outta sight, but they are fine rifles.

Pedersoli does build some quality guns. I've long had a hankerin' for their smoothbore trade gun.
Thanks for your reply.