Flintlock first blood

[harrymarsh]

Unfortunately it was mine! Like everthing else I learn everything the hard way. Well firing my Kentucky today I made the rookie mistake of getting one of my fingers in proximity of the flash pan. Oh pain! Oh pain!! Burned the stew out of the finger and blasted all kinds of material into the finger. Bet I won't make that mistake again! :shake:

Pguy

 

[trent/OH]

Been there, done that, there is no t-shirt. I earned my speckled tattoo when I took a kneeling shot at a deer, and pulled my left hand back too far. The fingertips of my wool glove were gone, but may have absorbed enough of the jet to save me further grief.

As you learned, there is a special dance you do when this happens. I can't teach it to you, but it seems to be ingrained into our DNA, and you'll get the dance perfect the first time! (You may invent a few new curse words during the dance too!)

 

[harrymarsh]

Well, I think I managed not to use any dirty words but I did a lot of ouch, ouch, shoot, heck, durn and all other expressions of profound dismay! :cursing:

Pguy

 

[roundball]

I'm betting you won't ever do that again...LOL
:thumbsup:

 

[Richard J.]

While hunting in Pennsylvania on a rainy day had a friend try to shoot an 8 point buck at 40 yards. Gun would not go off, Kept trying and the deer just kept walking around listening to the sound the flintlock was making. ( must have been a real dumb deer cause it never happens to me. ) Well now he has the bright idea of putting his bic lighter up again the flash pan. Gun goes off, bic lighter blew the top off, his hand turned a nasty shade of black along with some of his face. His glasses saved his eyes. When I came up to him all he wanted was for me to see if he got the deer. He didnt. No blood or hair after about 100 yards I gave up and came back to him. Could see he was in a lot of pain but we had a good laugh over how dumb that was. Now he carries leather over his gun. Still has a few dark spots on his face, hand will stay that way I guess. Lesson learned.

RJ

 

[54mountain]

Ya I got a few grains of bp imbedded into my fore arm too. :haha:
Just wait till ya' find out how sharp a freshly knapped flint really is. :redface:

 

[Flint311]

Yup, been there, done that. Another reminder to watch where the touch hole is aimed when others are around..... and to let people know NOT to stand on that side "'cause they wanna see it go off".

 

[rafterob]

And then there is the scenario when the flint breaks off a few shards upon ignition and you have to dig those out of your fingertips also.

 

[Paul R]

Boy, it's a good thing flintlocks aren't a new invention or the 'nannystate' would legislate them out of existance for 'safety reasons'.
-"You could put your eye out with that."

Paul

I haven't figured out how to insert smilie faces, so insert what you feel appropriate.

 

[hanshi]

I, too, learned the risks of pan flash and flint slice the hard way.

 

[Trench]

Don't worry too much. You'll only do that once! :grin:

 

[Swede50]

Cut a nice chunk of meat out of my thumb cleaning the frizzen while target shooting. Dang those flints are sharp.
I had to pick out the brass from a #11cap out of the wifes arm when she shot my Right handed Precussion left handed.

 

[ebiggs1]

I haven't burnt anything, yet, but I have received several cut wounds. :shocked2:
People don't realize how sharp a flint can be. :hmm:

 

[inthex]

Some people pay good money for tattoos. I got mine on the cheap too. :haha:

 

[sffone]

I shudder to think what might happen if the nannystate were to take a look at our "old-timey" firearms and realize that they're not harmless relics and replicas. Can you imagine what kind of "consumer-protection" regulations would result? We'd have to have "blast shields" around all ignition ports and nipples, have to wear special fire-retardant gloves and safety glasses, and would not be allowed to carry more than 6 ounces of black powder at a time. :shake:

 

[VTdeerhunter]

Welcome to the club :hatsoff: Had some nice burn marks on my fingers, but luckily the flints sliced them off over time.... :rotf:

 

[MSW]

well i managed to miss the fun on burning myself, but i did score a few pretty good cuts during the figuring out that flint is really sharp thingie

...

:redface: :redface: :redface:

 

Yup, been there, done that. Another reminder to watch where the touch hole is aimed when others are around..... and to let people know NOT to stand on that side "'cause they wanna see it go off".

Many years ago I was at a chunk shoot near McKee, KY. There was a photographer from National Geographic in attendance taking pictures for an upcoming article on Daniel Boone. I will never forget the sight of him laying on the ground perpendicular to a shooter to get a picture of the flint rifle as it fired. It had to, at the very least, destroy a lens. As unbelievable as that sounds, what is more unbelievable is that nobody in a group of experienced shooters said anything to him beforehand.
The article finally appeared long afterwards, but in spite of the many, many pictures he took at that shoot, not one was included.

 

[Musketeer]

No surprise about sharp flints. That's why people used to make knives out of the stuff. Anyone knowledgeable on edged tools will tell you that a knapped piece of flint can easily be sharper than any modern knife steel. They don't stay that way too long, but initial sharpness is phenomenal. :hatsoff: