Radioactive frizzen?

[The Crisco Kid]

It's pretty amazing that we folks in our 70's are still alive. According to all the warning labels we read today, we shouldn't be. My grandparents bought us kids a toy xray machine for Christmas one year. It worked til it quit and we xrayed every place on us we could think of. Remember the xray machines in the shoe stores? How about the trucks spraying DDT to kill the mosquitoes, or the crop dusters dosing the fields with who knows what? Not to mention all the bomb testing that went on in those days or the wood preservatives we inhaled or who knows what else was out there. For some reason I'm feeling pretty invincible right now!

 

[kipcarter]

I introduced the motion at the NMLRA annual meeting that outlawed them. They produced so many sparks that you could have read a newspaper at night by them.

 

[Whitworth]

Filet of half sole...And since we're talking about radioactivity here...

That's bad, really bad, even groan worthy.

 

[David Teague]

I had a SMR back in the early 1980’s that had a half soled frizzed that would throw an incredible spark....

I think I now know why.

 

[CapPopper]

Just curious would they light pyrodex? Sounds like Ifn that wouldn't do it nothing will.

 

[516tcw]

Yep. Fortunately, the NMLRA quickly outlawed it for use in matches. Yes, it was dangerous and certainly not in keeping with preserving traditional muzzle loading.

Imagine that, and now they allow in-lines.
How traditional is that...?
I used the material when it became available, and would still be using it now.
And yes I do have lung issues but Agent orange and 3 packs of Winstons a day are more the reason then the frizzen of my flintlock. 80 years old in a month from now.!!!!!!!!

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

It's pretty amazing that we folks in our 70's are still alive. According to all the warning labels we read today, we shouldn't be. My grandparents bought us kids a toy xray machine for Christmas one year. It worked til it quit and we xrayed every place on us we could think of. Remember the xray machines in the shoe stores? How about the trucks spraying DDT to kill the mosquitoes, or the crop dusters dosing the fields with who knows what? Not to mention all the bomb testing that went on in those days or the wood preservatives we inhaled or who knows what else was out there. For some reason I'm feeling pretty invincible right now!

We used to follow the Mosquito Truck on Bicycles. considered insane to do so now.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Well Im not uptight....not un- attracted.... Turn me on tonight......Im Radioactive.....

80,s song from The Firm

 

[GREENSWLDE]

I remember that stuff in the 70's. Got banned at Flint Clay shoots as the sparks flew anywhere and bounced around in the grass for what seemed like Minutes.. OLD DOG..

 

[GREENSWLDE]

"Crop Dusters !! years ago when I lived in the Flat Lands to the East of here They used to fly so low they almost dusted the Roots not the Tops of crops. When they were empty they landed on the back lanes and the bowsers would fill 'em up just there.. "Strictly legal of course."

 

[Hawken]

Radioactivity was all the rage at one time. I listen to old time radio programs streamed online, and RPM brand motor oil had a spot where they dosed up some piston rings and then checked two different motors, one with Brand X, and one with RPM, using a geiger counter on the oil to check for radioactivity after running them for a while.

Gasoline Camping lantern mantles used to be impregnated with thorium, the old Silk-Lite are very noticeably much brighter and whiter than modern mantles. I couldn't figure it out until I was told the reason. Old camera lenses were coated with something hot too, I have an old Kodak with Anaston lens that took pretty good pictures if I did my part, the lens is easily as hot or hotter as the checksource included on the side of any CD geiger counter.

Many sources or at least types of radioactivity aren't particularly dangerous, unless they are ingested. Then all bets are off. I agree we have to keep things "safe", but outlawing certain chemicals, asbestos, and other useful items (many with no effective or practical substitutes) is just silliness writ large. We were better off as a country when the Cuyahoga had an octane rating

 

[Canute Rex]

After reading this I have to say that using lead acetate in slow match seems like less of a problem.

 

[Larry Akers]

The January issue of Muzzle Blasts has an article by the Bevel Brothers about this subject. While U-238 is commonly found in nature, I wouldn't want to carry it around in my pocket. The danger in using it to sole frizzens is in the microscopic particles that become airborn when struck by the flint and then inhaled by everyone around. The half-life of U-238 is about 4.5 BILLION years so it is accumulative in the human body.

 

[Pete G]

It's pretty amazing that we folks in our 70's are still alive.

A lot of us aren't. My graduating class (`68) has the survival rate of 72%.

 

[Whitworth]

A lot of us aren't. My graduating class (`68) has the survival rate of 72%.

I hear you, my class, 1969 isn't doing too well either. The big "C" has been rough on us.

 

[Howard Pippin]

We used to follow the Mosquito Truck on Bicycles. considered insane to do so now.

This statement brought a chuckle out of me, for when I with mosquito spraying malathion for the entire town using malathion, there was this crazy kid on a bicycle that would chase me down the street. Every time I caught him I would stop, go back, chew his butt and send him home. Well he's all grown up now, been married, divorced, and has three grown up kids. Doesn't seem much the worse for wear, and I know I had to eat plenty of it for the 14 years I did spray mosquitoes. I'm sure is not good for you but it seems like some of us survive in spite of things.
Squint

 

[Crown_Pointer]

We used to follow the Mosquito Truck on Bicycles. considered insane to do so now.

I hear ya...the slow cruising "Fogger" as we used to call it used to get more of us kids on bicycles swarming around the back of it than any ice cream truck. Being kids we never really thought about it but looking back on it now if the fog wasn't dangerous enough riding around blind at times behind a moving vehicle probably wasn't the brightest idea either. Sigh... anything in the name of fun when you're a kid.

 

[Crown_Pointer]

The January issue of Muzzle Blasts has an article by the Bevel Brothers about this subject. While U-238 is commonly found in nature, I wouldn't want to carry it around in my pocket. The danger in using it to sole frizzens is in the microscopic particles that become airborn when struck by the flint and then inhaled by everyone around. The half-life of U-238 is about 4.5 BILLION years so it is accumulative in the human body.

Yes it’s those alpha particles that get you. Most people think of radioactivity in terms of high energy gamma radiation. Natural Uranium (and depleted uranium - predominately U238) gives off lots of massive *Alpha* particles that can’t even penetrate your skin but are far far worse (10-1000 times) if ingested/inhaled because it’s so ionizing.
This is a terrible analogy but you could think of gamma radiation as shooting a single high speed hole through you (why it’s good for X-rays) and needs lead shielding for protection (but run away - you're OK) where as an alpha particle emitting isotope would be like having a kid with a 22 short six shooter inside you endlessly firing round after round after round after round….with no way to make it stop.

 

[John May]

I shoot with an ex MLAGB World Champion who had an original flint pistol with a sliver of the metal on the frizzen. I lost track of how may times we ended up searching for it in the grass! The problem was it wouldn't stay 'stuck' to the face no matter how hard you tried or what glue you used. In the end he gave up and has gone down a different route to get a reliable spark. I'm 99% certain he called it 'Moon Metal'

 

[kipcarter]

I hear ya...the slow cruising "Fogger" as we used to call it used to get more of us kids on bicycles swarming around the back of it than any ice cream truck. Being kids we never really thought about it but looking back on it now if the fog wasn't dangerous enough riding around blind at times behind a moving vehicle probably wasn't the brightest idea either. Sigh... anything in the name of fun when you're a kid.

In Charlotte, NC they would back the truck up to your house for you and just fill up the house with the fog!