pyrodex in the pan / BP in the barrel okay?

[paulvallandigham]

sdeary: Use either 2f or 3f for priming powder, but don't burden yourself with carrying both horns in the field. The difference in ignition time is measured in millionths of a second, and the ear cannot tell the difference.

Make sure you use a vent pick( wire, paperclip, or osh-to-gosh, made-for-the-job, vent pick) to poke a hole in the main charge before priming the pan. You want to get as much flame to the powder in the chamber as possible, so you don't want to cover up that vent hole with priming powder, either. With an empty gun, hold the gun up and in front of you so you can see where the sparks strike the pan. They should hit the middle or a little forward with a new flint. As the flint wears down, the sparks will hit further and further back, until they are hitting outside the pan, and you are getting misfires. That is the time to move the flint forward in the cock, and brace it in its new position by using a twig to wedge behind the flint and your lead wrap. Mother nature makes twigs of various sizes, so you should have no problem finding one to do the job right.

 

[DannyB]

A quick story.... Many moons ago, when I was into rondy, a greenhorn showed up at one of the shoots with a clean pair of leathers, a clean osnaburg shirt, brand new mocassins, and a shiny, new, Jack Garner rifle-gun. Purty thing, it was. I was lucky enough to get with him on the woodswalk, and for the first couple of shots, I noticed that his purty new rifle-gun was hanging bad, IF it went off at all.

In the spirit of things, I suggested that we postpone the woodswalk, got it OK'ed through the Booshway, and went to the practice range with this guy. Found out that he was using Pyrodex in the barrel AND the pan. Loaded him up with Goex, problem solved. We went back to my lodge, dumped his horn and filled it up with Goex. Resumed the woodswalk, and the feller' did pretty good.

That afternoon, he came up to my lodge with something wrapped in canvas, stuck it out to me, and said "This ain't much, but I owe you big." He gave me a patch knife that he had bought. Don't sound like much, but like I said, you must be in the spirit of things. Believe it or not, to this day, I get a card from him every Christmas, and even though we live over 500 miles apart, we stay in contact on a regular basis. I still cherish that patch knife.

I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but on occasion, it feels good to help someone.

 

[sdery]

Cool story - thanks!
I love this forum....

I received my new-to-me T/C flinter last week, and the darned frizzen was broken. The rifle is old, and I've learned from this forum that T/C has replaced a lot of the locks on the older hawkins, so I am preparing to send in the lock to the manufacturer.

In the meantime, I have a new hole pic, new flints and leathers and some 3F for priming ready to go... and it drives me nuts that I can't go shoot the pretty new-to-me rifle that I was able to slip into my safe (under the radar of the wife-boss too!).

Thanks again for such good input, stories and entertainment!