How big is too big for a horn to prime with?

[JJB22]

This is kind of a follow up question. Is it a pain to prime with a large horn? I will be using 3F for the main and priming and was thinking one large horn for both jobs. Would it be better to have a additional smaller horn to prime with?

 

[jamesthomas]

Thats what i do.Prime and load with one horn,not to hard, my hunting horn is about 12 inches along the outside curve.You don't need any bigger horn than that.IMHO

 

[Ridge]

If you are going to use the same powder to prime and load then it is silly to carry 2 horns. Just realize that priming with a larger horn will probably cause you to spill some powder.

As to the size of the horn, I like them on the large side. Why? Because a long horn with the proper curve wraps my body better and carries more comfortable.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Some times I carry a small priming horn with 4F.
If I don't feel like messing with the small primer
I prime out of my big horn which is 3F. I bring the tip of the big horn over the top of the barrel
and "tap" the tip of the horn on the top of the barrel to shake out a slower flow of powder. It sounds like I am doing a woodworking project some times. Every once and a while I tap too hard and fill up the pan. The excess prime winds up on the ground.

 

[Tom Compton]

As in response to your other post, I like to carry a small brass priming devise with 4F. Mostly this is to minimize movement if needing to reprime.

Also I carry that priming devise if I regress to one of my cap locks as it can be handy if needed to put a little pinch between nipple and charge. 4F is also good for a flinter to trickle thru the touch hole if needed to clear the weapon.

Cheers,
TC

 

[ohio ramrod]

It isn't a matter of the size of the horn as much as it is the diameter of the horn at the tip. A larger diameter horn will make it harder to prime with out spilling powder.

 

[JJB22]

I think I will go with the one horn deal. I do have one of those priming pan brass things that I were around my neck, at first I was priming with it but I found my rifle works just fine with the 3F. I can carry the brass primer for the wetter conditions I guess. It doesn't take up too much room after all.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Use any sized horn that is comfortable to you to carry. It helps Me to SHAKE the horn a couple of times before removing the plug, to loosen or break up any clumping of the powder near the plug. I do this SHAKE with both my main powder horn, and a priming horn, if I choose to carry it and use 4Fg powder for prime.

This allows me to tap the mouth of the horn against the edge of the flashpan to dribble out just the amount of flash powder I want in the pan, and avoid OVER FILLING the pan.

The tapping of a horn's mouth is not very loud- about the same as tapping your fingernails on the barrel. Yes, within a couple of feet YOU can hear it. But you are not going to disturb any deer, unless its within a couple of yards. If a deer is that close, then wait for the wind to blow to move your hands at all, and to prime that pan. Try to mimic the rhythm of a wood pecker digging for termites in a tree. ( if you are up in a tree stand.) Mimic the rhythm of a squirrel eating acorns if you are in a ground blind. :thumbsup:

Oh, Close that frizzen SOFTLY!( Practice doing this.) That metallic sound produced by just flipping it closed will do more to disturb a deer than any tapping of a horn on your flashpan! Also practice cocking your gun with the trigger held back so you don't get that "CLICK" when the sear drops into the full cock notch. Just pull the cock back, beyond the full cock position, release the trigger and gently lower the hammer to the full cock notch. :thumbsup:

 

[Dirk Perry]

This is kind of a follow up question. Is it a pain to prime with a large horn? I will be using 3F for the main and priming and was thinking one large horn for both jobs. Would it be better to have a additional smaller horn to prime with?

No. use your main horn. you'll get used to it.

 

[hockeyref]

If the deer is that close - fix bayonette! :shocked2: :grin:

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

I don't tap if the deer is close! I have a small horn with a spring loaded lever that is as quite as a mouse, I use this when hunting. I can be heard doing Morse Code while on trail walks and such.
:bow:

 

[paulvallandigham]

One of the benefits of being in a BLACK POWDER gun club is that you get to LISTEN to other shooters as they load and fire their guns. You get an idea what creates audible sounds, and what doesn't, from your own activity, and from theirs.

When I was first Hunting deer, I left my stand at the top of a ridge, to walk back down to my car. It was a bright sunny day, much warmer than forecast, and what deer were in the woods were taking long naps during the day, in the sun. There just was Not any shooting to be heard around me. As I walked down the ridge, I noticed, up ahead, more than 50 yards from me, another hunter, sitting with his back to a huge tree growing next to, but not on, the ridge line I was walking. He was facing a ravine away from me.

I didn't want to disturb him, or his hunt, so I began "fox walking", setting my foot down on its outside edge, my back leg bent at the knee, so I could find any twigs, or sticks that would break under my feet when I transferred my weight to the forward foot. I then rolled the foot over from the outside so it was flat to the ground, and only then shifted my weight slowly to my forward foot. I could "Hear" the crunch of leaves under my foot, as sound travels much faster through solids( bone) than through the air. Of course, I thought I was fooling myself to think I could walk that close to the guy, with my feet stepping on the trail at EAR LEVEL to him, and only the 6-8' width of the base of that tree between his head, and my feet, but I continued anyway.

I walked right past him, and he never saw or heard me. I even stopped as I was dropping down on the trail where I would not be able to see him any more, to see if he was asleep. Only my head, topped by my Blaze Orange hat would have been visible to him at that point. He moved his head, to look to his left( away from me)and then back to looking straight towards the ravine, so He was awake through all my walking.

I went on down the ridge to my car, and got my lunch out. I was both thrilled at having accomplished walking that close to another hunter and not being seen or heard, and also amazed that I could not be heard. I too thought you could hear small noises.

It was this experience that lead me to watch and listen to the other men in my club at the firing line, cleaning, loading, and shooting their guns. None was purposely trying to be quiet. I stood at various distances from the people I was watching, to measure just how far certain sounds travel.

Now, the ears of a deer are a lot better than my ears ever were, even in my youth. But, I found I could muffle metallic sounds from my lock by just pressing the lock against my stomach, and then covering the other side of the lock with my hand.The tapping of a horn on metal would not make an acute metallic sound, and is far easier to muffle. :hatsoff:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I carry one horn, also with 3Fg, but use a small brass tube w/cedar plug to prime with. This holds a dozen primes and then I refill from the main horn.

Not quite PC, but servicable and the price was right. I added a piece of heavy copper wire silver-soldered to the base and bent along the side (like a ball-point pen clip) so I can clip it inside a pocket or a loop on my horn strap.

When I carried a Bess I primed from the large (17"!) horn. That pan would hold quite a bit. When priming from a horn with a 1/4" hole or larger it's hard to keep from overspilling the pan.

 

[hanshi]

For some time I've used one of those "springy thingies" and 4f. Recently, though, I made a deer antler plug for the day horn I made a few years ago. I drilled a 1/4" inch hole through the removable plug and made a smaller plug from deer antler to fit the 1/4" hole. The other end of the smaller plug I made into a powder measure that throws just the right amount of 3f prime. Now, one horn for both.

 

[fyrfyter43]

I prime from my main horn, but I'm not a "tapper". I put my finger over the spout, tip my horn to get the powder at the spout, and use my finger to regulate the flow of powder from the horn - much like you use your thumb to regulate the flow of water from a garden hose. This way I can drop a prime in the pan without spilling any powder and without over-filling the pan.

 

[omarick1948]

No matter what size horn or how many "Foo Fraws" you want dangling from ya', just try one main horn with a more slimmed-down spout to prime with!

Sure you might spill a little, but with a little practice, you won't spill any!

Good luck,
Rick