.50cal Flintlock

[roundball]

Hard to believe this is post #1000...don't know whether to say that's great, or gee, I'm sorry...but 1000 it is !! ::

Anyway...that Canadian cool air mass that swung down into the US moved into our state night before last dropping the temps to 59, (August in North Carolina??) and it set a record low last night at 52 which obviously was unheard of!! The best news is that the humidity dropped from the mid-90% range down into the 50-60 % range...so yesterday and today have been like fall days in October...cool, dark blue sky, bright sun, low[url] humidity...made[/url] me think about getting the treestands out to look them over!

So yesterday afternoon I sent forty .490's down range and did it again early this morning...the .50cal flinter was very kind when you just can't seem to do anything wrong...even when I thought I had flyers they were right in there.

Black English Flints...yesterday, I put in a new two-tone black & white colored English flint and only got a couple of shots off when it simply broke apart on the two-tone color boundary, finished the 40 shot session with a new flint...and this morning shot another entire 40 shot session on another new flint.

Red flecks...had red flecks in the dry powder residue in the pan and at the muzzle, which I always notice when shooting in low humidity...can't tell if that's a result of dry humidity, or simply that they can be seen in dry residue compared to the 'soup' we get in high humidity...I suspect the latter.

 

I have seen in print, that when you have a properly blanced load, as in a 'perfect load', you get the red beads in the fouling. A long time ago, I decided, as you've discovered, it is merely an atmospheric pressure and humidity deal. Same thing happens around here, but we get "Barrel Blood" almost all the time as the humidity is normally in the range you've just had.
: Down South, in the lower mainland of B.C., Vancouver area, it was rare to see it, as in Smithers, being closer to the ocean than here, with more moist spring and summer air, it happened in the late fall and winter time, but centrally located in the Province, here, in Prince George, it's a common occurance.

 

I get the red dots too, but only occasionally. What causes it - is it sulfur accumulation?

 

Could be the sulfer- they are very hard little beads - at least he ones I captured were. Perhaps a certain chamber or rather muzzle pressure is developed, with a certain atmospheric pressure and hmidity, results in a chmical reaction with the burning sulpher? Perhaps there is a chemist or chemical engineer here, who has a better handle on this subject.

 

[B.Habermehl]

Having talked to Bill Knight about exactly this: the red dots, grains or whatever we call them are a sulpher compound, a by product of combustion in a atmosphere with a specific relative humidity. The relative humidity is the key... :m2c: BJH

 

B.Habermehl: What a wonderful resource Bill Knight is.
If the madmonk says so, it's true.
I wish I knew what he's forgotten.
I've encountered those beads before and it is partially sulpher, realted to humidity and other factors of less note, like the way to tied your shoes or what you had for breakfast.

 

[2172]

Thanks for clearing up a mystery...when I first saw those bits, I thought that I'd left some horn chips in the horn when I made it...got them even after the horn had been empty...asked the oldest shooter in our club, and he said, "Congratulations, you've been loading right.." but thought he was just kidding me...Hank