Flintlocks and fire danger

[BillinOregon]

Fellas, I know it's the cold, wet spring right now, and this has probably been discussed before, but have any of you ever worried or felt uneasy about touching off a flinter in hot, dry woods during hunting season? Does anyone know of a documented case where flint sparks or a smoldering patch actually started a wildfire? Any steps that can be taken to minimize this risk? Just wondering, as I would like to hunt this fall with a flinter if possible, but out West here we are looking at the possibility of a truly grim fire season this summer and fall.

 

[RussB]

Fellas, I know it's the cold, wet spring right now, and this has probably been discussed before, but have any of you ever worried or felt uneasy about touching off a flinter in hot, dry woods during hunting season? Does anyone know of a documented case where flint sparks or a smoldering patch actually started a wildfire? Any steps that can be taken to minimize this risk? Just wondering, as I would like to hunt this fall with a flinter if possible, but out West here we are looking at the possibility of a truly grim fire season this summer and fall.

Bill I have had that thought a lot....seems folks in Wash. and Oregon tend to worry about such things.
I have also wondered about my paper shot cup, and paper wadding I use in my smoothbore....I worry so much about this that it is almost a distraction.
At the same time, I have to say that after examining dozens, and dozens of "what was left of the shot cups" I have seen no signs of smoldering, smoking, or burning paper.

Still yet, like you, I am very concerned.....Right now you couldn't start a fire with gasoline! But you know how quick that changes.....it's downright scarry some times.

Russ

 

[cayugad]

Living in the middle of the woods, I am more careful about that then you might think. Right now, all is well, snow on the ground and mud season coming on, but in the summer times when shooting at the range after I shoot, I often times look out in from of me to make sure there is not a patch smoldering or anything else. I also pick the patches up when I go to check the target. It gives me a chance to inspect them (and the area they fell), keeps the yard clean, and makes it that much safer for all in the woods.

good question. I have not personally read of documentated cases, but I am sure it had happened. There is a lot of fire that comes out the end of these things....

 

[aragorn]

I do the same with patches on my range, which is just within our woods. After looking at a wonderful time-lapse my brother took of me shooting with the flame erupting out the front I cleared all branches, foliage and ground debris etc along my range. It's snowy and soggy here now but can get dry as tinder.

I also keep a small fire extingusher in a weatherproof box tucked away beside my shooting bench - just in case.

I worry about this more if I ever had to shoot a 'coon at close range in our barn!

 

[leslie]

We have our club rendy in August so we take extra precautions by having water at all shooting sights.The biggest problem is hot patches I have seen small fires start but they were quickly put out.IMHO it would very easy to start a big fire.When you live in the woods you get a little anxious about fire.

 

[musketman]

Fellas, I know it's the cold, wet spring right now, and this has probably been discussed before, but have any of you ever worried or felt uneasy about touching off a flinter in hot, dry woods during hunting season?

I once was hunting groundhogs with my brown bess during late July thereabouts...

I set a big, round bale of hay on fire with the side blast when I toughed it off...

Good thing I had to pee... :crackup:

 

[Rebel]

Bill, i had the same thought as this looks like it is going to be a Fire season from H**l. You can minimize the patch risk by using leather patches. As far as a flint spark, i would not try shooting from a prone position or with the vent towards any dry brush that was close. Going to be an interesting year for fires. They are already talking about maybe closing the hunting seasons because of the fire danger.

 

[roundball]

Fellas, I know it's the cold, wet spring right now, and this has probably been discussed before, but have any of you ever worried or felt uneasy about touching off a flinter in hot, dry woods during hunting season? Does anyone know of a documented case where flint sparks or a smoldering patch actually started a wildfire? Any steps that can be taken to minimize this risk? Just wondering, as I would like to hunt this fall with a flinter if possible, but out West here we are looking at the possibility of a truly grim fire season this summer and fall.

I had an experience where I had smoldering patches from hot loads of Goex 3F in a .45cal RB barrel when using precut, prelubed .015" cotton patches.

I added an oxyoke wonderwad as a firewall over the powder, and went to a thicker, stronger .018" prelubed pillow ticking patch and the problem was permanently eliminated 100%.

Either the wad or the thicker patch individually might have eliminated the problem by them selves, but the accuracy and group size had improved so much I've never gone back to try either by themselves...only use that load for deer hunting.

 

[BillinOregon]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I am much less concerned about a smouldering patch at the shooting range than I am in the hunting woods. Glad to know I am not the only worry wart.
Rebel, what sort of leather do you favor for patching?

 

[Rebel]

i have found that chamois works good.

 

[newt]

A few years back I was at the range in late August for some practice.
After 10 shots or so I got a wiff of burning leaves.
Now I sat there thinking about the Fall season as the leaves burning set my mind to fal.
Then I thought Whoa! it's too early to be smellin leaves!
Sure nogh there was a smoldering leaf down range.
Now I greez the patches a lil bit better during dry times.
And it didn't help that I had used some cleaning patches that were mixed up in the shooting patches either!

Now what about fowlers in a big dry Fall field?
What do I need to do to insure safety?

 

[Rebel]

Same remedy, a leather(chamois) patch.

 

[silverfox]

Right just don't use the Sunday comics except for July 4th and have lots of water around. Quit a show when used as wadding in a fowler.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[Okwaho]

When I was doing Civil War during the 125th in 1989 and I don't recall the battle some kid had a chain fire with a perc. revolver and before they got a fire truck it burned about 1& 1/2 acres of dry grass.We had to stop the battle for fire.I also used to demonstrate flinlock shooting for a National park and I went to aluminum foil bullets rather paper because the paper would go about 30 yards still burning and we were shooting in dry grass.I don't know what cloth would do but I suspect the same as paper.
Tom Patton :results:

 

[Bob J]

My Dad used to use green spanish moss as wadding in his 10 gauge double (he turkey hunted with an original in the 50s and 60s). He was still using it in his Pedersoli 10 ga. and 12 ga. in the 90s. I remember him saying, "Don't have to worry about it setting the woods on fire".

 

[Stumpkiller]

have any of you ever worried or felt uneasy about touching off a flinter in hot, dry woods during hunting season?

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

Come hunt with me. "Hot and Dry" are words that would never occur to me to describe the woods hereabouts in November and December. Or October, or January or February . . . or March, April, May, June. July and August it sometimes goes a whole week without rain. We're safe again by September.

 

[LeeRoy87]

I think there's probably a fire danger with anything that uses wadding or cartridge paper, flintlock or not. When I was a kid in the '50s hunting with an original percussion 14-gauge Lacey of London Northwest trade gun, I used newspaper wadding with my shot loads but always chewed the wadding into a damp ball first (just as the old-timers did) to prevent it from setting the woods on fire.

Proof of the magnitude of the cartridge-paper danger comes from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, where rifle fights even WITHOUT artillery support set dry woods on fire -- note particularly the Wilderness, but if memory serves, the same thing happened at Shiloh and many other places too. Seems to me there was at least one incident in the Revolution where Over-Mountain Men firing rifles from the prone set the woods on fire with the side-blasts from their flintlocks. (Kings Mountain? Sorry; don't remember.)

As others on this thread observe, heavily greased patches don't burn -- another reason I so favor Dixie Old Zip Patch Grease. An over-powder wad behind the patched ball (I use hornets' nests) is a further safety guarantee.

Generally here in the West (especially here in Washington state), when the woods get spark-in-tinder dry, the state closes off all access, bans hunting etc. But I have always worried about the fire hazard too, especially when I lived in the country, as I did for the last 18 years. (Frankly I think the fact we all care so much about such things is proof we are real outdoors folk -- not just obnoxious interlopers.)

 

[rayb]

. . . or March, April, May, June. July and August it sometimes goes a whole week without rain. We're safe again by September.

a whole week?????/ ::


you need to come visit west Texas in August....

Well get you dried out in a hurry
:crackup:

rayb

we don't have to smoke our jerkey....

 

[Rat]

I've always taken a smoldering patch as a sign that something about my load is not right.

Don't think I've ever seen a burning patch that had a Wonder Wad underneath it...maybe that's the way to minimize the risk. Works for me.

Rat

 

[flaming canvas]

Bill, i had the same thought as this looks like it is going to be a Fire season from H**l. You can minimize the patch risk by using leather patches. As far as a flint spark, i would not try shooting from a prone position or with the vent towards any dry brush that was close. Going to be an interesting year for fires. They are already talking about maybe closing the hunting seasons because of the fire danger.

Rebel,

It was our turn to get the rain. It has been drought conditions and forests closed in May down here for the last 4 years.