basic match Questions

[NY Irish]

I'm sure someone here can answer these questions. Lets imagine a frontier situation: your man is stalking someone in the woods, but the hunt might be over a few days. Would he keep his match lit, then replace it when it burns out? (I doubt it) How quickly and stealthfully can one get the match lit? Would the smell of burning match alert someone to an ambush? (IS there a smell?) After trooping through the woods, what might be the rate of misfire? Lastly, when did the rest go out of style and why? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I've never met any matchlock shooters before! Thanks!

 

[robinghewitt]

Hi NY

Would they stalk someone in the woods in the days of matchlocks? The English colony was a disease infested swamp which they had to bribe people to join. Who would they be stalking?

I only recollect one reference to matches being lit and that was when Williams blue guard entered the City of London while displacing King James. The fact that their matches were lit seems to have been significant.

The army certainly got through a lot of match, a shipment of arms to Ireland in 1601 included 20 tons of lead and 30 tons of match.

best regards

Squire Robin

 

I'm sure someone here can answer these questions. Lets imagine a frontier situation: your man is stalking someone in the woods, but the hunt might be over a few days. Would he keep his match lit, then replace it when it burns out? (I doubt it) How quickly and stealthfully can one get the match lit? Would the smell of burning match alert someone to an ambush? (IS there a smell?) After trooping through the woods, what might be the rate of misfire? Lastly, when did the rest go out of style and why? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I've never met any matchlock shooters before! Thanks!

Well, for an ambush the sound of steel on flint would be a dead give away. However, should the ambusher had time to prepare, he may just have been able to acquire a magnifying glass, as long as the day was sunny. Passing cloud would add a dramatic effect.

They would have to be down wind of their intended target, so smell would be less of a factor.

Misfires would depend on weather, i.e. rain and hunidity. Also, was there a river or stream crossing before hand? Use of a waterfall or water wheel to mask sound would add to that factor. Let's not forget time of day, is it morning with a heavy dew? Is it evening on a hot day after a heavy rain?

Oh, then there's the human factor. Was the lock placed in a sweaty hand or under a perspiring armpit while traversing rough terrain?

Many factors to take into account. But, if the shooter was more than familar with his fire lock, then I'd say a 1 out of 5 chance of it not igniting. Stressful situtation may raise that to 1 out of 4.

I'm not sure what you mean by Lastly, when did the rest go out of style and why?
CP :hmm:

 

[NY Irish]

Ha Ha. My reference was to the gun rest, the forked stick you see in older pics of musketeers.

 

[NY Irish]

Read Bill Kelso re: Jamestown as a disease filled swamp; it's been a bit exagerated. As for stalking in the pre-flintlock days, it certainly happened. Adam Dolard may not have been New France's best, but he was out there. The Beaver Wars saw raids back and forth across the lands of the Iroquois. I think, though, the flintlock was the weapon of choice by the time of King Philip's War.

 

[robinghewitt]

Read Bill Kelso re: Jamestown as a disease filled swamp; it's been a bit exagerated.

We even made the Americas a tax free haven to try and persuade people to go there but it was far from popular. Glad to hear you managed to sort it out :thumbsup:

 

Ha Ha. My reference was to the gun rest, the forked stick you see in older pics of musketeers.

Gun rests never go completely out of favor. I would say with the advent of the flintlock and lighter barrels, gunners found the fork rest more cumbersome than advantageous. But even buffalo hunters were known to rely on forked sticks. However, in the heavily wooded forrests of the New World, a rest would prove an impedence and could be easily replaced by a sapling or tree trunk.

CP

 

[robinghewitt]

Well, for an ambush the sound of steel on flint would be a dead give away.

Ray Mears carries fire as a smouldering fungus, I forget which one. I expect they had all sorts of tricks to make fire for lighting a pipe etc :thumbsup:

 

[FireMaker]

Tinder Fungus, grows on birch trees. Have a big box of the stuff :grin:

 

[Richard Hare.]

The rest went out when lighter 'calivers' again took over from the big, heavy, (up to 20-odd pounds) musket.....rests not issued with the lighter arms.
Read somewhere that small tins of tinder were carried lit and smoulering, with which to light the match.
In the English civil war, the population used to groan when troops were billeted with them, as when they left, all the bed-rope went with them, to be boiled in gunpowder to make match!
Seems piles and piles of match were burned up,...
"just in case" it was needed.

 

[Landsknecht]

There is a smell. I use hemp match from Sykes Sutler and it smells like pot (which is a different part of the hemp plant).

I get some funny looks when I have the match lit.

 

[madbrad]

Seems like you know alot about the hemp plant. :hmm:

 

[NY Irish]

Thanks all.