Red pan after a shot

[buckheart]

Any of you guys a chemically inclined flintlock shooter?
Just wondering what it is that turns the pan red like this after a shot. It doesn't stay red long, maybe seconds. It took me a couple shots to get these pictures as it disappears so fast. I'm shooting 80 grains of Schuetzen 2F in my 54 Kibler.

 

[64Springer]

To me it looks like straight up Red Iron Oxide.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I've been told that is a sign of good ignition and powder consumption. Not a concern.

 

[Felix the Cat]

I got chewed commenting on this before as you see it quite often with "other types of ignition"!

It is sulphur residue... if you breathe on it is usually turns black.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I'm in the sulfur camp. Iron oxide doesn't turn black unless you heat it up. I've never seen this though.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Only happens at certain humidity ... nothing to worry about ...

 

[necchi]

Uhm, I'm not a good explainer, and @Felix the Cat and @Flint62Smoothie have touched on it,
It's the burnt sulfur residues reaction to the available moisture in the air. The "humidty" has to be at just the right point for it to happen,, it may not happen again this summer when you shoot or even next week.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

One thing I've noticed is that when I shot a flintlock in the high humidity of SE Alaska the pan fouling was black. Down here in the desert and very low humidity the fouling is white.

 

[Felix the Cat]

The red deposit is condensed sulphur vapour from the sulphur in the black powder. It only occurs when there is a lack of oxygen and moisture in the air. It very quickly oxidises to sulphur dixoide which almost immediatly dissolves in any moisture present.

You see it quite often with paper cased breechloaders such as the Chassepot as the interior surface of the breech is exposed when it opens.

 

[buckheart]

No I didn't see it as a problem. Just curious as to what it might be chemically. I know iron oxide is reddish brown and thought maybe some kind of reaction between the heated iron of the gun and the burning powder. Like I said disappears so quick I had to take several pictures to get the camera in the phone time to focus on it. And yes what is left after the red is black.

 

[64Springer]

The red deposit is condensed sulphur vapour from the sulphur in the black powder. It only occurs when there is a lack of oxygen and moisture in the air. It very quickly oxidises to sulphur dixoide which almost immediatly dissolves in any moisture present.

You see it quite often with paper cased breechloaders such as the Chassepot as the interior surface of the breech is exposed when it opens.

Check out the big brain on Brad.

 

[Felix the Cat]

Check out the big brain on Brad.

It would appear so, yes....!

 

[duca]

Lol… I was shooting last week and noticed it also, I thought it was some additive I thought I heard they had to use by the Government or something for identification

 

[M. De Land]

Any of you guys a chemically inclined flintlock shooter?
Just wondering what it is that turns the pan red like this after a shot. It doesn't stay red long, maybe seconds. It took me a couple shots to get these pictures as it disappears so fast. I'm shooting 80 grains of Schuetzen 2F in my 54 Ki It

I think it's Sulfur fouling residue commonly called "Dragons blood" in the old days. When conditions are right it will some times manifest a solid red color and stay put until cleaned away.

 

[buckheart]

"Dragons Blood" I like that. I think from now on I'll refer to my colonial as The Dragon.

 

[User_Dan]

I get it in my barrel sometimes. Pretty cool

 

[stephenprops1]

I had something like that happen to a percussion rifle once. It was during a very humid day in August. I was high in the mountains in West Virginia during a Rendezvous. The rifle's barrel turned a hazy red after I had finished a woods walk. I took an oiled cloth and it all wiped off. It has never done it again since then.

 

[buckheart]

I had something like that happen to a percussion rifle once. It was during a very humid day in August. I was high in the mountains in West Virginia during a Rendezvous. The rifle's barrel turned a hazy red after I had finished a woods walk. I took an oiled cloth and it all wiped off. It has never done it again since then.

Somehow I find these little nuances very interesting. If I had lived back in the day when magic was still real what might I have thought when I saw my gun "shedding blood"?

 

[Grenadier1758]

It might have meant that your gun was ready to go hunting.

 

[stephenprops1]

Somehow I find these little nuances very interesting. If I had lived back in the day when magic was still real what might I have thought when I saw my gun "shedding blood"?

You would have thought there was a witch nearby. The nearest female would have then been burned at the stake.