click....pssshh....no boom....# % & !.............

[bob1961]

well tried my best with the rain hunting had some does come down the hill on me....kept the lock tucked under my arm to keep the rain off it and every time i checked it she was dry....i think some how leaving the load in the gun since the monday before thanksgiving was not such a good idea even with no rain till this week....the gun was in the garage with no heat so it should've been find....well back to the deer....they were coming down the hill and not knowing i was there a nice 50 yard shot broadside to boot and not moving " just think of oct's shoot now " pulled the trigger and it went click-pufff-nothing-# % & ! :curse:....as they still stood there not hearing this cause of the rain i quickly reprimed to try again....what do i got to lose....and this time there was no pufff cause of no spark at all then came #&*$^!$^&*$#%& :curse: :curse: and tucked my wet tail between my legs and started to swim home :cry:....got back to the car and picked the touch hole with my pipe cleaner wiped the pan that was soup now and the flint tipped my gun and out of the touch hole came out a little dry powder from the charge....reprimed it to shoot the ball out since it was wet and was going to clean it when i got home and no sparks again....did my flint got moister into to it can it get wet like that....stuck the pipe cleaner it the hole and closed the frizzen then went home....took the gun apart and there was alot of water under the barrel in the channel i was wet....and i just back in the woods from N.Y.'s season the monday before thanksgiving and hurting my back that saturday before and missing PA's bear season then the first week of deer and not getting out till wed the second week when i felt i could move around good enough....so that makes wed to sat left for hunting and the only deer i seen was in the rain....knew it would be tuff but i think i just got schooled in the fine art of hunting in the rain with a flintlock :results:....well there's today to try my luck again if it's not going to rain again :huh:....don't think i want to go through that again....so there's the rest of the story ............................bob

 

[roundball]

I see posts where people "leave their gun loaded all season", etc...but I won't do it...years ago I had a delay fire at a 6 pointer and skinned him across his back (shot him the following week with a .30-30) from leaving a .50cal percussion loaded over night...never again.

I pull or blow the load out, wipe the bore, let it get completely warm and dry in the house over night, load fresh the next time I go...I put too much time, effort, and money all year long into getting a buck in my sights a few trips a year and won't ever take that chance again.

Yes, your flint & frizzen probably got wet from the rain and/or from a "soup film" from the first pan flash.

I got rained out this morning, didn't see a thing, it's let up now but dark & cloudy...going again late this afternoon

 

[bob1961]

new lesson's are always good some times ya know.......bob

 

[Rat]

Leaving a gun loaded that has soapy water seeping back out the breech plug threads probably is not a good idea. Glad I can leave mine loaded for months and still have them go off perfectly normal. !?!?!?

:crackup:

Sorry.......!! Couldn't resist.

:sorry:

Well that's a bummer, I guess sometimes you just have to decide how dedicated you are to the flint. I'm 90% dedicated, but if it's really going to rain hard all day I'll admit that I'll just take my 1861, and that's the reason I bought it for...it's my rainey day back up rifle.

Might want to look at other options as far as water-proofing the rifle goes, and maybe wear a poncho if you are really going to trek around with a flinter, when it's raining. Probably goes without saying that you want to duck under a cedar tree more often, and reprime and pick your main charge more often.

During the off season you might want to build a blind in a couple of your favorite spots. I'm not real big on hunting from a blind, but I'll definately sit in one when it's raining...and take a good book. I built two on some of the state land I hunt, and they also make good places to stop and eat lunch on good days when you are covering some ground. It's fun to take the wife and the dog on a hike in the summer, and build a blind.

Hope that helps some. No offense to anyone concerning gun cleaning methods.

Rat

 

[strand]

That's too bad bob...good story though and good luck this afternoon if you get out.

 

[RiverRat]

Hey Bob, lucky we got the traditional flintlock season coming up! Lets hope it is dry, sunny and cold with a nice coating of snow and hopefully the deer will get back to their usual patterns by then.
Gerry

 

[bob1961]

was out today and it was almost 50 degrees and partly cloudy....was a good day to be out but no deer thought the same....the 27th is just around the corner....at the end of the day i fired my flinter off and it went off before i was like ready for the bang almost like click BANG no flash before the bang....now thats how i like it to go off all the time............bob

 

couple things happened "IMO but still guessing here"
there used to be an old myth that flints could dry out and it was best to leave them in water when not using them , i tried it along time ago and i found no difference so I doubt that the flint being wet did anything unless it was dripping water .
however what i have found that makes a difference is if your frizzen face gets wet or draw condensation ,, you get little or no spark .
you may have had a dry Frizzen on the first drop and that gave you a good flash in the pan and fowled the frizzen face , drawing moister almost instantly or at least enough to give no spark on the next drop

also to the load ,, i bet it drew moister ,, not the total load but the one or two grains at the flash hole ,,, this was enough to cause them not to ignite and you to miss your opportunity.
Fresh load probably would have made all the difference.