Hunting in high winds with a flintlock

[pronghorn]

I have been hunting for mule deer in the northern Colorado front range mountains the past two days and the wind gusts have been 20 to 40+ mph.

Have any of you had experience shooting a flinter in these windy conditions. I had a close call with a large buck yesterday, but no shot. All I could think about was my priming powder flying out of the pan the moment the frizzen went forward.

I will be getting out again this afternoon, and it is still gusty.

 

[musketman]

Have any of you had experience shooting a flinter in these windy conditions.

Sure have, that is why I try to position myself so the wind is blowing accross the barrel to the lock instead of accross the lock to the barrel.

This does two things for me, first the barrel acts as a wind break to protect the pan from direct gust and second, it keeps any hot burning powder strays from blowing back onto your face.

 

[roundball]

Sounds like a good summer time test at the range...I'll try to remember to take a fan to set up so it blows directly into the lock side of the rifle...part of me wants to think that even if powder was beginning to blow out as the frizzen was opening from the flint impact, seems the sparks would still ignite the cloud and get to the main but so much would depend on the wind speed, etc.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If your lock is tuned properly, wind should have no adverse effect on ignition of your priming powder. You will have to block the pan from the wind with your body while priming the pan, but once that is done, and the frizzen is closed, you should have no problem.

A well-tuned lock THROWS sparks down into the pan, so fast, as the frizzen pops open to make room for the sparks, that the sparks are going to ignite the powder in the pan before it has a chance to be blown away.

If you don't want to use a fan on the range, or wait for another windy day to test your pan, just turn the gun upside down, and fire it. A well tuned flintlock will easily fire off the shot when the gun is upside down, and the powder is "falling " out of the pan as soon as the frizzen opens.

YOu might give a read to my article on Shooting and Tuning Flintlocks, under " articles", listed at the top of the index page to this forum under member resources. If you wish to tune your own lock, just send me an PM and I can walk you through the process.

 

[tg]

This can be a problem and useing somekind of cover to protect your position may help, also 3f holds better than 4f in a screamimg wind.

 

[pronghorn]

Thanks guys for the tips. I ended up taking a buck last evening, after the winds calmed down.