Now THIS was one heck of a ‘flash in the pan’!

[Flint62Smoothie]

My copy of the alleged ‘Mayflower’ (think Pilgrims, etc.) wheellock carbine, as built by Brian Anderson, has never failed to fire or has never had a flash in the pan.

Tonight at the range, other guys shooting were absolutely fascinated by the 460-year old technology.

And of course, as fate would have it, when showing it to them … it did not fire. Primed again, flash in the pan, but did not fire. WTH? I’ve shot up to 28 shots in a row without any issues, without even cleaning the pyrite or anything … but of course this would be humidity dependent, given the proclivities of our black powdah!

I don’t get it, what’s going on with this carbine, it is never failed the fire. I cannot precisely say what caused me to pull the load, but look what happened! The powdah measure body had separated from the end cap that was fastened to a thong affixed to my possibles bag.

The ‘tube section’ dropped off when I loaded the powder charge and then I rammed the ball down on top of it …

Once cleared … she continued to fire all afternoon long, and everyone loved it! I was able to keep all shots in a 1-1/2” group at 25-yards offhand, good enough for this weekend’s woodswalk!

 

[Phil Coffins]

That’s a first to me.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Could we see a couple more pictures of the rifle please, thanks much.

 

[Rob M.]

Huh ?!! Thats crazy ....

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Could we see a couple more pictures of the rifle please, thanks much.

58-cal wheellock carbine, by Brian Anderson

 

[Jaeger]

What a freaky occurence! That's a beautiful gun!

 

[rafterob]

That is hilarious!

 

[Colonial Boy]

Which triggered a memory, years ago, when we were young and stupid; we used to have mock battles using our muzzle loaders, the bloke next to me was shot in the upper right arm by a 44/40 cartridge case that had been doing service as the ramming end of the rod, it had come off unnoticed and became an effective projectile.
We gave up the game!

 

[waksupi]

You are lucky it didn't fire. That could have worked as a barrel obstruction, and bulged or burst the breech.
You must really pound a ball down, it looks like you even split the charger!