R flintlocks dangerous? How can U make M safe?

[drjoker]

Thinking about picking up an antique Kentucky flintlock rifle. Are they safe? I mean, it seems that when you're ramming that rod into the rifle to force the ball and patch in, a smoldering ember could make a delayed ignition of the powder charge and end up shooting the rod through the palm of your hand. (ouch!) Is my imagination overly active or is this a possibility?

So, anyone with black powder experience have an answer? Myth or truth?

Thanks,

[jimlongley]

All of my patches are pre-cut and pre-lubed and I store them in a little brass box in my possibles bag. If I am shooting several shots in a short period of time I will run a patch down the bore between shots, but as TxLobo pointed out, the most likely time for ignition is when pouring the powder, but that is MOST LIKELY not totally, and if you are pouring, as is not adviseable, from a flask, then it is representative of a low power grenade right in your hand.

I have never had a flash, but BP cannoneers ALWAYS swab the bores between shots for just this reason.

[jimlongley]

When I hunted with BP I used little plastic tubes that held whatever load I had worked up and carried three or four in my possibles bag, so I could load rather quickly and also only had just one "cartridge" worth of powder out in front of the muzzle. I never really had any need to do a hurry up reload, the two deer I took with BP years back were each one shot kills and my misses were poor maintenance in one case and actually in the other too, but I consider it a mechanical failure just to make myself feel better about it. Those were the only four times I even saw fur in all the times I hunted deer with BP.

I shot a rabbit with one once, a .45 caliber reduced load, just for grins because my hunting buddies kind of dared me. Chest shot didn't ruin a lot of meat, but it sure tumbled the bunny.

My friends and I were on our way in from a walk out hunt behind one of their houses. Everyone else was carrying regular rifles, but the only one I had sighted in for this spur of the moment hunt was my caplock, so that's what I was carrying. As we passed through a fallow apple orchard about a hundred yards behind the house and barns, one of the guys challenged me, knowing that the best way to unload BP is to shoot it, to hit a target of opportunity, just to prove I could hit something with my ancient technology. My friend picked up an apple off the ground and propped it in the fork of a branch and paced off 50 paces and said "Hit that."

I calmly stepped up, pulled the hammer back from half cock, laid the front sight carefully about an inch low, knowing that I was sighted in point blank at 75 yards, and let fly. Did I mention I had replaced the primitive sights with a set of good adjustable ones? Once the smoke cleared it was obvious to all that I was every bit as accurate as required, the apple was gone. I accepted the kudos of my fellow hunters for accomplishing that shot, offhand, with no rest, just standing on the hillside.

I wandered back down the hill and inspected the tree branch - I had missed the apple by a good three inches to one side, but the soft lead slug had splattered on the hard apple wood and taken the apple out. I never bothered to confess, just lived with the reputation for years.

[fulano]

Flintlocks are fun. Hunting, shooting and reloading all in one package. Also they are great exercise since they weigh a lot and you have to pack a lot of stuff when you hunt with one. But I have a comment on a key point of your post.

"Thinking about picking up an antique Kentucky flintlock rifle."

I would reconsider getting an "antique" as my first BP weapon. You don't know who built it, who maintained it, if its loaded...I could go on. There is a reason its for sale. These guns look cool but they are still weapons with lots of moving parts. Do more research before you load and pull the trigger on a BP gun. Find a mentor locally or a group to join.

[Rex B]

lots of nice replicas available in any price range.
Flintlocks are cool, but caplocks are much less fussy and much more reliable.
Learn on the caplock, then get a flinter later.

[Thomas]

Thinking about picking up an antique Kentucky flintlock rifle. Are they safe? I mean, it seems that when you're ramming that rod into the rifle to force the ball and patch in, a smoldering ember could make a delayed ignition of the powder charge and end up shooting the rod through the palm of your hand. (ouch!) Is my imagination overly active or is this a possibility?

So, anyone with black powder experience have an answer? Myth or truth?

Thanks,

I don't have much experience with flintlocks, but I know that if you grab around the rod when packing the barrel instead of "patting" the rod in, IF it ignites, it won't go through your palm.

[Rex B]

Thinking about picking up an antique Kentucky flintlock rifle. Are they safe? I mean, it seems that when you're ramming that rod into the rifle to force the ball and patch in, a smoldering ember could make a delayed ignition of the powder charge and end up shooting the rod through the palm of your hand. (ouch!) Is my imagination overly active or is this a possibility?
So, anyone with black powder experience have an answer? Myth or truth?

I don't have much experience with flintlocks, but I know that if you grab around the rod when packing the barrel instead of "patting" the rod in, IF it ignites, it won't go through your palm.

With the stock rod that comes with the gun, you may not have much to grab with a light load. the powder and ball may only stack 2" or less, which is about what you would have to grip.
I keep the stock wood rod for display, but in the field or at the range i have a longer fiberglass ramrod that lets you grip it properly, and is much stronger. plus it is threaded for standard cleaning tips. These typically come in 36" length, and you can cut them down to suit.

[ScottDLS]

When sighting in my .50 I don't worry too much about left over embers in the barrel due to the time between shots.

you are dumping loose powder down the barrel, if it ignites it's going to make a giant Whooshing noise and lots of smoke.. but you haven't tamped it down, you have not put in a projectile, nor a patch/plug so there is nothing to compress the ignition..

Now If I'm out at the range and just shooting, I have a rod with a patch soaked in windex that I run through the barrel every couple of shots. Not so much because of any unburned powder, but it cleans some of the sludge left by the Holy Black.

I had a .58 cal Enfield reproduction Civil War cap lock. In reenactments we loaded loose powder without tamping. It still made a heck of a bang just pushing the air column out of the barrel. It wasn't a "whoosh". However in all my time re-enacting and hundreds of rounds fired, I never had a premature ignition.

[jimlongley]

Thinking about picking up an antique Kentucky flintlock rifle. Are they safe? I mean, it seems that when you're ramming that rod into the rifle to force the ball and patch in, a smoldering ember could make a delayed ignition of the powder charge and end up shooting the rod through the palm of your hand. (ouch!) Is my imagination overly active or is this a possibility?
So, anyone with black powder experience have an answer? Myth or truth?

I don't have much experience with flintlocks, but I know that if you grab around the rod when packing the barrel instead of "patting" the rod in, IF it ignites, it won't go through your palm.

With the stock rod that comes with the gun, you may not have much to grab with a light load. the powder and ball may only stack 2" or less, which is about what you would have to grip.
I keep the stock wood rod for display, but in the field or at the range i have a longer fiberglass ramrod that lets you grip it properly, and is much stronger. plus it is threaded for standard cleaning tips. These typically come in 36" length, and you can cut them down to suit.

Should have mentioned that myself. I use a starter to start the ramming process, and my starter is a large (tennis ball size) round ball, with two different length rods protruding, one very short to get the ball started down the bore, and the other about four inches long to give a good start to my long fiberglas ramrod. When I use the starter my palm will be directly over the bore, but the theory is that even if I get a flash discharge, the effective chamber is very large, and the ball might spread the impact enough to prevent devastating injury.

The actual reason I started using a fiberglas rod is less complicated, I broke the original rod. I can honestly say I have been injured while loading a muzzle loader, the original ramrod split along the grain and I got stabbed in the meat of my right hand.

[MeMelYup]

If it is a real antique check it over verry carefully. A real antique I would not shoot. If only parts are original antique then go ahead. If it is an antique and you want to shoot it, take it completely apart, take the barrel to a machine shop and have it magnefluxed. What caliber is it. Is it a smooth or rifle. Is the barrel hex or found. Does it have the shot mold with it. Does it have set trigger. If you shoot it only use patched round ball. Some people will tell you that they are good only out to 60 yards, that is incorrect. I have shot my 45 cal out to 200 yards and hit 3 of 3 in a 10 inch dinner plate. If you shoot start at 25 yards, with powder measuring equals caliber (45 cal = 45 measured grains of powder)and work up from there. With a muzzleloader one always indicates measured not weight on the powder. Do a search on Black Powder Shooting. You will enjoy it. Allways clean it with hot soapy water. Then dry it. then while it is hot from drying oil it. It's fun but can be messy. An much older gentleman, than I was, many years ago told me that you are in the ballpark on the right powder quantity when it cracks instead of booms.

Flintlock, practice maintaing site picture and follow through for 2 to 3 seconds after you squeeze the trigger, if you dont you have missed. luck