home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!mimsy!gatech.edu
- From: emory!ke4zv!gary@gatech.edu (Gary Coffman)
- Newsgroups: rec.guns
- Subject: Re: Match, Wheel, Flint Locks
- Message-ID: <1992Dec23.142214.23516@ke4zv.uucp>
- Date: 23 Dec 92 17:17:42 GMT
- Sender: magnum@mimsy.umd.edu
- Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
- Lines: 20
- Approved: gun-control@cs.umd.edu
-
- In article <13684@optilink.COM> cramer@optilink.com (Clayton Cramer) writes:
- #
- #Wet weather, for obvious reasons, would significantly reduce the
- #probability of successful firing by a flintlock. The Battle of
- #Fishing Creek, in which my great-great-great-grandfather fought
- #on the Union side, was a Union victory at least partly because one
- #of the Confederate regiments was armed with flintlocks, and the
- #wet weather made them inoperative.
-
- There was a leather piece that was used to cover the frizzen and
- flashpan of flintlocks for wet weather protection. I don't recall
- it's name, but Clayton probably knows. Anyway it would protect the
- powder in the pan, IE keep your powder dry, in all but the most
- drenching of rains. Reloading any muzzle loader in a rainstorm
- is an exercise frought with peril. Much worse than a wet priming
- charge is a wet main charge since you have to pull the bullet
- to replace it. If the pan charge gets wet, you just snap the
- frizzen open, wipe out the wet powder, and pour in fresh.
-
- Gary
-