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Running While Reloading Flintlocks - a necessary survival technique...

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As for self priming. I loaded my Kibler smr at Sunday’s match with the frizzen closed and there were some 3f kernels in the pan. Tried this two more times and powder in the pan each time. I was using a patched ball and seated it with my range rod each time. This is a Kibler installed touch hole and unmodified.
Don’t know if it would self prime with a bare ball and tap to seat.
 
Lewis Wetzel and Andrew Poe were known to have done this with rifles per the Draper Manuscripts.
Daniel Trabue in Western into Kentucky relates how his brother James ordered all the scouts in his command to prime their pans and each to put two balls in their mouths before attacking an Indian party.

It does not relate if they "spit" the ball down the barrel while reloading (seems like a good way to lose some teeth) or used their fingers to retrieve the ball from their mouths and stuff it down.

Obviously the dangers of ingesting lead was unknown at the time.
 
I should have said I've read that up to about 50 percent of the time ignition can occur with non primed pans. I've also read but not experimented, that inverted ignition with a normally primed pan is actually quite reliable.
If I'm careful: flint's tight & sharp; t-hole picked: pan & flint cleaned, I can count on both of my reenactment pieces will reliably fire upside down- makes a great demo.
A full charge gets awkward, but they've done that for me as well - but let's not speak of accuracy.
 

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