Simple question…..

[oldwood]

This should raise some purist eyebrors. Back in 1972 , when the new Pa. primitive flint only deer season was opened , there were many neophytes in the woods trying to become a flintlock deer killer. I was one , along with my then new hunting buddy. Being young , we always had to carry food ( hunger is a terrible thing) , with us on a days hunt. We each had a basic sandwich in a pocket , in an empty plastic bread loaf bag. One of our first days out hunting , the weather turned into a snowy crappy day , and in desperation , sandwiches were eaten early , and the empty bread bags made fine three wrap lock protectors. All stayed dry abd locks fired flawlessly. This bread bag "deer's knee" experience , prompted us to research the problem , and a couple kinda unusual imitation deer's knee lock protectors got invented. Mine was the standard one seen today , but hunting buddy's looked like a 1 ft. round soft leather beanie , complete with all the teasing due to it's unusual chinese hat shape. It's all good , we had fun , and dry flint locks.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Thank you. That’s interesting. Does “approximately water resistant “ mean they were no more water resistant than other flintlocks of the time or was his idea actually an improvement?

The Manton locks were designed to have a better fit between frizzen and pan than most other locks and that would better resist water intrusion than other flintlocks. While this was an improvement and they were always looking for ways to make the locks waterproof, most designs were at best water resistant. Wax around the edges of the pan will improve the water resistance along with the fit of the frizzen to the pan.

 

[Collie]

First, to the OP:
I have a flinter but have never attempted shooting in the rain. If I were to hunt in that situation, I would either consider using my caplock, or keeping my flinter as waterproof as possible with a cow's knee until ready to shoot. If squirrel hunting, if you do have a misfire, not the end of the world. It's not like you wasted a once- in-a-lifetime elk tag. You will surely find out what works and what doesn't in practice.
Second, WRT to 'road rage' stirred up by the OP's audacity to ask a question...are questions against the rules now? Should we do away with the search bar? Is it more 'manly' to spend a lot of time searching for the answers on the forums or Google because we don't want to offend someone by asking a 'stupid' question?
Seriously?

No such thing as stupid questions in my opinion, we were all novices trying to learn at one point. There is definitely such thing as stupid answers though

 

[morehops52]

Not if you have a good strong mainspring, Vasoline also works ...

2nd to both

 

[waksupi]

That reminds me of a primitive "hunt or die" trip we did on the Marias River. We took a bag of potatoes and onions for around 16 of us. And not that many of those. We ended up with goose, rattle snakes, and a deer to get us by.
We had a 32' freighter canoe we had built, and a couple small production canoes. It was hunt or fish if you were going to eat. We made note that the first day or so guys were saying how much they were missing their women. By the third day, they were talking about how much they missed egg sandwiches. Priorities and desires.
I recall we had Steve West with us, who is a Mandan Indian. We were sitting around a smoky cottonwood fire one evening, wet and cold from rain. He looked around at us and said something along the lines of, "You damned white men. You got my people accustomed to Howard Johnsons, warm houses, and McDonald's. Then you bring me out here, and try to kill me like this."

This should raise some purist eyebrors. Back in 1972 , when the new Pa. primitive flint only deer season was opened , there were many neophytes in the woods trying to become a flintlock deer killer. I was one , along with my then new hunting buddy. Being young , we always had to carry food ( hunger is a terrible thing) , with us on a days hunt. We each had a basic sandwich in a pocket , in an empty plastic bread loaf bag. One of our first days out hunting , the weather turned into a snowy crappy day , and in desperation , sandwiches were eaten early , and the empty bread bags made fine three wrap lock protectors. All stayed dry abd locks fired flawlessly. This bread bag "deer's knee" experience , prompted us to research the problem , and a couple kinda unusual imitation deer's knee lock protectors got invented. Mine was the standard one seen today , but hunting buddy's looked like a 1 ft. round soft leather beanie , complete with all the teasing due to it's unusual chinese hat shape. It's all good , we had fun , and dry flint locks.

 

[waksupi]

That reminds me of a primitive "hunt or die" trip we did on the Marias River. We took a bag of potatoes and onions for around 16 of us. And not that many of those. We ended up with goose, rattle snakes, and a deer to get us by.
We had a 32' freighter canoe we had built, and a couple small production canoes. It was hunt or fish if you were going to eat. We made note that the first day or so guys were saying how much they were missing their women. By the third day, they were talking about how much they missed egg sandwiches. Priorities and desires.
I recall we had Steve West with us, who is a Mandan Indian. We were sitting around a smoky cottonwood fire one evening, wet and cold from rain. He looked around at us and said something along the lines of, "You damned white men. You got my people accustomed to Howard Johnsons, warm houses, and McDonald's. Then you bring me out here, and try to kill me like this."

More follow up in response to a question about our food; Not far from the truth. We had put the goose and a rattle snake in a dutch oven in the evening to cook. John Taylor and I were the last ones up, and we were burying the dutch oven over coals with sand. We heard the lid scrape to the side. We stopped, looked at each other for a moment. Then we put the lid back in place, finished burying it, and went to bed. The way we did things on the river, we never ate breakfast first thing in the morning. We had found it we do that, people took too long to load up to travel. So, it was jump up, get the camp packed, and head down the river. We substituted whiskey and rum for breakfast. I recall that morning Jeff Noble and I were in a small canoe, and your dad was in the front of the freighter. John T. in the rear called for the big one to shift over to a channel. Timmy reached out with his paddle to push the small canoe away, and instead, tipped us down so the freighter ran right over the top of our canoe. Getting wet was bad enough, but we also lost a jug of rum we had just mixed with good ol' Marias alkali water. We mourned for quite awhile. Anyway, back to the dutch oven. We put in at the buffalo jump on the Goosebill for breakfast. While John and I got a fire going, the rest crossed the river to collect buffalo bones and teeth. While the dutch oven was heating, John and I checked out the tipi rings. When we went back to the fire, John opened the dutch oven. We were somewhat surprised to see rice in the pot, as we hadn't brought any rice with us. It turned out, the snake had maggots crawling all over the inside. John picked it up, shook it like a whip, and rinsed it in the river. Back in the pot it went, and we stirred the "rice" into the mix. We called the guys back for breakfast, and everyone knew better than to say anything about the cooking. Some would pick up a bit of rice, and look it over. Some would toss it, others just went ahead and ate it. Meat's meat. As everyone ate, it was like they were panning for gold, as they swished the food around, attempting to wash the sand to the bottom of their plates, as it was a darned gritty stew. I did kill a deer that evening, but dragged it back to the camp after I gutted it. Tasted just like sage brush. No complaints!

 

[Rancocas]

Far back somewhere in this thread there was a post that mentioned "don't shoot a companion across the campfire". I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact words.
Anyway, Waksupi, I think serving up magots could result in justifiable homicide.

On the other hand, as a navy recruit assigned to temporary mess duty, I was assigned to make the salad. Since we had just brought aboard a supply of lettuce, I got to chop it up. Well, I discovered little green caterpillars, the same color as the lettuce. Lettuce, onions, carrots, celery, green pepper, and caterpillars. I didn't eat the salad.

 

[Howard Pippin]

I don't know of many advantages of living in Montana, besides being isolated which helps, but another plus is that it hardly ever rains, especially during hunting season. This was the last year for me, I gave it up now but I never remember hunting in the rain. I have hunted in the wind ,more times than no, but you could generally find a place to turn that you could load the pan. I did learn not to carry 4F in the pan or even try to use it because the wind wouldn't let you and it would suck it out of the pan if you were trying to sneak. I would think hunting in the rain would bring up his own troubles that could be quite bothersome.
Squint

 

[ravenousfishing]

9 pages and I still don't can't understand why anyone would hunt or go to the range in the rain in the first place. It's supposed to be fun and I hate being out in the rain for any reason.

 

[waksupi]

9 pages and I still don't can't understand why anyone would hunt or go to the range in the rain in the first place. It's supposed to be fun and I hate being out in the rain for any reason.

I've always killed my biggest bucks in the rain.

 

[longcruise]

My biggest moisture problem is when there is a light snow during the night and the day dawns bright and clear and the snow starts melting and dripping constantly. Especially in the lodgepoles.

 

[waksupi]

I had something similar happen years ago hunting elk. I'd been hunting the black timber in Dirty Face Basin in the south fork Flathead country. Mixed rain and snow, and I was constantly recharging my .62 flinter.
That didn't bother me all that much. What DID bother me, was when a griz stood up on it's hind legs in the second growth lodge pole about 30 yards away and looked right at me. I was quite pleased it decided I wasn't worth eating.
When I did finally see an elk, I had the world's longest hang fire, probably 15 seconds before it fused to the charge. Missed, of course.

My biggest moisture problem is when there is a light snow during the night and the day dawns bright and clear and the snow starts melting and dripping constantly. Especially in the lodgepoles.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Are flintlocks reliable when it’s raining?

I have to add that it also depends on WHO's lock you are using.
Chamber's locks are milled tight. So just a crayon is all I use.

At Rony where you are shooting more than one shot.
I can see sloppy fitting frizzen getting the powder wet.
I had one once. I kept it cover white shooting 25-75 shots.

The one thing I learned was to turn my cocked hat backwards.
If you dont, the water in your hat washes the pan clean.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Desitin ointment. Im not kidding.

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

I am seriously considering making my next rifle a flinty, and I am currently reading and watching everything I can so I make an informed decision when I finally take the plunge. I am very glad that @ETipp posed this question, as the rain issue was concerning me a bit. Luckily there have been some good answers and solutions mentioned here, and it has been great to learn from some of you who have been doing this for decades, and dare I say reassuring that some of you old hands are as new to some aspects of our hobby as I am. I personally never log off from this forum, and never tire of picking up tips at a distance, as it were. Muzzleloaders are a bit rare this side of the Pond, so I depend on you people for support and advice, and to maintain my enthusiasm, and in the main I find you all very tolerant of my sometimes very basic questions. Trawling through library books and old magazines, and learning the hard way through trial and error as some have suggested can be onerous and sometimes off putting, so it is important that people bring stuff up like this on the forum. If people find they don't need the information, or find they cannot contribute positively, they can always just ignore the topic. Keep up the good work chaps, it is very much appreciated.

 

[ETipp]

9 pages and I still don't can't understand why anyone would hunt or go to the range in the rain in the first place. It's supposed to be fun and I hate being out in the rain for any reason.

It’s not difficult to understand really. I don’t go out and hunt in the rain. But if rain begins, I’m not going to go back because sometimes it only lasts a few minutes, but sometimes it lasts longer. If the forecast calls for pouring down rain, I’m not going out unless I hunt from my ground blind.

Last year it rained on me a few times. I never had a miss fire not even after being out in the rain for several hours. I had nothing protecting my percussion cap. .

 

[Mowich]

I live in Washington state at this moment the humidity is 93% at 4:46 pm and 52'F this weekend they are forecasting an atmospheric river in the sky by Monday we should have experienced 3 to 4 inches of rain. I also live next to a temperate rain forest. Even if your flintlock doesn't fire the first time you can get her going.
If you get your caps damp or wet your dead in the water.

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

It’s not difficult to understand really. I don’t go out and hunt in the rain. But if rain begins, I’m not going to go back because sometimes it only lasts a few minutes, but sometimes it lasts longer. If the forecast calls for pouring down rain, I’m not going out unless I hunt from my ground blind.

Last year it rained on me a few times. I never had a miss fire not even after being out in the rain for several hours. I had nothing protecting my percussion cap. .

That's how I hunt. Here in Florida it rains when ever, I have left the while it's raining, by the time I reached my area to hunt it has stopped or never rained at all, and vice versa.
I've use my ground blind, and have made blind out of limbs, and saw Palmettos, they can and will keep the rain off ya...
If it sets for the long haul or is storming hard I get out...
Turkey love a lite to mild rain, always see them in open fields when raining.
I feel it's a chance we have to take, I can't always hunt when I want, so I hunt when I can.
I have a new Flintlock I assembled, I will shot it for the first time Sunday. I know I'm hunting with it come muzzleloading 2024 season. I'm sure I'll get caught in some rain on one of my hunts..

 

[Mogadishu Meanderer]

I hunt in northern MN close to the Superior shoreline where drippy snow is normal and temps in are in from -20 to 30 in a given day, I seal the pan with my own lube ( beeswax, mutton tallow and coco oil). Never had a misfire but I have never shot anything with my FL yet, being a buck only county, chances very slim, and one deer a year thing I stared taking my percussion guns, they just give me more confidence even when I know the FL will work fine, it just a mind game thing!! Even when I have left my FL outside for weeks at below zero temps and goes off every time I just kinda May be who knows trust the cap locks more, dunno why!! BTW, I don’t reprime at all!i just let be, only use Swiss Null-B for priming

 

[Mogadishu Meanderer]

… and for those who wonder why shoot or hunt in the rain or snow, I work like a dog to make ends meet, when I get to shoot or hunt, it’s time to do so, no wiggle room to choose the the perfect weather conditions, May be when I retire I will get picky!!