Glass "Powderhorn"?

[jgr1974]

Hello all!!!

I was doing a search on powderhorns and came upon a curiousity. A guy in Texas has had glass powder flasks in ther shape of a horn. He states that the original he patterned it after was taken from an "indian" after being shot by a Ranger. He further states on his site, Ted Spring "Indian allies" has reference to thes glass horns being traded to indians during th F&I war. Also found an brief article from a glass magazine on them, but nothing real informative. I was wondering of anyone had an idea of them here???

The Mad MIck!!!

 

[trent/OH]

I've seen glass powder horns at auctions and antique-type stores before, but never paid serious attention to them. The breakage problem is most obvious, but the likelihood of static electricity build-up could cause problems of powder granules clinging to the inside of the "horn".

 

[LRB]

From references I have come across, they are 19th c. I think I would rather carry powder in the can, if I had no horn.

 

[Bountyhunter]

You know Trent, I am inclined to agree with all of you, but, as a side though, did you ever try to break a coke bottle when you were a kid? They are not easy to break even when you are bound and determined to do so. Now you fellers have me all curious. I gotta go git me an old coke bottle and put some powder in it and play with it a bit. I reckon that there'd be a whole lotta shakin goin on as you were walkin.

Now let me ask this.....modern powder has a certain amount of graphite on it. Did the early powder have graphite? And on that thought, what would graphite on the inside of the glass container do with respect to the static charge?

 

[rice1817]

As has been definitively determined, there really isn't any way a static charge is going to generate enough heat to ignite powder. So I think the issue is the sturdiness of the container. Glass is heavy compared to horn, is not flexible or "plastic" in nature, and brass or copper can be dented without shattering. There are good reasons that glass was never really used as a powder container in the field except maybe in a real emergency, but I don't think fear of static build up is one of them.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Static electricity is not going to set off powder in any container, even glass. The problem with glass is that it can create heat by acting like a magnifier when placed in the sun. Heat can ignite powder, and that is the main reason it is not used for carrying or storing powder. Brown or dark blue tinted glass might work okay, but why would you want to haul around the extra weight of a " glass " horn"? The whole point of using horn for powder is that horn is very light weight, impervious to water, and can be easily worked with common tools to shape.

Graphite was not present in the powder industry at least in the first half of the 19th century, as a sealer to be used in making Black Powder.

 

[romeoh]

Well I can´t tell about glasses for blackpowder.
But in my home region is a hundrets of years old glass-making tradition.

And it was an old right for the glassmakers to be free to make glass for their own during the pauses. This wasn´t a real loss for the company owners, many inovations were found by being allowed to do "your own thing". :wink:
Snuff-tobacco was also very common here - often selfmade at home.
And so a lot of glasses like shown here were and still are made:
Tobacco glasses

They had the same things in mind. Carry their precious tobacco with them in a safe way to prevent it from becoming wet - or the other way round, prevent some secret ingredients from drying out. :thumbsup:
So why not use glass for blackpowder? It may simply have dependet on which materials were availiable and which skills the "horn"-maker had.

And by the way, I got my priming powder in a plastic box in which today snuff tobacco is sold.
Works fine so far.

 

[jgr1974]

Romeo-thanks for sharing!!! The article I read stated that the glass horns were probably made from extra materials the glassblower had at the end of the day. Beautiful snuff bottles by the way. Wish I could get a few!!!

Jeremy

 

[RICKYD]

I carry an extra measured load of powder in a crown royal bottle, the single shot size. works good for me for a speedy second shot

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Quite frankly as lousy as I shoot some days I think I have a greater need for the Crown Royal then I do for a rapid reload...

 

[T.C.Albert]

On page #59 of Wilsons "The Peacemakers" theres a good photo of a square glass powder flask with a brass dispenser type top...I think this one was made in Texas, and it looks like something that would have been a production type item even if limited in availability...
T.Albert

 

[Hawken12]

Holy,peacemaker and liquor,where do ya sign up .
I be thinkin thats an oxymoron