Banking powder a myth?

[ebiggs1]

That is another reason banking powder doesn't work, at least for hunting. I had myself and the two sons load our guns and just walk for awhile. We looked at the powder in the pan and it mostly was level. Unless you are a target shooter that primes and shoots, I doubt banking helps. I also can not imagine anyone slapping the gun before shooting while hunting deer. As a matter of fact I would suspect the absence of motion and noise would be more productive. To each his own, ce la vie!

 

[hanshi]

nope, i barely have enough time to put down my beer and pull the lock back. No time to smack the stock :blah:

I got a good laugh out of your post. Good one!

 

[goon]

OK... I admit that I've only show about fifty rounds from a flintlock in my life and that I don't own one now (although I really want about six).
Still...
I've been around guns all my life and have a lot of experience with semi-auto handguns. I caught myself trying to press-check a water-pistol once just because it vaguely resembled a semi-auto in my hand.
I drive an old Ford pick up with a standard transmission. I have a really difficult time transitioning back to an automatic or really to anything else - I keep stomping a clutch that isn't there and reaching for a gear shift that is somewhere else.

My point?
If you train your body to do something the odds are that you will do it without thinking. So I can see how bumping the side of the rifle, if you felt it necessary, could easily become part of the routine of bringing to your shoulder.
Just a thought from someone who might have a fresh set of eyes.

 

[Fullstock58]

I think the bigger issue is not where the powder is in the pan, but how much! IMHO as a hunting weapon, a flintlock should never be carried in the field with powder in the pan. I'm different, what I do is push a toothpick in the touchole, lower the frizzen, and then hold the frizzen down and break off the toothpick flush with the pan/frizzen, then I load my main charge in the rifle. I do not take the toothpick out of the touch hole until I need to shoot it!, it's very easy and quiet to flip up the frizzen and remove the toothpick and add powder while I'm close to any animal. I carry a very small horn powder flask in my pocket with a wooden plug, it's
quick, quiet, and sure. If by chance I did not take the shot, I empty my powder from the pan and replace the toothpick either with the same one or a new one.
I do this because I do not want a fuse between my pan and powder charge, by loading my main charge with the toothpick in place and keeping it their I achieve this. By leaving powder in your pan all day it seems like it would pack in your touch hole. It seems to me keeping powder in the pan while hunting adds to many variables.

I also feel that my lock time is slightly better by using a toothpick during loading, I know the old timers used shafts of feathers to do the same thing, I have left guns loaded over a year and they always go off just like you loaded them fresh.

 

[ebiggs1]

I have also thought of not priming until needed. It sure eliminates some of the problems associated with hunting in less than desirable conditions. Although last year I hunted three seasons and did not have any problem with the gun firing at the end of each day.
The same pan powder all day, too, but the weather wasn’t too bad.

 

[hanshi]

Seldom do I give much thought to priming one way or another. Mostly I just put in the prime and forget it, and it works. Because of the way I hunt I prime just before stepping into the woods. I have a difficult enough time simply getting a reload down the barrel in less than 5 minutes to complicate matters with priming as game approaches. A deer would live, breed and die of old age if I tried that.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I have also thought of not priming until needed. It sure eliminates some of the problems associated with hunting in less than desirable conditions.

Gonna make still-hunting whitetail and ALL grouse/rabbit hunting kinda tough. :haha: Granted, that is smoothbore and not a rifle, but I have enough trouble getting the lock cocked before the grouse jinks two trees between us.

Carrying an unprimed flintlock is like carrying a 1911 pistol in condition three - full magazine but no round in the chamber. Safe; but it defeats the purpose, defies the design, and can cost precious time.

If God intended us to carry unprimed flintlocks He wouldn't have given them half-cocks.

 

[ebiggs1]

Now let me see here. We have guys that bank their powder. We have guys that slap their guns before shooting and we have guys that prime just before shooting. They all claim to be successful deer hunters! Remember I am the guy that claims all that is NOT necessary and not only that, it doesn’t help.

 

[hanshi]

The only reason to slap your gun is if it misbehaves. A good flintlock is absolutely dependable and discussions about banking vs not banking, bevel up vs bevel down, etc, is just sophistry and interesting theory building. Trust your gun, take care of it and it will not let you down. The loading and firing whether targets or game is pretty straight forward. Don't worry about special tricks. :hatsoff:

 

[Stumpkiller]

The only reason to slap your gun is if it misbehaves.

:rotf: :thumbsup:


A flintlock is like a woman or a cat. Each one is a mystery unto itself. That's what makes them interesting: finding the secret or technique to bring out the best of the individual at hand. :hatsoff:

 

[nkbj]

Is talking about banking and guns still legal?

 

[RossN]

A woman, a spaniel, a chestnut tree
The more you beat them, the better they be.

Are you suggesting we need to add a flintlock to the saying?
Might make the rhyme a bit tricky, is all.....

 

[hanshi]

Uhhhh....you're not married, I take?