Treestand hunting and Flintlocks

[deerheaven]

Morning hunting.....
1]Do you load gun at your truck or once your up in your stand? Safety- I understand not priming until in stand.
2]while up in your stand should you avoid resting your gun in the downward position?

 

[silverfox]

Deerheaven: I don't hunt from tree stands (don't have trees big enough or straight enough to climb) I did have to hunt some on elevated stands though. I would load on the ground and prime after getting into the treestand. Treestands to me would be dangerous to be trying to load from with all your stuff and balanceing yourself without falling out of the stand or dropping something. The second question is easy keep your gun pointed at the deer. I would keep my rifle pointed a little bit down and towards where I thought the action might come from. This way you have as little movement as possible. There may be other ideas out there that are better but if you are doing something and it does't feel safe it's probably not. Be safe first.
Fox

 

[roundball]

Morning hunting.....
1]Do you load gun at your truck or once your up in your stand? Safety- I understand not priming until in stand.
2]while up in your stand should you avoid resting your gun in the downward position?

I load main before I leave the house and seal the muzzle and vent...I prime when I get up into my treestands...and I just keep the rifle laying across my lap lock side down, with my coat flap or a big hand warmer muff over the lock's off side to keep that whole area as dry as possible.

 

[Moonax]

I hunt with a flintlock from a treestand alot.I load the rifle before getting in the stand and prime after I'm settled in.
The only position I'm concerned about is not turning the rifle sideways.This keeps the priming level in the pan.
Moonax

 

[iainofulva]

Morning hunting.....
1]Do you load gun at your truck or once your up in your stand? Safety- I understand not priming until in stand.
2]while up in your stand should you avoid resting your gun in the downward position?

1. At the truck. Never know when you're going to stumble across "The Big One" oversleeping somewhere.

2. Yesterday, I had my flintlock with the lock side down. Big mistake. I tried to fire and I got a beautiful flash, but no bang. Apparantly, the powder trickled out of the touch hole (?)... it fired when I primed it then turned the flintlock lock side up and tapped it a few times to get some powder back in there.

Jon

 

[roundball]

Morning hunting.....
1]Do you load gun at your truck or once your up in your stand? Safety- I understand not priming until in stand.
2]while up in your stand should you avoid resting your gun in the downward position?

1. At the truck. Never know when you're going to stumble across "The Big One" oversleeping somewhere.

2. Yesterday, I had my flintlock with the lock side down. Big mistake. I tried to fire and I got a beautiful flash, but no bang. Apparantly, the powder trickled out of the touch hole (?)... it fired when I primed it then turned the flintlock lock side up and tapped it a few times to get some powder back in there.

Jon

Jon:
Good gracious, what size hole is that? ::
The hole in my vent liner is a big .075" and I use Goex FFFg but never had any powder come out on it's own...a couple kernels will spit out when I ram the patched ball down but not from gravity...maybe the main just didn't quite make it all the way down inside the vent?

Moonax:
For me, I decided it was less tiring not to have to hold the rifle upright when on stand for a few hours...so I've developed the habit of whenever I pick up the rifle I give it just an ever so slight flick of my wrist to level the powder a little...I don't want it all up against the vent anyway...so far so good

 

[Halftail]

I guess I always load a fresh load at the camp or home(where ever I am hunting from).Then prime in the stand if it's morning and in the afternoon I always prime before I step into the woods.I never really paid much attention to how I held or laid my gun.It will fire in any position ,even upside Down.

 

[CG6018]

I keep the broken half of a round toothpick (I'm cheap) in the touch hole before I'm ready to prime for the day. I try to keep the priming powder away from the touch hole during the long hours on stand or while still hunting, but I am not always successful. My tree stand is about a foot and a half up the trunk so when I fall asleep I don't have far to fall. Other than that, it is the same with hunting with a .270. If you see a deer of adequate size and ample antler arrangement, just shoot it. Then, I wake up.

 

[iainofulva]

Jon:
Good gracious, what size hole is that? ::
The hole in my vent liner is a big .075" and I use Goex FFFg but never had any powder come out on it's own...a couple kernels will spit out when I ram the patched ball down but not from gravity...maybe the main just didn't quite make it all the way down inside the vent?

I have NO idea what happened... my hunting partner was quite baffled by it as well. I did take a fall earlier that day (damn period shoes) which may have led to the problem as well. Maybe it was a combination of everything. I do know that if I'd gotten flash and no bang pointing at a deer, I'd have been quite irritated.

Maybe I'll stick to archery and shotgun for hunting.

 

[sniper68]

I prefer to load at home or camp, wether it's dark or light. If its light out I prime when I get out of truck, or leave camp & deprime before I climb. As far as how I hold my rifle, I find comfort and not scratching the stock are my main concerns as I use a home made portable stand, however I like to give her a light wrist shake when I bring her to bare :m2c:

 

[Livbucks]

I load the gun in the stand if I go in before light. It is no big deal to drop the charge and run the projectile down a clean bore while sitting in the stand. If it is light out when walking in, I'd say load up when entering the woods. When you get to your stand, dump the prime, leave frizzen open and put the hammer on half cock. Tie it to a pull rope with muzzle down and near the ground. Pull it up once situated and belted in, and prime then. When leaving, dump prime, open frizzen, half cock. Lower gun muzzle down. Reprime for the walk out. Just a note, I premeasure the charges and put them in watertight prescription bottles.

 

[Rat]

Ha ha I see more than a few of us have developed the "flick of the wrist". I don't imagine it's a real big deal how the prime lies in the pan, but I just like to know everything is perfect.

I don't hunt from a tree stand, but I always load at home, and still would if I did. When I load a rifle up that I'll be hunting with for days or weeks, I want to do it in a well lit, dry place, with no room for errors. That don't mean I can't load my rifles in the dark...just like to be sure everything is perfect again.

When transporting Bess, which has a fairly deep touch hole, I've always kept a feather in the touch hole until I'm ready to prime. With Rosie (the Jaeger) and her high-tech touch-hole liner, the powder lies RIGHT THERE, I mean you can see it laying against the hole, so I cant' really cram a feather in there, or toothpick as that would just crunch it up...don't really want to do that, so I'll have to come up with a new plan for her. Maybe just wad up a dry-patch next to the touch hole and close the frizzen over it.

Anyhow, I don't really see a safety issue with a loaded but unprimed flinter, with the frizzen open, cock down, and something plugging the touchhole.

Rat

 

[deerheaven]

Thank you all I loving learning ........This flintlock is addicting just like archery........Its all good

 

[roundball]

Ha ha I see more than a few of us have developed the "flick of the wrist". I don't imagine it's a real big deal how the prime lies in the pan, but I just like to know everything is perfect.

I don't hunt from a tree stand, but I always load at home, and still would if I did. When I load a rifle up that I'll be hunting with for days or weeks, I want to do it in a well lit, dry place, with no room for errors. That don't mean I can't load my rifles in the dark...just like to be sure everything is perfect again.

When transporting Bess, which has a fairly deep touch hole, I've always kept a feather in the touch hole until I'm ready to prime. With Rosie (the Jaeger) and her high-tech touch-hole liner, the powder lies RIGHT THERE, I mean you can see it laying against the hole, so I cant' really cram a feather in there, or toothpick as that would just crunch it up...don't really want to do that, so I'll have to come up with a new plan for her. Maybe just wad up a dry-patch next to the touch hole and close the frizzen over it.

Anyhow, I don't really see a safety issue with a loaded but unprimed flinter, with the frizzen open, cock down, and something plugging the touchhole.

Rat

Not being a purist, I allow myself an occasional modern convenience particularly when it has to do with safety.
I also prepare and charge the flintlock in the garage, then I stretch a finger cot over the muzzle, and I use a 1/2" wide strip of tape over the vent...either MILSPEC duct tape (dry non sticky) or a strip of plastic electrician's tape.

That way the bore is 100% sealed from any ignition source and from moisture, put the rifle in the truck, and go hunting.

When I'm ready to prime, I open the frizzen, peel the tape off and stick it on the left/opposite side of the stock for reuse later, prime the piece and hunt...then reuse the tape for the drive back home.

 

[riarcher]

Thank you all I loving learning ........This flintlock is addicting just like archery........Its all good

Absolutely CORRECT!!! :RO:

R.I.Archer eace:

 

[Pasquinel]

Hunt from treestand. Purchased rubber gun holders like you would use on the handlebars of Atv, attach to shooting rail
and lay gun in cradle. Prime once on stand. Also if you have a high or good quailty pan/frizzen fit you should be able to fire from any type holding position. Carry a co2
ball discharger and always empty rifle prior to placing in my truck. :imo:

 

[Rat]

That's funny RB I was wondering/pondering about a small peice of tape after that last post. No left over sticky-stuff?

Again, the TH on my Jaeger just isn't a candidate for a feather or plug...which works fine on Bess. Those two girls are just different.

Rat

 

[roundball]

That's funny RB I was wondering/pondering about a small peice of tape after that last post. No left over sticky-stuff?

Again, the TH on my Jaeger just isn't a candidate for a feather or plug...which works fine on Bess. Those two girls are just different.

Rat

Certain kinds of good quality plastic electrician's tape don't seem to leave any residue...but I use thin strips cut off of a roll of MILSPEC OD color 100mph duct tape I have...a dry surface that sticks but leaves zero residue.

The roll is 2" wide, so I just snip a 1/2" strip off across the end, fold over one end of the strip a little to make an easy to grab "tab", drape the strip across the inside half of the pan, upagainst the vent & breechplug flat, and over the top flat with the tap sticking up...get where I'm going, peel it off, stick it on the side, prime, and start hunting...doing it for three years with no problems.

And since I don't shoot a rifle to unload it, I like having the vent sealed for the ride home too as a safety measure...