Newbie questions....

[Electric Deacon]

Greetings all...
1)Are percussion style black powder rifles ever fitted with a "safety"..possibly located in front of the hammer on the side of the body?
2)Is there a standard number of rifling(?) lands in pieces of this style?
3)This rifle appears to have 4 sets of two(2) rifling lands....each of the 4 sets at 90degrees to each other. Could this indicate it was built as a "match" or "target" rifle?
The barrel is 30" long and at this point, I've neglected to measure the twist....and won't be able to until I return home about the middle of October! :idunno:

Any and all info and/or speculation is appreciated.

 

[Billnpatti]

Based on the information that you sent, any answer you might get would be speculation at best. We need a photo in order to give much meaningful information. hotoSmile: When you get home, take some photos of your rifle with a couple of overall shots of each side and close up shots of the lock, bore, etc. This will enable someone to give you some better information on what you have. :hatsoff:

 

[Spikebuck]

1)Are percussion style black powder rifles ever fitted with a "safety"..possibly located in front of the hammer on the side of the body?

1/2 cock...you should not be able to pull the trigger.

I have seen people on videos put a cap on the nipple then let the hammer all the way down on the cap and start walking away. :shocked2: All it takes is a little slip that bumps that hammer back a little and kaboom. I never cap until a shot is imminent or if I'm quietly sitting on stand, and then the hammer is at 1/2 cock.

 

[RedFeather]

Some guns had stalking safeties usually located behind the hammer. These look like a sliding piece that either engages a notch in the hammer or maybe internally. If you have an original gun, you might try posting on the ID section as well.

 

[Billnpatti]

I forgot to answer your question about the "safety" on your lock. To the best of my knowledge, and it is not extensive, the only locks that had such a safety device were early flintlocks. These locks were called "Dog Locks". I don't know of any percussion locks that had this safety device. The "safety" on later flintlocks and caplocks is the half cock notch. This positions the hammer off the cap and the half cock notch is deep and captures the trigger seer so that the hammer cannot accidently fall on the cap and set it off.

It sounds from your description that you have an interesting rifle and I am looking forward to seeing pictures of it when you get home and can post some.

 

[Snakebite]

"This positions the hammer off the cap and the half cock notch is deep and captures the trigger seer so that the hammer cannot accidently fall on the cap and set it off."

I wonder where the term "going off half cocked" came from??? :grin:

You are of course correct Bill. I've seen some early flintlocks with a little bar you push forward or back. Not sure what it does internally and don't know if it's done when the cock is cocked or down. Never seen one on a percussion lock.