fire starting

[Walks with fire]

Anyone ever try to start a fire with some tinder in the pan of their flinlock. I got to wondering that if you removed the lock and put some tinder and a little pan powder in there it might work quite well. I guess it's something I should try out to see if it would work.

 

[musketman]

I have with my Bess, with the gun unloaded (or the lock removed when loaded) I place char cloth in the pan instead of priming powder.

If the char is good, there is no need for more than one strike from the massive lock.

 

[Walks with fire]

Hello Musketman;

Great to see a neighbors post. I never knew what char cloth was so after seeing your post about it I did a little google search on it. I gotta make a little tin of that for my pouch. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Dirk Perry]

No powder needed. just your char material and, voila! Fire. or rather, ember - you still got to blow on it....

 

[hockeyref]

I've seen a video of someone using Char in the pan to make fire... on youtube somewhere..

 

[Mulebrain]

Interesting!

Chalk up another advantage for the flintlock!

 

[sniper68]

Works like a champ. If you have a 5/8" or 3/4" flint, it may take two or three strikes sometimes, but it will work every time. Iffin it don't, you need to check your flint, lock or both, cause something ain't sparking right. Now don't yell at me

, but I've never unloaded my rifle. Just empty the pan and plug the vent. The sparks arn't going to go thru the char cloth. :thumbsup:

 

[Chilidog]

Yes, I've done it with all three of my flintlocks. The size of the pan doesn't seem to matter. Just place the char cloth in the pan, close the frizzen and pull the trigger. I've never done it loaded, but like was said, if your piece is loaded plug the flash hole and make sure you're pointing it in a safe direction, just in case. After getting the char going, just put it in your tender like you would do if using flint & steel, blow away and you've got fire.

 

[Walks with fire]

I thought I might try it with just a 1/2 grain of pan powder right on it and close the frizzen. Should be glowing petty good if it's hard to get glowing without it. I guess I will just have to try it and see how it works. I think I will do it with the lock out for sure!

One thing for sure is that a litte fire starter kit in the possible bag is worth it's room.

 

[zampilot]

The first time you make a batch of char out of that old T-Shirt, you'll burn a bunch of it using whatever flint-striker combo you have,just cuz it's cool. Then you'll make some more...burn some etc.

 

[hockeyref]

Found the you tube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_9qyBx6NA

 

[ohio ramrod]

Dixie gun works used to sell a "fire starter " lock assembly. It was just like a rifle lock only mounted on a large lock plate with a larger pan. I don't know if they still sell it.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I recal reading about an early (1700's) hunting expedition where one of the men tried to light a fire with his rifle with it loaded ,just putting a piece of feather in the flash hole. The rifle fired! While he did not hit any of his companions when the same thing happened a few days latter he was expelled from the group.

 

[Le Grand]

"I recal reading about an early (1700's) hunting expedition where one of the men tried to light a fire with his rifle with it loaded ,just putting a piece of feather in the flash hole. The rifle fired! While he did not hit any of his companions when the same thing happened a few days latter he was expelled from the group."

That was back then. Today they'd want to sue the maker of the feather...

 

[Chilidog]

That was back then. Today they'd want to sue the maker of the feather...

:haha: :rotf: :hatsoff:

 

[davec2]

Dixie sells a copy of an original type of flintlock tinder lighter.
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=5141

 

[tg]

Char in the pan works well, with a good striker and flint and technique, the conventional method is pretty reliable, I had not started a fire with flint/steel for 5 years and tried it while modern camping with the wife last weekend and using tow for tinder and got the tow burning after three strikes with the flint, each strike made several sparks but none of the first two hit the tow.I found that when using the lock while in the gun it is best to get a good position above the ground level like a rock or log so you can open the frizzen and cock the gun to bump or dump the char into the tinder.