I'm sure most of you have heard of the dreaded "M1 Thumb", a malady common to careless users of the M1 Garand rifle. Well, I managed to give myself the equivilent of one with a flintlock. I did some shooting in the back yard today and had cleaned the gun and was about to put the lock back in. I decided to knap the flint first and for some reason had the lock on full cock. I was holding the lock in my left hand, along with my little modified nail knapping tool. Somehow, I managed to trip the sear or jar it loose while tapping and dropped the cock, along with the just sharpened flint, all the way from full cock onto my left thumb. It's a left hand lock and the way it was facing, it needed to be pulled back toward the left to open it. Since it was hanging onto my thumb like a Pit Bull on a pork chop, I couldn't use my left hand to hold it. I had a time trying to hold it and cock it at the same time, using just my right hand. It might have been easier if my eyes weren't watering so bad. I ended up with the thumb cut in one place, a large blood blister in another, and a greater appreciation of the amount of pain a woman goes through giving birth. You should just take my word on this matter and not rush headlong out to experience it first hand. ::
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M1 Thumb - Flintlock style
- Thread starter doverdog
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Been there. done that, know how you feel. You have my sympathies.
I wouldn't have a dog around that bit me, or a rifle. Maybe you should send it to me for training purposes. I should have it ready for return in, oh, say ten or fifteen years.
Something worse than M1 thumb, is running afoul of an Egyptian Hakim. Makes a M1 look like being tickled with a feather duster.
Something worse than M1 thumb, is running afoul of an Egyptian Hakim. Makes a M1 look like being tickled with a feather duster.
kentucky bucky
45 Cal.
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I'm guilty of it more than once, I'm ashamed to admit. 
Did a similiar thing holding a percussion lock the first time I removed it from a TC Hawken years ago, trying to figure out how it worked, etc...hammer smashed down full force down on top of a thumb when I accidently tripped the sear, almost lost the thumbnail...still hurts when I think about it!
With the flint, you're lucky it didn't cut / sever something serious.
With the flint, you're lucky it didn't cut / sever something serious.
B.Habermehl
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Superflint, I just scared the heck out of my son. :: He thought I was having a heart attack from the noises I was making, and expression on my face while reading your post. :crackup: :crackup: I feel your pain. Gotta laugh from my own experience though. :m2c:I expect that if you have not pinched your self with a lock yet, you will sooner or later.
I always managed to get My thumb out of the Garand in time,but I wasn't so lucky with my Fathers old 30-40 Krag.The side box magazine cover ,closed real fast and one day it got the side of My thumb,didn't break the skin,but left a blood blister about an inch long.And ,Yes I've gotten bit by My caplocks,not as hard as that old Krag. :redface: :redthumb: ::
Yep. Kind of surprising how much strength that hammer spring has whe you don't have the leverage of the gun around it. :redface: Been there, Been bit by that.
I have a nice little scar on my left thumb from crossing it over my right thumb the first time I shot a .45 ACP. That was in the late 60's and the scar is still there.
My Krag never bit me, but I can see how that would hurt.
I have a nice little scar on my left thumb from crossing it over my right thumb the first time I shot a .45 ACP. That was in the late 60's and the scar is still there.
My Krag never bit me, but I can see how that would hurt.
Way back when I was in public high school, ROTC was compulsory. We had a regiment of 600 cadets all armed with M-1 Garand rifles. M-1 thumbs were a common occurance.
With a flintlock it could be very serious. A big lock with a big sharp flint coming down on a finger or thumb could cut it to the bone. I have been correctly reminded that when knapping my Brown Bess to use half cock and work behind the lock. And of course, better the lock be in the firearm.
With a flintlock it could be very serious. A big lock with a big sharp flint coming down on a finger or thumb could cut it to the bone. I have been correctly reminded that when knapping my Brown Bess to use half cock and work behind the lock. And of course, better the lock be in the firearm.
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I am pleased and smug to say that I have never in my life accidently tripped a sear and slashed my thumb to ribbons. Nor have I ever forgotten to add powder before my ball, nor have I stuck a ramrod unintentionally, nor have I been lost.
On occasion, I practice doing these things so that I will know what to do should I ever screw up and do them by accident.
By the way, if I ever accidently snap a flint into my thumb, I will do precisely what I did when I was practicing...I'll cry like a little girl, and then scream like a birthing hyena when I pour peroxide into the powder residue and cleaning solvent soaked wound! :results:
On occasion, I practice doing these things so that I will know what to do should I ever screw up and do them by accident.
By the way, if I ever accidently snap a flint into my thumb, I will do precisely what I did when I was practicing...I'll cry like a little girl, and then scream like a birthing hyena when I pour peroxide into the powder residue and cleaning solvent soaked wound! :results:
