Pouring Powder From The Horn

[Mulebrain]

I was thinking the other day about how loading was done back in the old days.

I would say that based on the powder granule size and the hole size in the horn, pretty accurate powder charges could be obtained.

I am referring to the hour glass, and the time it takes for sand to pour through.

Wouldn't this work to a certain degree?? Begin to pour and count 1000 one, 1000 2, etc....

It would be interesting to see how accurate the powder charges would be using this method.

I know I know don't load directly from the horn, but lets face it, many folks before us did!

Does anyone load this way?

 

[Dave K]

I am sure there are those old timers that did load directly from the horn, but almost all old hunting bags found did have a powder measure with them.All them old timers aren't around anymore to tell us how often they did this also. I do have an account here, where a young boy blew up his hand, lost an eye, plus other facial injuries, loading directly from the flask though. The account is in the book "The Powder Flask" by Martin Rywell.It is an exert taken from a Philadelphia newspaper that tells the story. In the 1839 story, it says an experienced shooter places the measured charge in his hand and then down the barrel, never from the flask itself.

 

[chipper]

It's strictly forbidden to load from the horn in any club santioned event. I've done it before when I was in a hurry. I've blown down the barrel, I've shot my ramrod and I've survived to tell you about it. It doesn't mean I'll get lucky a second time.
I suppose if a charging buffallo was bearing down on me I would probably use this technique again.

Regards
Wounded knee

 

[capnwilliam]

Aye! You "can" do it, I don't doubt that many shooters past and present have done it, do do it, and haven't had a mishap. I also would not hesitate to do it if I were in the doubly-dangerous position of having to shoot a muzzleloader to save my life.

BUT, none of that changes the fact that black powder is explosive, and it's better to have a little of it explode in your hand, than a lot! :grin:

Capt. William

 

[Stumpkiller]

There aren't many things we see in sporting goods stores and catalogs today that are found with original bags, but original powder measures were & are common. Madison Grant mentions in his book that a rifle usually came with the approved measure (the charge the sights were built/regulated to).

I am sure that in a bleeding hurry the powder was just dumped in, but that is an emergency tactic.

Sometimes it's faster to drive through traffic on the left side of the yellow lines. But, if you make a habit of it . . .

 

[gordy]

As the others have said,I don't doubt that ehere were some old timers that may have loaded from their horns,and no doubt there are some that may do it now."But" I think they were and are in the minority.There is evidence to confirm that "most" loaded from a measure or charger.You want to remember that when these folks were on a long hunt They had to make their powder and ball last till They could replace[url] it.In[/url] a situation of life or deathfast loading it may be the best choice,I would not think it too likely that would come up often today. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[Bob Riegl]

Just for pure safety purposes, my club does NOT allow charging a ML rifle directly from the flask. The unthinkable happened in the late 80's---immediately after shooting at his target( contrary to the shoot rules ) he began to load from his horn, during a Woods Walk, and the entire horn went off. I would not like to have ~ 1/2# of FFFg or FFg go off in my hand. Fortunately this horn was a cow horn and they didn't have pieces of brass to pick out. It did do damage to his hand and I guess he no longer shoots. :hatsoff:

 

Poor Mule Brain. He asks a simple question and gets 6 replys telling him not to load from the horn and not a single answer to his question.

Yes Mule Brain. The horn will work just like an hourglass and you can get within a few grains of consistancy from shot to shot with this system. The variations would not matter much since you would have been spitting naked balls down the bore if you were loading straight from the horn anyway.

This was Lewis Wettzil's method of loading on the run. He was witnessed at a footrace firing his gun, running 100 yards and winning the race and firing a second shot when crossing the finish line. (10-15 second reload?) It was also the method discribed by the Trabue brothers when they were expecting a warm reception traveling through the KY hills.

It was not the way they loaded all of the time, but is was a well known and often used root-hog or die method.

It is also probably why we do not find any "origional" loading blocks that can be verified dating to the frontier. You either had all of the time in the world, or no time to fool with a patched ball at all.

By-the-way, I have one rifle that will keep its shots in 6" at 25 yards with "counted charges" and unpatched balls spit down the barrel. It self primes with a .095 touch hole.

Sometimes a man's got to do ......

 

[robinghewitt]

If you want an accurate, consistant measure of time, try singing. The ancient Greeks certainly used it for timing their experiments and possibly seafarers for navigating with a shadow stick :thumbsup:

 

[Claude Mathis]

I would say that based on the powder granule size and the hole size in the horn, pretty accurate powder charges could be obtained.

I am referring to the hour glass, and the time it takes for sand to pour through.

Wouldn't this work to a certain degree?? Begin to pour and count 1000 one, 1000 2, etc....

Yes, it can be done but...

I don't know about the rest of you, but depending on the weather, humidity, etc., when I've attempted to pour powder into my measure I've had it stop pouring from the horn and come out inconsistently. I've had to shake the horn on occasion to get it to pour. In these cases, it would have been impossible to tell how much powder was going down the barrel, had I not been using a measure.

 

[walruskid1]

at the log cabin gun shop, they have several WIDE-open flasks. they were blown open at the seams. i won't tempt the fates. i'll use a measure and be safe. i think a horn would make a fine bomb too.