Ever got soaking wet?

[phoenix511]

Anyone here get caught in downpour with traditional gear ... like a horn and pouch?

And how did it turn out? Powder dry, pouch dry...? Did you have a flinter or persussion and how did you keep it ready to fire?

What lessons for pilgrims?

 

[BrownBear]

Anyone here get caught in downpour with traditional gear ... like a horn and pouch?

And how did it turn out? Powder dry, pouch dry...? Did you have a flinter or persussion and how did you keep it ready to fire?

What lessons for pilgrims?

Oh yeah. At 120" of rain a year, we have lots of opportunity to "experiment," so to speak. Mix in terrain so rough that advice to keep your muzzle down is pretty much of an old saw. You'll be stomping twigs, dirt, mud or snow up your muzzle on every hunt. Keeping your lock under a raincoat to keep it dry puts sweat next in line as a source of wet fouling for your charge or caps.

Best I've found for the muzzle is a strip of electrical tape over the muzzle to keep out water and everything else under the sun. I suppose if a guy needed to go really traditional he'd need to use a greased tompion or some such, but he's just not going to keep his muzzle down. You either have to stop and take the tompion out or dig the dirt and twigs out.

Best I've found for the lock, whether flint or cap, is a cow's knee, but with a little mod. You want it really tight around the front to keep water from running down the barrel and into the lock. Add a tie or drawstring to the front to do that.

Bags? I make mine from oiled and waxed leather. No prob. Horns? I've got some small enough to fit into the bag or a pocket.

Capper? Better in your bag than in a sweaty shirt pocket, or worse yet, hanging on a whang around your neck and inside your raincoat or shirt.

Once you have all that together, change your prime or cap often.

Best overall, make some of your range trips on rainy days and use only your bag and hunting gear for shooting. Nothing will prep you better than practice. If you can go to the effort to hunt in the rain, you can sure go to the effort to make some range trips in the rain.

 

[George]

Anyone here get caught in downpour with traditional gear ... like a horn and pouch?

I have, WW. I got caught in a hard rain many years ago on a flintlock deer hunt, back before I understood the problems of flintlocks in the rain. Had to quit hunting, so I set out to learn how to avoid that. I no longer am very concerned about hunting in the rain, in fact, have many times waited for a rain to go in. I've hunted squirrels successfully many times in the rain, have even taken one tom turkey.

Now I always do certain things:

I always have a small "cow's knee" in my pouch to cover the lock with. It is made of soft buckskin so it folds into a small compact bundle that fits into my pouch easily. It is kept well lubricated by periodically rubbing lube into it and heating it so it soaks into the leather. I'm never without it, even on dry hunts

One of the things which I figured out that surprised me was that on most guns water can run down the joint where the barrel and stock come together and that feeds it straight into the pan, even when it's closed. To prevent that I rub a bead of my beeswax/lard lube into that joint for about a foot from the pan forward.

I keep the muzzle down a little if it's actually raining.

My shooting pouches are all treated with oil of some sort, Sno-Seal, lube, etc., so that they can stand up to even some hard rain for a while.

Rain can get into the spout of your powder horn even with the stopper in. I wrap a piece of buckskin over it, and if I have to use it in the rain I find something to shelter it, tree, bush, me, whatever, so rain can't hit it directly. Not even the highest humidity causes any problem, but a few drops of liquid water will put you out of action in a hurry.

Actually loading in a hard rain can be a big problem if you can't find some temporary shelter. Keeping the loaded gun in shooting condition isn't a problem, I've carried one for 8 hours in a steady rain and had it shoot instantly at the end of the day, but it's tough to reload without getting your powder too wet to shoot.

Hunting in the rain can be a lot of fun, and I find it satisfying to know I can manage the old guns under difficult conditions and keep to the field. Learning the skills of the old boys is a big part of why I shoot black powder, and few skills show up such quick and obvious results.

Keep your powder dry.

Spence

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have hunted both deer and wild boar in all-day rains. Keep the action under your poncho, and dry the action and replace the priming powder every 20 minutes or so. Don't forget the underside of the flint, as well as the underside of the frizzen where moisture can condense on these parts. Your own perspiration( sweat, as Brown Bear calls it) will contribute to fouling the powder in your pan, unless you are wearing Gortex garments. Remember to take towels, and paper towels with you to use to dry your lock.

If you are shooting percussion, consider putting a small piece of plastic wrap on the nipple, UNDER the percussion cap, to keep moisture out of the flash channel and powder charge. The flame from the cap will INSTANTLY melt/burn through the plastic wrap.

I put plastic wrap and a rubber band around the muzzle to keep my barrel dry, and just kept it pointing down under my poncho. Electrician's tape works well, if it stays on the metal of the barrel. When I tried it, the cold seemed to make the glue fail to stick. It may have been the wax and oil on the barrel, that I failed to remove before putting the tape on the muzzle, of course.

Wax your stock, and ramrod, and barrels to keep water from directly contacting the surface. That keeps the wood from swelling, and keeps the barrel from developing rust spots.

Some people use a good grease( water pump) in the barrel channel to keep water out from under the barrel in rains. Its a good idea.

I have not done it with my MLer, yet, but I have an old Swedish Mauser that came to me with the barrel mortise packed with what appears to be water pump grease. All areas of the barrel exposed to view were heavily abraded with cuts, and scrapes, leaving none of the original blue finish on those parts. However, under the handguard, and where the grease protects the barrel, is the most beautiful Royal Blue finish you could imagine. Oh, the stock also looks like it has been dragged through forests for 100 years. The gun is a tack driver, however, using modern ammo. Its one of the few rifles I own that is capable of shooting sub-minute of angle groups out at 100 yds, and beyond. ( 6.5 x 55 mm. Swedish Mauser caliber). The rifle was made in 1900. The inside of the barrel is perfect.

So, using a grease to pack the barrel mortise is a good way to protect your barrel during rain, or melting snow.

 

[roundball]

"...loading in a hard rain can be a big problem if you can't find some temporary shelter...

Not being a purist, my interest is pretty much limited to using the various Flintlocks themselves for my shooting and hunting...so if it's drizzling I'm usually wearing a Gore-Tex rainsuit and keep the lock up under it with the muzzle down always, refresh the prime occasionally, etc.

Along those same lines I've carried a large folded up heavy duty trash bag in my hunting vest to drape over an overhead limb as a temporary rain shelter for reloading after a shot, but so far I haven't needed to use it...not advocating it for the die-hards, just an idea for those who may have a bit of lattitude towards practicality as I do.

 

[BrownBear]

Along those same lines I've carried a large folded up heavy duty trash bag in my hunting vest to drape over an overhead limb as a temporary rain shelter for reloading after a shot, but so far I haven't needed to use it...not advocating it for the die-hards, just an idea for those who may have a bit of lattitude towards practicality as I do.

Good idea. I've usually got one in a pocket anyway.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Oh yes. Hereabouts if you hunt much you'll get used to hunting wet. Wear your horn and pouch under your outer layer of clothing. A caped wool frock is great, more modern synthetics will do but are noisy. Wear a hat with a large brim. Sit under a hemlock. Keep your muzzle pointed down and put a waxed cows knee over the lock until you're ready to shoot.

 

[George]

.... dry the action and replace the priming powder every 20 minutes or so.

I was taught that when I first got into the game, and did it for a while, but after a bit I noticed that the prime I was dumping was obviously dry, so I tried not doing it. I haven't done it, since, and have never had a failure to fire because of wet prime. It turns out to be the case that black powder doesn't ever absorb enough water to be a problem, it's only the residue left after firing that does that. That means the pan must be absolutely clean and dry when the prime is put in, of course. I've left prime in for a long day of steady rain and had it fire normally. Saves a whole lot of bother.

Spence

 

[bobman]

Whats a cows knee? Other than the obvious

 

[George]

Whats a cows knee? Other than the obvious

It's a leather cover for your lock in wet weather. Treated with oil to shed water all day, made to be tied loosely around your lock and easily removed. The story goes that the old boys made them from the naturally curved leather of a cow's knee, don't know about that. I make my own curves.

Spence

 

[bobman]

Learn alot from you guys
thanks

thats a pretty cool gizmo

 

[shootemup]

http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/wetflints.html

Hope you don't mind me posting the link.

:hatsoff:
Spot