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Finger in Front of Touchhole

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rr11 said:
Have not tryed any of my flinters up side down yet. Would not have thought to that issue.
I tried it years ago during a lot of trash talk about T/C locks...that the mark of a "good lock" is that it'll fire upside down :yakyak: Naturally I tried it 3-4 times that weekend and it fired off perfectly.

And for some reason, I had one of those rare days where I actually thought it through ahead of time, and managed not to hurt myself :grin:
 
Trench said:
rr11 said:
Have not tryed any of my flinters up side down yet. Would not have thought to that issue.

Sometimes Roundball has to hang from a branch upside down by his knees to get those great turkey and deer shots of his. :rotf:
Well, I have not even HEARD another gobbler since opening day...I'm ready to try anything at this point !
 
tg said:
"Sometimes Roundball has to hang from a branch upside down by his knees to get those great turkey and deer shots of his.'

I hear he had to shorten his loin cloth to keep it from interfering with his line of sight when taking those shots :shocked2:

Way to paint a picture with words. :bow:
 
Been there, did that two years ago, Tee shirt is now used for cleaning patches.

My left center digit now has a quarter inch by half inch "BP Tattoo". Hurt like hell, took quite a while to heal.

My hunter ed teaching buddies would have been real proud of me- I calmly walked over and set the rifle in the rack before I said any "Mountain Man Words".

White Fox
 
Trench, my learning experience came from an EV rifle also. In my case I had the rifle cradled trying to pull the hammer away from the frizzen. Just a tiny TOUCH of the flint-didn't even scrape, just touched-and the thing went off. Well my right palm was in the way. Talk about something that hurt! Over the next few weeks I laboriously picked out powder flecks with needle and tweezers. Only a few remain and they are not obvious. I don't know if I was lucky or if I was unlucky. :idunno:
 
Oh that's nothing much to look at!
About 15-20 yrs ago, while buying a Christmas tree at a lot, there was a Guatemalan man there cutting tree ends and he had this blast mark on his face that I recognized as a powder burn and asked him what happened. He told me that the Army came into his village and proceeded to line up the Indians and shoot them all. One of the bullets pasted through his scalp and blasted his face and temple.
He told me he lied with the dead bodies until dark and then took off into the jungle.
I felt sorry for that guy. Scarred him for life.

Glad your finger is better!
 
If everyone doesn't mind I'm thinking I'm going to go with "learning from others mistakes" on this one. :grin: And see what I can do about keeping mindful not to let this happen...to me, just in case, is the door to get in this club around the back of the dry ball club? :wink:
 
I was hunting with my father when I was 12 years old during PA's flintlock and late small game season. I was carrying a 20 gauge shotgun to shoot grouse. When a deer appeared to my right, he swung his renegade in front of me and shot at it.

My reflexes must have been pretty quick, too. Because I got a wicked powder burn on the back of my right hand instead of in the face. I am fory-one now, and you can barely see it.
 
"Do you think you'll do that again?" I replied, "No. No, I don't think I will."

That reminds me of "you know a chisel is sharp when you dont feel it go in".

I've done the chisel, hope not to do the flash hole finger.
 
It's not just flinters that can catch you off-guard, I had a similar experience with a matchlock one time. While reaching over to remove the match, after a couple of misfires, the charge went off catching me square in the palm of the hand.....ouch!
 
In 1978 I bought a cheap kit and put it together, it was my first finter. I couldn't get those TC flints to light the pan for nothing so I put only a powder charge in the chamber and primed the pan and lighted a barn burner and while it was flaring put it in the powder. The pan lit and so did the charge. So with the very first time I lit my very first flinter I burned a nice red streak across the top of my right index finger.
I have had a genuine respect for that flash hole from the very first shot!
volatpluvia
 
...been away from this forum for a while... glad to be back and learning again... always good learning going on here... :thumbsup:
 
I practice shooting my flinters upside down off the top of my head. If you can hit a target with that system during a match, you have done a psych job on all the other shooters. My guns always go off upside down.

I did learn a valuable lesson about shooting my Bess upside down. Don't. With 90 grains of powder and a round ball I couldn't hold the guns recoil. The top of the Hammer carved a groove in the top of my head. :haha:

I won't make that mistake again.

Many Klatch
 
Trench, I got mine from being in a hurry. I wanted to test pattern my right handed fowler, I'm left handed. Just one shot, big hurry, sat at the bench, gun rested, out in the sun and couldn't see down the barrel with all the glare, sooooo, I take my off hand (right one) and while looking down the barrel, move it around until it shades enough for me to see, big hurry, blammo, I thought I blew my hand off! Burned the manure out of my wrist, now, I was in a hurry, to get some first aid! It was about a week before I realized there was a permanent reminder. I look at it often, when I'm in a hurry.
Robby
DSCN0643.jpg
 
Trench, you and I are in the same "tattooed finger" club. I made exactly the same mistake in exactly the same way only it was my little finger that was in the way of the vent. :idunno: Three years in the Marines and four years in the Navy and I have never previously had a tattoo and never wanted a tattoo but now I have one on my little finger of my left hand. Yep, that little stunt has a very steep learning curve. Once was enough....it hurt like hell :cursing: and I don't recommend it :nono: to anyone.
 
try being a lefty shooting a right hand flint-lock my marks are on right side of face. Made my on left hand flint-lock after that hunt. :rotf:
 
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