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Post by beaudro on May 10, 2008 13:55:13 GMT -5
Here's something not talked about much. A self priming pan was mentioned over 200 years ago. This may have been for soldiers shooting fast or just for convenience for anyone. It's mentioned a feather was used to plug the vent hole, as you load your flintlock and raise it up to shoot, you pull the feather out and the powder falls out into the pan, you close the frizzen and fire away without having to lift the horn twice. I know of a few guys experimenting with this, keeping up with the feather is a bit of a pain, and the vent hole has to be large enough to let powder fall back into the pan. I have heard no complaints by those who do it successfully however. Most flinters today will choose to use a 4f powder and a seperate priming horn to use in priming. The hardcore re-enactors will prime from the same horn they load the gun with. Because priming horns cannot be documented as being used, at least not the common man or infantry/militia.
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Post by cooner on May 10, 2008 18:37:46 GMT -5
Just throw the feather in the campfire tonight. Shut the pan and load yer piece on halfcock. While pushing the patched ball down on the load the pan will fill up without losing any powder on account of the closed frizzen.
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Post by beaudro on May 10, 2008 20:52:08 GMT -5
Would just depend on how much powder you want to use for priming cooner, some guys tap the side of the gun and enough powder spills into the pan, others prefer the feather or plug, I use very little powder in my pan. For 3f, a vent with .079 size hole just spills enough to get the job done, but it'll pour too much if you don't put something in the vent and control it.
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Post by cooner on May 11, 2008 12:49:07 GMT -5
Good point, Beaudro. It does depend on the size of the vent.
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Post by beaudro on May 11, 2008 13:22:33 GMT -5
That would be something to experiment with, but i'm too cautious to start drilling out the vent , i'm thinking i'll stay with priming from a horn. Was interesting to find out that some flinters had self priming locks, that wasn't a modern thing. Others tell me that it was the norm to have a huge vent hole, as if a large turkey feather could be used to plug it,, can you imagine the flash on something like that? sure put on a show if nothing else.
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