Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

[Pukka Bundook]

A match burns very hot, but likely not As hot as the pieces of molten steel thrown by a flintlock john.
(Under a microscope, the steel thrown from a flintlock looks just like foundry slag)
So yes, you may be right.
Having said that, there is nothing much faster than a matchlock.
Rudyard makes powder (dust) of his prime for the latter.
I don't but I Do use 4F Its the only place I Do use it.
A priming flask for fine powder (they used them and knew what they were doing!) can be made of anything . tip of an antler, horn, small triangular leather effort, piece of wood, etc etc.
Its all part of the fun, making your accoutrements!
Certain suttlers in the US sell hemp twine that makes exceptionally good match. It comes in about 100 yard lengths (not feet) and when I got mine was about 10 bucks a roll. Heck of a bargain!!

One of my priming flasks, but I have atiny horn one from the old farm .
The old one was used at one time for dosing piglets! A wee short piece of horn that came with teeth marks in it!
Although tiny, it holds prime for maybe 25 shots. it wedges in a short 'holster ' nose down on the bag strap.

 

[TobJohn]

A match burns very hot, but likely not As hot as the pieces of molten steel thrown by a flintlock john.
(Under a microscope, the steel thrown from a flintlock looks just like foundry slag)
So yes, you may be right.
Having said that, there is nothing much faster than a matchlock.
Rudyard makes powder (dust) of his prime for the latter.
I don't but I Do use 4F Its the only place I Do use it.
A priming flask for fine powder (they used them and knew what they were doing!) can be made of anything . tip of an antler, horn, small triangular leather effort, piece of wood, etc etc.
Its all part of the fun, making your accoutrements!
Certain suttlers in the US sell hemp twine that makes exceptionally good match. It comes in about 100 yard lengths (not feet) and when I got mine was about 10 bucks a roll. Heck of a bargain!!

One of my priming flasks, but I have atiny horn one from the old farm .
The old one was used at one time for dosing piglets! A wee short piece of horn that came with teeth marks in it!
Although tiny, it holds prime for maybe 25 shots. it wedges in a short 'holster ' nose down on the bag strap.

View attachment 191772

All these small details and alchemy, I can see why one of those later period target shooting snapping matchlocks would be some serious fun. I predict a lot of pulling my shots terribly with my manual arquebus, but high hopes for the snapping one.

Capnball has a carved antler priming flask with a nozzle that dispenses power by pushing it, which I want to get at some point.

When it comes to making accoutrements, I still need to get my lazy butt to the hardware store for the metal needed in my current project. For accessories though, the small city I live in is the perfect combination of crunchy liberals and more rural conservatives, so that leather and antler crafts have a great amount of resources. I am also planning on copying your and Michael’s use of the patch box. There is a black smith near here that I want to try and convince to make a small turn screw, so I can also keep that in the narrow compartment.

I do have 6 feet of match under order from that seller Rick mentioned in either this thread or one of the others.

Unfortunately I am still in the negotiations phase of powder storage in my house/apartment, so the less powder I have to store the better, which was my main interest in only getting one kind.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

You can pound up a bit of coarser powder in a pestle and mortar type rig John. No need for talcum powder, just a bit finer than for your main charge.
If you have a file you can make your wee turnscrew out of more or less any bits of scrap.

A pound or two of powder isnt going anywhere, so no worries in your house. lots of under the sink stuff has more chance of going off than a pound of powder with a lid on!
Or, just keep it in the vehicle. it won't eat anything.

One note on your lever type gun,
Try aiming it, an just as the head of the serpent is about to disappear behind the flash fence, give the lever a sharp little snap up, to plunge the match into the priming fast.
If a match is dropped into th priming Very slowly, it will sometimes not work!

 

[TobJohn]

You can pound up a bit of coarser powder in a pestle and mortar type rig John. No need for talcum powder, just a bit finer than for your main charge.
If you have a file you can make your wee turnscrew out of more or less any bits of scrap.

A pound or two of powder isnt going anywhere, so no worries in your house. lots of under the sink stuff has more chance of going off than a pound of powder with a lid on!
Or, just keep it in the vehicle. it won't eat anything.

I now have some high quality files, so that’s a good idea and a great practice project. Thanks for the suggestion!

I’ve seen mention of cooking spray and camping propane (both of which I have inside) as more volatile. There is a shelf I found as a good candidate for storage, just need to have the conversation with my partner about putting an explosive on it, which is really the issue.

 

[TobJohn]

One note on your lever type gun,
Try aiming it, an just as the head of the serpent is about to disappear behind the flash fence, give the lever a sharp little snap up, to plunge the match into the priming fast.
If a match is dropped into th priming Very slowly, it will sometimes not work!

VERY good advice, thank you!

 

[Pukka Bundook]

John,
Put a label over the gunpowder label, something like decongestant or something!
or worming powder...

 

[Jay Templin]

I don’t know that it’s the matchcord, because we’ve changed cord suppliers over the years (and even made might own) as well as the recipes for the match without any discernible difference in sparks flying. We’re currently using left-laid 4 strand hemp. I’ll PM you my address, and I’ll be happy to swap cords and see if that changes anything!
Jay

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I’ll be happy to swap cords and see if that changes anything!

That would be awesome Jay, I will PM back to you. Thanks for being open minded!!!!

 

[Shiloh]

I get it and thanks for the input, but whether alone at a range or in rank & file formation next to someone else ... Jay's cord and the cord you may speak of, is still fracturing and flying off. At least with "my cord", I don't even get splashed on the forearm or body - just a different outcome using a different cord.

Hence, it must be cord related. I bought my initial supply of matchcord from 'Crossbow48' who used to run and host the Metamuseum site, which had a ton of matchlock info on it. I did save his matchcord making info, if anyone is interested.

Yes please. On the match cord making.

 

[Ian Straus]

I'm glad to see another matchlock shooter coming on board.
I make my own match: bought a coil of hemp rope that's going to last decades, use lye from BBQ /wood ashes, bucket it, then soak it in a saturated saltpeter solution, re-twist it tight because as soaking makes it uncoil, then dry it clamped tight.
But for your first time out you could use the cotton match Dixie Gun works sells. It's not suthentic but it works and the musket goes bang..

 

[TobJohn]

The surplus of information available has confused me about what to do for wadding. For a smoothbore, can I just use newspaper or even leaves? what about flax tow? I believe that is the historical option?

 

[Ian Straus]

You don't even need wadding if you are shooting round ball.. I don't, for any military smoothbore.

Buck and ball is a different issue.

It may or may not help your accuracy, probably ball size vs. bore size determines that. I wouldn't use leaves or tow because that stuff will just burn, and tow may possibly fall back to leave a coal. Use the same patches you would for a rifle.

 

[TobJohn]

You don't even need wadding if you are shooting round ball.. I don't, for any military smoothbore.

Buck and ball is a different issue.

It may or may not help your accuracy, probably ball size vs. bore size determines that. I wouldn't use leaves or tow because that stuff will just burn, and tow may possibly fall back to leave a coal. Use the same patches you would for a rifle.

When I was looking up options for smoothbores, I saw powder first, ball, and then tow on top. Would that be a bad idea? My gun has a manual lever, so accuracy isn’t really a consideration for this first range trip.

 

[Canute Rex]

Another thought on technique. Shooting a matchlock, I found I had to reverse my shooting style. With a flintlock you need follow through; holding the firearm steady after the trigger "breaks", during the lock time. With a non-snapping matchlock you need lead-in; holding the arm steady while you bring the serpentine down. It disappears behind the flash guard and BOOM, surprises you. The ball is gone before you can flinch.

Every smoothbore is different in terms of the ball/patch/wad combo it likes. Some shoot bare ball best. Some bare ball with a wad under. Some patched, loose or tight. Mine shoots well with a loosely patched ball and a thick greased felt wad underneath. You'll have to figure out your particular barrel.

 

[TobJohn]

Another thought on technique. Shooting a matchlock, I found I had to reverse my shooting style. With a flintlock you need follow through; holding the firearm steady after the trigger "breaks", during the lock time. With a non-snapping matchlock you need lead-in; holding the arm steady while you bring the serpentine down. It disappears behind the flash guard and BOOM, surprises you. The ball is gone before you can flinch.

Every smoothbore is different in terms of the ball/patch/wad combo it likes. Some shoot bare ball best. Some bare ball with a wad under. Some patched, loose or tight. Mine shoots well with a loosely patched ball and a thick greased felt wad underneath. You'll have to figure out your particular barrel.

Mine doesn’t have a flash guard, which I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.

I think I am going to try tow for my first time out.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

John,
For a ball, a felt wad behind and in front works very well. If you dump plenty of lube on top of the ball before the second wad, you can shoot all week without it fouling up.
Yes, you can use just paper rolled in a ball or leaves the same, but paper might start a fire in dry weather.
For shot, all the above wads work fine, but you need only enough on top of the shot to hold it in place.

 

[Rudyard]

Though I've not used tow it has been linked to accident from still lit fibers Ide go with Pukka Or Canute Rex's . I load M'lock like the later counterparts patched ball or shot load nothing especial .I shot a 54 rifled Snap M lock a lot both target & week long hunts. its what you get used to . I have used the bored wooden block' Patron' for carts can be handy for follow up shots close . I generally try to mate the gun with a period flask of Stag useually .Or heat flatted Horn as it gives you a ' canvas' to scrimshaw suitable scenes . Never bothered with Morion's & swords that's just useless truck in the bush.If I have often carried a '12" dudgeon dagger with more usefull 'by knife 'a sort of anticeedal dirk , very useful to lift billies off the fire and serve if needed as a' Cuttoe de chass.' I left the Zounds' 'Gadzooks '' Ye god's ' stuff to the SCA.
Regards Rudyard

PS . Any resemblance to proper spelling is purely coincidiedle .

 

[TobJohn]

Never bothered with Morion's & swords that's just useless truck in the bush.

What if any of the local game challenges you to a duel? You need to be prepared.

 

[TobJohn]

This matchlock shooting thing is pretty fun, huh?

Thank you for your hospitality, @Dryball!

 

[TobJohn]

One note on your lever type gun,
Try aiming it, an just as the head of the serpent is about to disappear behind the flash fence, give the lever a sharp little snap up, to plunge the match into the priming fast.
If a match is dropped into th priming Very slowly, it will sometimes not work!

This ended up being VERY helpful advice. It was a weird feeling to slowly lower the match in the pan and just have it sit on the gunpowder and nothing happen. Adding some speed greatly increased reliability.