Raining when you wake up to Flintlock hunt.......

[deerheaven]

Should you stay home?Or is there tricks to keep everything dry? ::

 

[Huntinfool]

Check this page out!
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/wetflints.html

YMH&OS,
Chuck

 

[Terry Zboril]

In the rain, plug vent with the appropriate sized bird quill. Load as usual. Don't prime till you see game approaching, or it quits raining.
Keep lock area underarm or covered with waxed cow's knee, or both.
After priming, shoot and gather game.

Oh, don't forget to remove the feather before shooting!

Regards,
Terry

 

[Wes/Tex]

Another trick is to put a thin bead of lard/beeswax along the outside rim of the pan and when the frizzen is seated, a pretty good seal is formed. Be sure to do the same along the top edge of the pan cover & up and down the barrel/stock gap from behind the lock to about 4 inches forward of the lock. The use of a cow's knee will also help keep things dry. This prevents having to try to prime when the game shows up.

 

[RussB]

Should you stay home?Or is there tricks to keep everything dry? ::

If staying home were an option, I would never get to hunt with my flintlocks here in Washington state.
The "cow's knee" is a good option. Myself, I made several similar thingy's, out of an old piece of raincoat that "shrunk" in the shoulders.....I betcha didn't know rain coats would shrink in all this rain, did ya?....surely I didn't start growing again at my age!....anyway, when I take it off to shoot, and loose it, it ain't no big deal. Got another one right here in me bag.
I must have gone through about a dozen or so these things. But yat-ta-hay...They are cheap, takes 10 minutes to make two or three, and they work. Keep 'em on with rubber bands, which I also cary a few extra in my P-bag.
Guess I will have get a picture of one so you will know just what I'm saying. They are very easy to make. :redthumb:

Russ

 

Did you ever hear the old term "not having enough sense to get in out of the rain"?

When flintlocks were in normal use you did not hunt in the rain.

You also did not fight battles in the rain.

You did not go out in the rin unless it was a dire emergency!

Phneumonia was one of the major killers of that time. If you got wet you might catch cold. If you caught cold you might develop phnumonia and die.

It just made good sense to stay home.

Percussion caps were better in the wet, and several batles of the CW were fought in the rain.

Cartridges virtually eliminated worries about wet charges so armies began fighting wars in the worst weather imaginable. More soldiers died of disease than of wounds, right up to WWII.

Now, we hunt when our employer tells us we can hunt. If it is raining on our day off, we hunt anyway, even with a gun that was never intended to be used under the conditions we expose it.

first the flintlock, not good in rain.

then the percussion, better but still moisture sensitive.

the closed ignition in-line should have been the next step, but wasn't. It was the technological missing link that never existed, making wet weather ML hunting possible?

 

[Ron LaClair]

I've hunted in both rain and snow with my flintlocks. As the old expression says, "keep yer powder dry". In foul weather it takes a lot more attention to keeping things dry but it can be done.

Once on a hunt in Canada it rained so much that my tapered ramrod swelled and I couldn't extract it from the pipes. I had a spare steel rod that saved the day. I've never had my flinters let me down at the moment of truth but I did have a failure once with a percussion gun while Elk hunting in Montana. That was probably my fault cuz I was kinda green back then. :haha:

 

[riarcher]

Bet them fur traders expected their flints to shoot in rain & snow.
Read this years ago and use it myself.
When you wax your stock (gun) do it in the all-together. Fill any gaps between lock / barrel and wood. That keeps moisture out of your wood and out from under your barrel and behind your lock (nothing like a frozen lock or trigger to make a stray.
On the frizzen, run a bead of tallow (I use vaseline) around the edge of the pan to the barrel. Prime, close frizzen and seal area between frizzen and barrel with tallow (vaseline). To keep water from soaking your flint and frizzen face, polish with lard (I use Butcher's Wax as well as the stock wax). The water may "bead" in a couple of spots but you'll always have enough spark to get the job done. While hunting, I'd encourage the "proofing" of stone and steel between all shots (except hurry - up shots).
On cap locks, same thing, just run a bead of vaseline around the outside top of the nipple before putting the cap on.
That's why old Jed Clampet hunted with muzzle down! :redthumb:

 

[Ron LaClair]

In foul weather it takes a lot more attention to keeping things dry but it can be done.

 

[deerheaven]

The end of your barrel are you tapping it off with duck tape etc..........and do you leave tape on when shooting??

 

[brushbuster]

The end of your barrel are you tapping it off with duck tape etc..........and do you leave tape on when shooting??

DANGER! DANGER! WILL ROBINSON......!!!!!!!!!!!!
never never never no no uh uh !!!! :youcrazy: block your muzzle under ANY circumstances!!!!!!
carry your rifle muzzle down and keep your action tucked under your rain coat ,or use a cows knee.
any obstruction at the muzzle will turn your rifle into a PIPE BOMB!!!!!

 

[Stumpkiller]

any obstruction at the muzzle will turn your rifle into a PIPE BOMB!!!!!

Waal now. I don't tape myself, but I've known many fellers who used electrical tape to cover their muzzles to prevent water from entering. None have blowed themselves up yet. If you can come up with even duct tape that holds back 8,000 ft lbs of compressed air, enough so that 1/8" steel barrel walls give out first, I'd like to have a few rolls of that for home and auto repair. :haha: Our troops are using electrical tape or rubber caps to keep sand out of the bores even as we speak.

Lots of duck and goose hunters use vinyl tape on their shotgun muzzles to keep water out of the shells & action. That is one case I would (a paper over-shot card would get soaked very quickly). With a patched round ball, ain't no water getting past that patch, and keeping the muzzle down prevents a water build-up in the bore.

Fire a gun with a 2" ice plug or a couple ounces of water ahead of the ball and I'll guarantee you the tape risk would seem VERY worthwhile.

 

[Ron LaClair]

Ah yes, "ye ole duck tape", I'm sure it was in every mountain man's pack. I think if I ever did cover my muzzle (haven't found the need to yet) I'd use something more period correct like maybe a case skinned mouse skin tied on with a thin peice of rawhide :haha: :haha:

 

[shunka]

RE: Muzzle covers :

yup, the compressed air formed as the projectile moves up the barrel blows a lovely hole right through that tape, long before said projectile gets near it.

I'm sure vets remember the use of condoms over muzzles. I believe I even saw small "finger cots" for sale for that purpose.

best
shunka