Radioactive frizzen?

[Sam squanch]

I was reading in an OLD muzzleloading magazine-buckskin report? Cover was gone- that a radioactive steel was used to sole frizzens . That it sparked excellent, but was a HUGE health hazard. Anyone ever heard of this,or was this an April fools joke?

 

[EC121]

I had one. It wasn't the whole frizzen. It was a piece of metal to use for a half-sole. It worked great, but it would light up a Geiger counter. I was working for a company that sold nuclear scanners and computers for industrial process measurement and control. I sent it back to the home office radiation dept. for proper disposal.

 

[Thagomizer]

Don't remember all the details, but it's true. I think that I read about it in buckskin Report also. Mid to late 70's.

 

[Musketeer]

Depleted Uranium Frizzen (1970s, 1980s)

 

[hawkeye2]

One of the guys in our group attended a shoot where someone was using one of those. He said the sparks would fall all the way to the ground and actually bounce. Folks were seriously worried about the safety in having something that generated that many sparks on the line.

 

[Okie Hog]

In the 1970s i bought three "atomic frizzens". There may be a couple in an ammo can somewhere in the magazine. "Atomic frizzens" were faced with thin sheets of depleted uranium. They made some serious spark.

Depleted uranium was not considered a serious health hazard at the time those were sold.

Depleted Uranium Frizzen (1970s, 1980s) (orau.org)

 

[JHB]

Volume 82 of Muzzle Blast has a good article on this.

 

[andy52]

WHAT?....that's crazy...

 

[Musketeer]

One of the guys in our group attended a shoot where someone was using one of those. He said the sparks would fall all the way to the ground and actually bounce. Folks were seriously worried about the safety in having something that generated that many sparks on the line.

That's what I've read too. When a gun with such a frizzen was dry fired, the sparks were supposed to be brilliantly bright and would take a couple seconds to burn out, bouncing around in the pan and on the ground in an impressive mini pyrotechnic show. I guess if you wore a respirator while shooting, it would be fine.

 

[tenngun]

I only saw one and the guy was awful proud. It thew sparks to beat the band.

 

[Musketeer]

"Goin' out to shoot my flinter...I'll be back in time for supper."

 

[Britsmoothy]

I had one. It wasn't the whole frizzen. It was a piece of metal to use for a half-sole. It worked great, but it would light up a Geiger counter. I was working for a company that sold nuclear scanners and computers for industrial process measurement and control. I sent it back to the home office radiation dept. for proper disposal.

Half sole.....is that something to do with its half life?

 

[Musketeer]

Half sole.....is that something to do with its half life?

"Yep, I had my frizzen half life soled..."

 

[Whitworth]

I had one. It wasn't the whole frizzen. It was a piece of metal to use for a half-sole. It worked great, but it would light up a Geiger counter. I was working for a company that sold nuclear scanners and computers for industrial process measurement and control. I sent it back to the home office radiation dept. for proper disposal.

Wow, ran that by my brother who was a Nuke tech in the Navy on a sub and refueled reactors later as a civilian. He found it quite interesting and jokingly wondered how many were still out there glowing in closets.

 

[EC121]

Half sole.....is that something to do with its half life?

A half-sole is a piece of metal that goes on the face of a frizzen when it wears out. LIke having your shoes half-soled in the old days when shoes were repaired.

 

[bore_butter]

i don't think the army guys would worry about the little frizzen.

The M1A1 AIM, M1A2 SEP and all subsequent Abrams models feature depleted uranium in both the hull and turret armor. Each Abrams variant after the M1A1 have been equipped with depleted uranium armor of different generations.

 

[Brokennock]

i don't think the army guys would worry about the little frizzen.

The M1A1 AIM, M1A2 SEP and all subsequent Abrams models feature depleted uranium in both the hull and turret armor. Each Abrams variant after the M1A1 have been equipped with depleted uranium armor of different generations.

Heck, we use it for projectiles. .50bmg and larger. I'd be more worried about the sparks being that hot hitting the ground, flammable clothing, etc. than I would be about the radiation.

 

[Sam squanch]

I think the argument was just sitting there,it was ok, but the sparks or residue from the frizzen could’ve been inhaled.

 

[Sam squanch]

Homer Simpson would never have a misfire......

 

[Sam squanch]

Now we need an atomic slow match for matchlocks......never go out ,even in a hurricane!