flintlock kit

[Turnup]

<snip>

Never seen any kind of accident of any kind.

...... as he passed the 30th floor the man who threw himself from the top of the Empire state building was heard to say "so far so good".

The wise also learn from other peoples experiences.

I know a man now nicknamed "Stumpy" after he lost the top joint of his trigger finger when his priming flask blew up while shooting a MLAIC matchlock competition in Germany. This incident has changed MLAIC (and hence MLAGB) rules. Apart from his injury he is fine but does not remember what happened. The line judge who was stood behind him stated that as he was priming his matchlock in the kneeling position a burning ember from an adjacent shooter floated down into the area of the pan followed by an explosion It was concluded that the priming flask must have been set off by the ember, either directly or by the pan igniting. The flask was a typical small priming flask and was not found, neither was the top joint of his finger despite intensive searching as the paramedics were up for re-attaching it if they could.

I think it is way OT for what was a freak accident which must have failed to happen millions of times, but that's yer elf n safety innit?

[ashf9999]

A rag and a bottle of water. Every now and again, despite a brushing, you might need to wipe the frizzen or pan out and an old (sometimes fractionally damp with water or spit if needed) tea towel is ideal. Plus for all front-stuffing, as you probably know, a bar towel or something similar to wipe your hands on.

[enfield2band]

When you prime the flashpan only cover the flash hole. Use as little powder as possible, its speed up the ignition of the main charge.
If you fill the flashpan to the top the powder has to burn down before reaching the flash hole. it slows down the ignition and wastes powder.

[gtpkeeper]

When you prime the flashpan only cover the flash hole. Use as little powder as possible, its speed up the ignition of the main charge.
If you fill the flashpan to the top the powder has to burn down before reaching the flash hole. it slows down the ignition and wastes powder.

cheers good tip ,

[gtpkeeper]

must admit i do like the tiny priming flask,

last Q flints
do you measure the size of the hammer/frizen ?
does it matter if the flints are slightly wider or smaller?


anyone knap there own?

[Turnup]

When you prime the flashpan only cover the flash hole. Use as little powder as possible, its speed up the ignition of the main charge.
If you fill the flashpan to the top the powder has to burn down before reaching the flash hole. it slows down the ignition and wastes powder.

Agree and more: I am not a flint shooter but when I was taught how to do it my mentor (something of an expert on duelling) told me to put a straightened paper clip into the flash hole and prime only up to the base of the flash hole, then remove the paper clip. He told me that this gave faster ignition because the burning powder was not impeded by powder in the flash hole. I was sceptical that this would work at all but it performed faultlessly. The gun I was privileged to be allowed to use (an original Manton no less!) had been breathed on and gave very fast ignition - approaching that of a percussion lock. Kinda spoilt me for lesser guns.

[enfield2band]

Agree and more: I am not a flint shooter but when I was taught how to do it my mentor (something of an expert on duelling) told me to put a straightened paper clip into the flash hole and prime only up to the base of the flash hole, then remove the paper clip. He told me that this gave faster ignition because the burning powder was not impeded by powder in the flash hole. I was sceptical that this would work at all but it performed faultlessly. The gun I was privileged to be allowed to use (an original Manton no less!) had been breathed on and gave very fast ignition - approaching that of a percussion lock. Kinda spoilt me for lesser guns.

A lad at the club bought an original Manton flintlock pistol, I think he paid about £900 for it. It was in a well used condition but not poor, if you know what I mean.
He decided it is too valuable to use and did not want to risk damaging it by using it so it now hangs on his wall at home.

[tacfoley]

A lad at the club bought an original Manton flintlock pistol, I think he paid about £900 for it. It was in a well used condition but not poor, if you know what I mean.
He decided it is too valuable to use and did not want to risk damaging it by using it so it now hangs on his wall at home.

That's a real shame. We are not helped here by the law that equates a 200-year-old single-shot antique with a firearm like a .50cal BMG long-range rifle.

I'm in the same boat with my two Canadian Sniders, one a family heirloom that saw service in 1871 during the last American invasion of Canada. Sure, I could sell two other guns so that I could legally shoot them, but I have no wish to have to lose two of my little collection to do so.

Having shot both pistols of a pair of Wogdon duellers I can testify that they make a Pedersoli repro feel like shooting a cap gun.

[Turnup]

A lad at the club bought an original Manton flintlock pistol, I think he paid about £900 for it. It was in a well used condition but not poor, if you know what I mean.
He decided it is too valuable to use and did not want to risk damaging it by using it so it now hangs on his wall at home.

That was relatively cheap. Manton favoured using old horseshoe nails to fire forge his barrels. It gives a very distinctive angular pattern Damascus effect, however they are not very strong and so perhaps your lad did the right thing.

Speaking purely personally, I find it a little sad when an old gun is too valuable to shoot so this kind of thing is not for me but I know a lot of folk enjoy collecting.

[gtpkeeper]

A rag and a bottle of water. Every now and again, despite a brushing, you might need to wipe the frizzen or pan out and an old (sometimes fractionally damp with water or spit if needed) tea towel is ideal. Plus for all front-stuffing, as you probably know, a bar towel or something similar to wipe your hands on.

good idea thanks ,thinking of small bottle of alcohol to clean up, and towel for hands etc

[tacfoley]

...... as he passed the 30th floor the man who threw himself from the top of the Empire state building was heard to say "so far so good".

The wise also learn from other peoples experiences.

I know a man now nicknamed "Stumpy" after he lost the top joint of his trigger finger when his priming flask blew up while shooting a MLAIC matchlock competition in Germany. This incident has changed MLAIC (and hence MLAGB) rules. Apart from his injury he is fine but does not remember what happened. The line judge who was stood behind him stated that as he was priming his matchlock in the kneeling position a burning ember from an adjacent shooter floated down into the area of the pan followed by an explosion It was concluded that the priming flask must have been set off by the ember, either directly or by the pan igniting. The flask was a typical small priming flask and was not found, neither was the top joint of his finger despite intensive searching as the paramedics were up for re-attaching it if they could.

I think it is way OT for what was a freak accident which must have failed to happen millions of times, but that's yer elf n safety innit?

Snide comment aside, I can only speak from personal experience, and from the experiences of other with whom I have been shooting for over fifty years.

I HAVE seen a 'ramrod launch', but I've never seen a flashpan ka-boom.

When I'm shooting with my fellows in the USA, I practice what THEY do.

The kind of trail-shooting I do over there is all from standing or kneeling, no benches to put stuff on so that it might get spark-sprayed and blow up. Powder is decanted into a powder measure, and the horn containing the powder is pushed around your back - out of the way of any sparks. Priming is done with a tiny priming flask.

With N-SSA-style shooting, it is practiced as it was during the WoNA, exactly - using paper cartridges. Again, it's standing or kneeling only, as carried out by the troops of the day.

When I'm shooting a BP pistol or revolver on a real range, it's the same as here - powder in phials is recommended, but not overly enforced unless you are taking part in a NMLA/MLAIC-style shoot, in which case it's phials all the way. The club I shoot at, Tri-Counties Gun club in Tualatin, has a number of ranges, including one of fifty places for pistol up to 50 yards, and a couple of smaller 20-position for 25 yards There is a separate qualifying range for the CCW courses run there.

[enfield2band]

Snide comment aside, I can only speak from personal experience, and from the experiences of other with whom I have been shooting for over fifty years.

I HAVE seen a 'ramrod launch', but I've never seen a flashpan ka-boom.

When I'm shooting with my fellows in the USA, I practice what THEY do.

The kind of trail-shooting I do over there is all from standing or kneeling, no benches to put stuff on so that it might get spark-sprayed and blow up. Powder is decanted into a powder measure, and the horn containing the powder is pushed around your back - out of the way of any sparks. Priming is done with a tiny priming flask.

With N-SSA-style shooting, it is practiced as it was during the WoNA, exactly - using paper cartridges. Again, it's standing or kneeling only, as carried out by the troops of the day.

When I'm shooting a BP pistol or revolver on a real range, it's the same as here - powder in phials is recommended, but not overly enforced unless you are taking part in a MLAIC-style shoot, in which case it's phials all the way. The club I shoot at, Tri-Counties Gun club in Tualatin, has a number of ranges, including one of fifty places for pistol up to 50 yards, and a couple of smaller 20-position for 25 yards There is a separate qualifying range for the CCW courses run there.

Hi tac,
I'm an MLAGB RO. The one thing I have to constantly watch for when overseeing a shoot is that people move flasks, containers with phials in them, and tins of caps to one side, and, cover them with a cloth to avoid premature ignition by a stray spark.

90% of the shooting at my club is done from a table so one has to be vigilant. Some members load off the firing point as they feel this is safer and only cap the gun or prime the pan when they are ready to shoot.

[tacfoley]

Hi tac, I'm an MLAGB RO. The one thing I have to constantly watch for when overseeing a shoot is that people move flasks, containers with phials in them, and tins of caps to one side, and, cover them with a cloth to avoid premature ignition by a stray spark.

90% of the shooting at my club is done from a table so one has to be vigilant. Some members load off the firing point as they feel this is safer and only cap the gun or prime the pan when they are ready to shoot.

My point was simply to note that if you don't have anywhere to put things down on, then they are unlikely to attract unwanted sparks from other shooters adjacent. In the club here in UK which I shoot BP - either pistol or rifle - I fetch my phials for the handgun from the otherwise closed shooting box, and load them into the chambers. Then cap up and shoot.

With my rifle I use replicas of WoNA-era cartridges kept in a brass cartridge box behind the line, load up on the line, and cap up when I'm ready to shoot.

When I used to shoot with the VAA I'd load my rifle off the line, carry it vertically TO the line, and cap up after lying down to shoot it. Just as everybody else did.

[Turnup]

Snide comment aside, I can only speak from personal experience, and from the experiences of other with whom I have been shooting for over fifty years.

I HAVE seen a 'ramrod launch', but I've never seen a flashpan ka-boom.

When I'm shooting with my fellows in the USA, I practice what THEY do.

The kind of trail-shooting I do over there is all from standing or kneeling, no benches to put stuff on so that it might get spark-sprayed and blow up. Powder is decanted into a powder measure, and the horn containing the powder is pushed around your back - out of the way of any sparks. Priming is done with a tiny priming flask.

With N-SSA-style shooting, it is practiced as it was during the WoNA, exactly - using paper cartridges. Again, it's standing or kneeling only, as carried out by the troops of the day.

When I'm shooting a BP pistol or revolver on a real range, it's the same as here - powder in phials is recommended, but not overly enforced unless you are taking part in a NMLA/MLAIC-style shoot, in which case it's phials all the way. The club I shoot at, Tri-Counties Gun club in Tualatin, has a number of ranges, including one of fifty places for pistol up to 50 yards, and a couple of smaller 20-position for 25 yards There is a separate qualifying range for the CCW courses run there.

Sorry if my post comes across as snyde, just trying to lighten it a little and not intended as a personal sleight - clearly I failed.

I have never seen a flask kaboom either but I know the victim of the incident personally and I have seen the damage it did. He put large holes in all of his flasks and blocked then with corks - his idea was that the cork would blow out thus reducing the pressures and potential for fragmentation. This was superseded when the MLAIC changed the rules and he now uses flasks only for filler and shot.

[airgunnut]

I know a man now nicknamed "Stumpy" after he lost the top joint of his trigger finger when his priming flask blew

I know some one who drilled 4 holes in the loading cap of his cylinder flask then coverd the holes with gaffer tape, his idea was if a spark somehow got into the flask the pressure build up as the powder goes up in smoke will exit via the weakest point, this been the gaffer tape covering the holes. Good idea but I think the pressure build up will be so fast that the cylinder flask will blow up anyway but the holes will limit the size of the inevitable bang.

When loading my muzzle loaders I use paper cases made from perming papers, one of the best ideas for muzzle loaders ever (admittedly I don't have any flint locks)