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A giant mammal track in sandstone? Unlikely. And so well defined and deep? Suspicious. Why is the area around the track clean of the lichen you see on the rest? Need to know age of the sandstone formation. Most western sandstone is too old for mammals.

Here's a cheap idea for carrying my cap and ball. A used computer carry case cost me $5 at Goodwill. With a few simple modifications, it holds all the stuff I need for shooting and cleaning my revolver. Holster is in the outside pouch (not in photo). Not exactly pc/hc, so don't take it to the...

Thank you Cyten for more good photos. And your points about difficulty of documentation and trade/movement of equipment well taken. Silahlik holster ought to be related to Turkish silah = weapon, so silahlik = for weapons, just as kuburluk = for pistols.

Yes, if I were going to do reenacting, I'd go with one of the Albanian/Greek/Ottoman jennisary/N African costumes with pistols in a sash and great walloping slasher. What a swell outfit! Right period for us, but probably didn't get to join the fur trade or the Civil War. Oh wait, anyone know the...

Friends, this is a fascinating thread. A couple observations: First, in the historic photos - seems to be a common pattern that the well-armed man has a flintlock rifle, and in the sash, consistently a pair of pistols and a yataghan-type sabre. Which leads me to ask where the photos are from...

Used to be fairly common. Some have been archaeologically excavated - usually not much in the way of artifacts because often short term use by nomadic people. Hearths inside some. As Phil Coffin said, rocks held down edges, even when there were stakes, and some, espec prehistoric ones, seem to...

Isn't one of the reasons for spinning a ball or bullet with rifling that it helps compensate for small irregularities?

Chert and flint are essentially the same, SiO2 silicon dioxide with variable impurities. The usual distinction is flint forms in chalk, chert in limestone. If chert is just in the earth, it has eroded out of the limestone it formed in, usually many millennia ago. But that's not a very meaningful...

Has anyone ever seen or tried mounting a lock backwards - so cock falls toward you? It would take some juggling with the trigger mechanism, and maybe not comfortable to cock, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Yes, I have used the Howard's butcherblock oil on patches. Works fine. I regard the 'no petroleum' rule as nonsense. The block oil has a couple of benefits. It tastes better than ballistol - I like to wet patches or hold them in my mouth when loading - and should be safe 'food grade'. It didn't...

A Jukar flint .45 pistol kit about 1986. About all I could afford, not a very good gun, flintlock not very good. But I learned a lot in my first attempt about metal and wood finishing.

Oh Yaaaah, 'day the war of N aggression" started - when the South fired on Ft Sumter. Irony is lost on some people.

Reading long interesting threads on Bakers and other Brit rifles in 18th century I figured some others might be interested in this book. Here's a massive historical study of the British gun industry in those years, which is relevant background if you're interested in the military guns, US War of...

Short answer to all of this: pine resin is soluble in alcohol.

As previous posters imply, the 'proper' gunflints made mostly in Britain and France and used all over the world were made by skilled craftsmen by the millions, striking long blades and breaking them into regular little gunflint pieces. That skill takes a long time to learn, and good material...

Let's hear it for stone knives! They will do most of the butchering jobs just as well as steel, though they get dull faster. Of course my examples are not exactly 'period correct' for this forum. Just 1000 yrs or more too early. Worse than giving Dan'l Boone an unmentionable. But I have used...

Yep. I have tried all sorts of flints in flintlocks, and more as strike-a-light flint+steel flints. I routinely heat lots of different materials for knapping. I tell you with assurance that heated flints are not as strong, wear faster. Yes, they will spark if edge and lock are right, but won't...

Right, let's clarify. I have been knapping for 50 years. As others have said, the flint shaves bits of steel off for the spark. So you want a hard, sharp flint, like the black British or blonde French, or some US flint/cherts. Heat treatment changes crystalline structure in the flint. It makes...

I'm looking for someone in northern Arizona area to work on a Harper's Ferry 1803 flint lock - two issues - 1 - sparks poorly, think frizzen needs harden or resurface. 2- doesn't kick open well, even with extra long flint, which means sparks don't get to pan well.

Fancy gun! Show us the rest of it, please.