The loaded flintlock above the hearth

I’m guessing the gun hanging over the hearth in the flintlock era was loaded. Most pictures today seem to show them with the cock down and frizzen open - not primed. Does anyone know if they were ever hung with a priming charge and on half cock?

I am old, but I aint that old!

It only takes a very short time to prime a flintlock, so my thoughts would charged but not primed.

Probably loaded. But I've read that above the hearth was more of a display whereas a rifle at the ready was stood next to the door or hung above the door ready to grab and go on the defense against two legged or four legged intruders.

I've been a fan of the TV show "The Rifleman" since I was a child (a long time). There was a muzzleloader that hung over the fireplace in the McCain home. I would love to know what it was. And prior to 1981 my great uncle who lived in Beckley VW had a couple of muzzleloading rifles that hung above two fireplaces in his home. I never thought much about them back then. After he passed away I learned that his grandfather, my great great grandfather built guns. His name was George Washington Nichols. He lived in or near Beckley early in his life and eventually moved to Sparta NC where he raised a family.
A caretaker of my great uncle tricked him into signing papers that gave her his property when he passed away. I have a cousin nearby Beckley whom I have never met, but have seen pics of a rifle he has that may be one from great uncle's home and possibly made by GW Nichols.

Above the hearth is no place for a rifle, loaded or unloaded. It drys the wood out bad. Not to mention what an errant spark could do. All accounts I've read the rifle was loaded and by the door. One grabbed the rifle on his way out, and put it there when he came in. Hmmm. Same place I keep my rifle.

Many years ago I visited Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts. On a house tour there was a flintlock musket tucked into an alcove on the steps near the front door (wired in place to keep idiots from picking it up). The guide said it had been stored there since the early 1700's.

True or not, I don't know--but I agree a far better place than over a hearth.

My memory gets fuzzy when we go too far back...



My guess is old no longer serviceable firearms were the choice for the above the hearth guns, just like today.
The temp swings over a fireplace would play hell with the firearm. The constant heat in the Winter time would also be harsh to a gun. And then if there is a bunch of sparks go flying from the wrong wood a primed gun might go off.

I suspect that the loaded ready to go gun sat in the same place that they do in our homes...next to the front door, or on a night stand/under a matress.

A family friend kept a Springfield 50-90 above his front door. Purely a decoration. His front door was about ten feet tall so it would take a ladder to get it down. Maybe I'll hang my black A@ over my door.

Cabincritter said:

Above the hearth is no place for a rifle, loaded or unloaded. It drys the wood out bad. Not to mention what an errant spark could do. All accounts I've read the rifle was loaded and by the door. One grabbed the rifle on his way out, and put it there when he came in. Hmmm. Same place I keep my rifle.

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If you have errant sparks drifting up over your mantle, you have bigger problems to worry about.

Time out...
When we first got married people thought oh no how are they* ever going to get along together. Different cultures and seemingly so little in common! Well, the hearth seemed to center us and maybe the fireplace defined our marriage. The 43" barrel fifty caliber rifle went up there with knickknacks and lace on the mantle, cutesies and doilies. We got it together and that blending of ourselves has worked ever since. Later on in southeast Texas the short barrel fifty caliber went by the door in her quilting room. Malfunctioning kitchen appliances were used for target practice. Then she discovered 5.56. Now we're so old that everything hurts and we still make everything work together. And it makes me think that yeah, way back then in earlier times with the hearth being the wife's place that their marriages defined what went above the fireplace, the mantle, the hearth that they cooked on and what went next to the door.
So, OK, those are my thoughts sitting here typing, mostly one fingered seeing as Solstice (the new cat who appeared December 21st) needs to be held.

* A city raised Lake Michigan gal and the Texas boy who shamelessly plied her with Black Russians until she said yes to his proposal.

Great grandfather had an old caplock over the hearth, just a hand down from earlier generations. The marlins were at the front and back door as have been in everyone’s house Ive been to, at least in the country. Not always for human mischief but predators after stock.

I would guess that a gun over the hearth would be Ma's gun, since she'd be stood there most of the day, and from what old timers told me a long time ago those big old cooking fireplaces didn't make much heat in the house, it all went up the chimney, so the gun probably wouldn't get any warmer than comfortable to hold.

Something to think about, dang near nothing one sees in the movies is the way it was really done. As a kid I was always pointing out the stupid stuff the actors did and my little brother kept pointing out to me that "it's just a movie", then my cousin would chime in "and those actors never lived on a farm".

And yes if the sparks are sailing up over the mantle, it's not the gun going off that you need to worry about.

I imagine there wasn’t one common place to put them, the owner just had them wherever he was comfortable . Folks over-blow how guns were used back in the day, and the necessity to have one handy at all times really depended on when and where you lived. Plenty of towns folk didn’t have guns and there were plenty of towns even in the early 1700’s. The folks living out past where the crown said they could, took their lives in their own hands and needed them handy, they were basically trespassers and often violating treaties and agreements with the local tribes. Also as the colonist moved into an area they quickly killed off the game, that’s why folks like Boone had to keep moving west. People remember the killing off of the big buffalo herds but in the beginning it started with deer skins, there were groups of professional hunters that hunted the deer in an area till it was hunted out and then moved on, so it was mostly small game that was left if that. The settlers would follow these guys and settle behind them and that was that (oversimplification). Anyways, I do wonder if the practice of mounting a gun over the fireplace as we know it today, didn’t start in order to keep the powder in the weapon dry. in a primitive structure with dirt floors moisture will collect inside said structure under certain circumstances and black powder is hygroscopic or if it was a hold over from Europe as more of a decorative or status thing.

I display my two muzzleloaders over the hearth. However, they are unloaded, the fireplace is gas, and we rarely use it, so there is no worry about any harm being done.

They are sitting on an old 3-gun rack that I picked up at my LGS for $15.

I think they look nice there and I really don't need them for defense. I have unmentionables for that!

I defy anyone to provide a verifiable account, in the last 300 years, of a gun "going off" while hanging over someone's mantle because sparks from the fire got to the powder charge. Seems like a pretty fantastical claim to me.

I always wondered if hanging your rifle, any rifle, above a fireplace, would that not dry out the stock?

Packrat said:

I always wondered if hanging your rifle, any rifle, above a fireplace, would that not dry out the stock?

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What if the owner were to take the gun down and "grease" the stock every so often?