The loaded flintlock above the hearth

[Trev]

Not just a Hollywood invention?

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I’m guessing the gun hanging over the hearth in the flintlock era was loaded. Most pictures today seem to show them with the cock down and frizzen open - not primed. Does anyone know if they were ever hung with a priming charge and on half cock?

Guns at Grandpas Ranch were kept under the antler hat racks inside the enclosed porch (like a big mud room). You'd come into the house, lean your gun up against the wall between the pegs (to keep them from falling over); put your hat on one of the antlers and then open the door and go into the main part of the house. Young Grandkids would lean their .22's there and once you were 12 and got your license, you could use one of Grandpa's rifles for deer hunting. All rifles and shotguns went against the wall in the porch.

You always treated guns at Grandpa's ranch as if they were loaded because they usually were. Actually, we had to clear the chamber before setting the gun against the wall, but they all had full magazines and were always treated as if there was a round in the chamber. Rule #1, "Treat every gun as if it is loaded."

I never really thought much about guns being elsewhere in the house until the time we were taking horses up to a buck hunting camp in the nearby mountains, and our two pickups both got stuck in the sand. We saddled up the horses and rode them back about 7 or 8-miles to the ranch house, leaving our other two compadres with the pickups and other two horses. But we didn't go inside the house when we finally got back. Instead, we went to the bunkhouse and slept there until the morning. Grandpa said that Grandma kept a pistol under her pillow when he was going to be gone overnight, so it was safer to sleep in the bunk house than startle Grandma in the middle of the night.

I remember that night well because I ended up having to ride a horse with a saddle that didn't have adjustable stirrups. Didn't know there was such a thing before that night. And, of course, the stirrups were too long for me so I couldn't really stand in them. You really NEED to be able to stand up in the saddle. I'd switch back and forth from leaning towards one sideand standing in that stirrup and then leaning over to the other one. I was saddle-sore for days after that night...

Grandpa drove one of his tractors up the sandy dirt road to the stuck pickups and horse trailors the next day and unstuck them. I was very bummed because we were headed to a new deer camp for the weekend and never did make it. We often used horses to move cattle from one pasture to another, and after that night I always checked and adjusted the stirrups of the saddle of any horse I had to ride.

 

[springfield art]

I’m guessing the gun hanging over the hearth in the flintlock era was loaded. Most pictures today seem to show them with the cock down and frizzen open - not primed. Does anyone know if they were ever hung with a priming charge and on half cock?

Who knows? I personally believe the "hanging fireplace" rifle is a more modern image from books and early films.

 

[tom in nc]

The whole wall in our house on the west end of the living room is brick, containing the fireplace. There are folding glass doors with a screen behind the glass. The bricks above the glass doors do not get hot with a fire burning. One of my rifles, a .45 caliber full stock Dart brand and an EMPTY powder horn hangs above the glass doors. Actually we only use the fireplace on special occasions and then usually with store bought fire logs. My wife has suffered from asthma all her life, so we use the necessary caution. I take the gun down, wipe it off, and oil it occasionally. I shoot it very rarely, but it is a good shooter. I have so many guns, no single one gets a ton of use.

 

[1950DAVE]

I’ve had a wooden mantle for 49 years, it has never caught fire and it hasn’t shrunk from heat anymore than the wood trim in the rest of the great room.

 

[deerstalkert]

while a few years short of the era in question, the first muzzleloader I ever fired was kept on two 20d nails driven into the face of a fireplace. the Rifle had been passed down through generations to my neighbor. the son of that family and I decided to terrorize the Rhode Island reds, and the Dominique's with the old gun. think we were around 10 and 12 at the time.
long story short we jury rigged some prime out of match heads and went forth to slay those dragons.
cock dropped, frizzen sparked, rifle barked and dragons scattered to the four winds.
we were both totally shocked that the thing had fired and quickly returned it to the fireplace. Ginny never found out we had messed with it, but she always wondered why her hens didn't lay eggs for a day or two.
that rifle had come down through a century plus, loaded and hung over multiple fireplaces. boy oh boy, i wish i had it today, most of a century later.

 

[Eterry]

I’m guessing the gun hanging over the hearth in the flintlock era was loaded. Most pictures today seem to show them with the cock down and frizzen open - not primed. Does anyone know if they were ever hung with a priming charge and on half cock?

I always thought a person hunting in the 18th century would likely get his muzzleloader wet, dirty, muddy, and if lucky covered in animal blood and gore after the shot.
He'd come home, have his son clean his rifle, wipe it down and not having an abundance of rags handy would hang it over the fireplace to dry.
If I lived on the frontier I'd certainly keep it loaded and primed.

How long does it take to prime a flintlock in the dark with dogs barking, children crying and screaming, and Indians carrying on outside the cabin?
Too long.

 

[Packrat]

I think, like today, it would be by the door during the day and at night, by my bed

 

[Sagebrush]

I'm sure it varied from one household or another. If you lived in the wilderness, she was ready. If you lived in a civil berg where it was safe, she probably had an empty pan.

 

[oreclan]

I would hope that the stock was dry before the gun was built. Do people really believe that there is no end to wood shrinking due to drying. There is way too much confusion and myth about the mechanical properties of wood. Would I have to restock my rifle should I move from humid Alabama to arid Arizona? I think not.

I have an original 18th century Dutch musket with a big check/ split in the butt stock.
It must not have been dried properly.

 

[oreclan]

I think, like today, it would be by the door during the day and at night, by my bed

I recall about 60 years ago while in the Navy having to sleep with my rifle!