-
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Keeping the flint lock dry
- Thread starter rebuse
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2004
- Messages
- 906
- Reaction score
- 1
Mr. Preacher,
A well fitted Cow's Knee really helps keep the flintlock operational in wet weather.
Best Wishes
A well fitted Cow's Knee really helps keep the flintlock operational in wet weather.
Best Wishes
A Cow's Knee is a piece of waxed (or oiled) leather that is tied over the lock. Even a piece of canvas cut about one foot square and soaked with boiled linseed oil will work.
I have an old chamois leather car polishing skin I treated with Montana Pitch Blend and molten beeswax and it rolls up very thin. You could treat it with silicone boot dressing if you're not averse to modern materials.
Use grocery bag paper to figure out a pattern that lies tight over the barrel and wrist when tied or buttoned down.
And here's a commercially made one from Leatherman which I use...
[url] http://www.blackpowderbags.co...Code=TLM&Product_Code=LC-900&Category_Code=AC[/url]
...But I only use it while walking in and out of the woods in the dark to protect the lock assembly from snagging on a bush, etc. IMO, none of them are 100% good enough to keep out the effects of humidity on rainy days and are more trouble than they're worth.
What is simple and has worked well for me the couple of times I've gotten caught in a drizzle, or had a heavy wet mist/fog settle in on me, is to simply put the lock section of the rifle up under my hunting coat, under my arm, near warm dry body heat, etc.
Plus it helps keep the muzzle down too which you must do to keep water from running back alongside the barrel and right into the pan & vent.
And if it starts raining really heavy, I'm going to the truck anyway cause deer don't move in heavy rain either
:grin:
[url] http://www.blackpowderbags.co...Code=TLM&Product_Code=LC-900&Category_Code=AC[/url]
...But I only use it while walking in and out of the woods in the dark to protect the lock assembly from snagging on a bush, etc. IMO, none of them are 100% good enough to keep out the effects of humidity on rainy days and are more trouble than they're worth.
What is simple and has worked well for me the couple of times I've gotten caught in a drizzle, or had a heavy wet mist/fog settle in on me, is to simply put the lock section of the rifle up under my hunting coat, under my arm, near warm dry body heat, etc.
Plus it helps keep the muzzle down too which you must do to keep water from running back alongside the barrel and right into the pan & vent.
And if it starts raining really heavy, I'm going to the truck anyway cause deer don't move in heavy rain either
:grin:
Last edited by a moderator:
I do that as well. Anything to keep moisture off the lock. Finding a nice medium-sized hemlock to sit under can be a big help, too.
Years ago it started to rain and I had forgotten my cow's knee, so I used the cellophane wrap off my PBnJ sandwich. :haha:
Years ago it started to rain and I had forgotten my cow's knee, so I used the cellophane wrap off my PBnJ sandwich. :haha:
Helps too to seal the pan, so whatever moisture gets to the lock area is cut off there. Two ways I've done this: one, BEFORE loading, warm the underside of your frizzen and the edges of your pan, and apply wax of some sort where the frizzen seals to the pan; two, which will work better in the field, load up in as dry a place as you can find, and apply grease along the pan's edges, then prime and close your frizzen. Both methods provide a decent seal against moisture. Obviously, all bets are off after the first shot.
