George Shumway told us in a ' Muzzle Blasts' article locks at half cock was the original norm but I have allways kept my flint guns at rest unless in wet conditions when I kept a quill in the vent and the lock unprimed lest it imbibe the damp air and form a black soup it do's entail delay but you are more likely getting the charge to go . I used to go not less than a week hunts in temperate rain forest so this was a consideration not often met .. I was once so sodden I literally hadn't a dry stich & wanting a goat . I wiped the pan best I could primed & it didn't fire but reprimed fast & it slew the poor over curious goat . That was the last shot of a 13 day wander through the local ranges . The rifle my 50,cal 26'' mid 18th provincial made to weigh 5 pounds . I set off with 47 pounds including pack ,food, gun, togs all up caught a 27" trout, a nice big eel, a red deer, and the hapless goat to supplement the tucker . .Well I've digressed a bit its my typing finger it do's that.
Rudyard
