Pan Priming

[Bald Baron]

I have been priming my pan with a brass charger. I think I want to use a priming horn. What's is everybody's opion on it. Also these flat horns, do they come from road kills?

 

[Buckskin25]

Hey Baron... I do not own a flintlock ..yet, so I can only go by what I have seen at different shoots and stuff. I like the look of matching powderhorns... But I saw one priming horn made out of an elk antler, which looked darn good. But what ever you used would be up to you.

Doesn't flat horns come from flat cows ::

 

[roundball]

I started with brass pan primers with 3grn plunger dispensers, and have switched to an antler pocker primer and a horn pocker primer. Either will fit into the pocket of a hunting shirt, and both have the same 3grn plunger dispenser tip as I like the consistency & convenience. They each also have a small brass threaded filler base plug.

Also, since I refresh my prime at least once an hour when sitting on a deer stand, it takes very, very little movement to slip the primer out of a shirt pocket and dispense a fresh charge in the pan.

'Flat' horns are made usually by boiling or heating the horn piece in some way during the process, and when soft are gently pressed to change the full round shape to a flatter appearance while they cool and harden.

"John" at October Country made mine, does excellent horn work at very reasonable costs...(octobercountry.com)

 

[steved]

Hi Baron,

I think roundball has it right about the origin of the flat horns. Looking back at Colonial times, horse-drawn wagons typically didn't move fast enough to rack up many roadkills. :winking:
When you asked for people's opinions, did you mean from a Period Correct or utilitarian standpoint? On the PC side, from what I've read there is a general consensus out there that priming horns did not exist and are a 20th Century invention. The pan was charged directly from the powder horn or from a few grains from the paper cartridge. As much as I would like to agree with the experts who spent hours or lifetimes researching these facts from primary documents, I've spend a few hours browsing "powder horns" on eBay and I've seen many powder horns that appear to be original that are less than 5 inches in length. Look like priming horns to me... From a utility standpoint, like you I use a brass charger and I like the one-and-done ease of priming. As noted above, the 3gr plunger can also be found on antler and horn primers. I boils down to personal preference.

 

[2172]

I don't know if priming horns are purely 20th century, but I suspect they weren't common in the 18th. I started with the brass priming flask, now have a horn with valve that I won, and have one that I made from a goat horn (flat on one side) that has a stopper...both work pretty well. I try and shoot from the bag, so either, sometimes both, ride there. I use the goat horn primer to carry some 4f mixed with a dessicant for extreme damp weather...I'm planning on taking advice from this board and try using the 3f from my "shooting" horn as a primer..some say it works better in damp weather...Hank

 

[musketman]

I use a small copper flask for charging the priming pan, the .31 caliber Colt cap-n-ball revolver flask works great for this...

I have also used the same powder for the main charge in my prim, just one horn to carry afield...

 

[Deadeye]

The 1 horn is certainly more convenient and some shooters using 2F use it for both but I still use 4F with the 3 gr. plunger type valve on a small cow horn that hangs around my neck. The thong that holds it is long enough to drop it in a shirt pocket when hunting.

 

[TwoShadows]

I've listened to all the debates for 40 years over whether using a priming horn is correct or not.....by supposedly learned folks and illiterate hillbillys like myself. Conclusion:
4f powder is much to volatile to use as a main charge, ergo, it is used for priming where time and acuracy resulting from fast locktime and ignition is required. I have never lost a shot at game or varmints (or whatever) by taking the time to prime from the small horn hanging on my pouch strap. I shall continue to use it.

I use a small flat horn I made years ago. It has a metal ring made from a piece of coathanger affixed near the spout. This ring catches over a hook fashioned from the handle of a silver spoon that is permanently sewn to the pouch strap so that it hangs right over my heart. It is easy to locate even with my eyes closed. It is very quick to use...no fishing around inside my pouch. There is just enough tension in the bend of the spoon handle to keep the horn in place at a jog or over rough terrain.

Doggone it, I am so disgusted at the "fashion police" about what is correct that I turn a deaf ear to them. I don't recall ever being questioned at a juried event for any reason.

 

[LRB]

I used to use 4f for prime, but have swiched to 3f and can tell no deference in ignition speed, but I definatly noticed it is much better in damp weather, no doubt. I also carry a priming horn, a small flat one, in my bag. If I need to prime in a hurry, I just use the 2f in my main horn.

 

[Rancocas]

I use 2F in my .58 1861 Springfield replica, however in all my flintlocks, from .45 to .62, I use 3F. I carry one powder horn and do the priming right from that one horn. Why carry something extra when I don't have to?
Flat horns. I have a naturally flat horn. It wasn't perfectly flat while on the cow, but nearly so. It was a prime candidate for making a flat powder horn.

 

From all of my reading I have to conclude that just getting enough powder to stay alive was the main concern on the frontier. Having the right granulations was a minor thing, nice if you had it, but not the main worry. Most references are simply to powder, not priming powder and main charge powder. Powder was powder.
It was probably a convinience that only the city dwellers concerned themselves with. It could be that the average hunter would take time to crush some powder to a fine texture for priming, but I've never read about it.
Of course we drill super small touch holes now, not the ones they had that required a feather in the vent to stop the loss of powder during loading. We also don't use the rock crusher locks that they favored, probably for the massive shower of sparks it took to ignite the inferior crud they were forced to use.
I like to be historically accurate, but the presence of a priming horn on someone's rig is no big deal and not worth a negitive comment from any one. I use them when I feel like using them but prime from the main horn most of the time just for convinience. One less piece of gear to carry.
Live and let live on this one.

 

[Rocky Johnson]

In school a lot of years ago they showed us then kids a movie called "The Dupont Story" about how Dupont started makeing powder becouse of the poor powder available for him to hunt with. Rocky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Ohio Joe]

I think all the comments made here are valid. "ghost's", really stands out at me. As for myself, sometimes I prime from my little priming horn with 4fg, and at other times from my main powder horn containing 3fg. I have no real reasoning for it, I just do it...I do own a brass primer but I never use it. I guess I feel its to much trouble going into the bag for when I got two horns over my shoulder... ::