odd priming horn
- Thread starter rawhide
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Might walk on the water. 
jackley
40 Cal.
Track of the wolf sells a kit of the spout. They call it an English military style powder horn valve used during the Rev. War, and perhaps as early as the F&I War. 1757 through 1763.
Jerry
Jerry
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Black Hand
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What concerns me is the presence of a coil spring in Rawhide's version instead of a leaf spring. Suggests to me that Rawhide's is more modern in design.BrownBear said:
Never saw a horn quite like that one. It's nice.
A quick look thru in Ray Riling's book THE POWDER FLASK BOOK shows a number of valves that use a lever which operates a sliding gate which passes across the outlet.
These were used for both powder and shot flasks.
Some of them only have a gate near the outlet while some of them have two gates with one gate close to the flask and one gate near the outlet.
Normally, this style holds the outlet gate closed and while it is in this position, the rear gate closest to the flask is open.
When the lever is depressed, this style "cuts off" the feed from the flask by moving the rear gate across the supply from the flask while the front gate is opening the outlet.
The earliest date I see in the book for these is around 1850 but of course, the book can't cover all of the Patents so it may have been an earlier design.
These were used for both powder and shot flasks.
Some of them only have a gate near the outlet while some of them have two gates with one gate close to the flask and one gate near the outlet.
Normally, this style holds the outlet gate closed and while it is in this position, the rear gate closest to the flask is open.
When the lever is depressed, this style "cuts off" the feed from the flask by moving the rear gate across the supply from the flask while the front gate is opening the outlet.
The earliest date I see in the book for these is around 1850 but of course, the book can't cover all of the Patents so it may have been an earlier design.
I've heard back then there was no such thing as a "priming horn", the small horns were used for pistols or to put in a shooting bag. Any truth to these claims?
I think the safest thing that can be said about the use of "priming horns" is, we don't know for sure if they were used by anyone to prime their flintlocks.
I know you weren't asking about this but, back in the days of the matchlock there were special little flasks carried to prime the guns.
In those days, the black powder was more than a little crude often being more like small chunks of various sizes.
By grinding up some of this irregular powder it made pretty good powder to prime with so the little flasks or bottles served a good purpose.
Getting back to the little "powder horns" that have been found, some of them seem to have been used to hold salt and pepper. :hmm:
I know you weren't asking about this but, back in the days of the matchlock there were special little flasks carried to prime the guns.
In those days, the black powder was more than a little crude often being more like small chunks of various sizes.
By grinding up some of this irregular powder it made pretty good powder to prime with so the little flasks or bottles served a good purpose.
Getting back to the little "powder horns" that have been found, some of them seem to have been used to hold salt and pepper. :hmm:
Never seen one with a coil spring.
Many Klatch
69 Cal.
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I have seen horns with spouts like that, as a matter of fact I have several horns with similar spouts. They have been called priming horns but that refers to some Rev War Artillery horns that were used to prime cannons. I like them because I don't always remember to put the plug back in the tip of the horn.
