A faster flash in the pan

[Bob Roller]

yep your right about the vent hole size Daryl.  the thing I was worried about was my eyesight I had to do the "once over" to see
if my left eye was still ok!  I was not wearing shooting glasses. And all on my first woods walk!

I have worn glasses in the line matches- once in a while, they are safety type shooting glasses with yellow lenses I do get some comments  about not period/origional I guess I need some clear ones to meet the traditional police requirements

I used to worry about that kind of stuff, not so much anymore.

PROTECT your eyes by whatever means needed and don't pay any attention
to the PC Gestapo.

Bob Roller

[hanshi]

Ear and eye protection are critical.  Since my cataract surgery I don't need glasses to see distance, drive or watch TV.  I DO have to wear reading glasses to read and lower powered ones so I can see the front sights on longrifles.  Therefore I always wear plugs & muffs at the range AND have my glasses on.  In the bush I'll have the glasses with me & put them on when the shooting starts.  While deer hunting where maybe only one or two shots are fired, I'll either have no ear protection or a pair of the valve type ear plugs; these allow me to hear normal sounds okay but block out gun fire.  I already have tinnitus and steep hearing loss in a particular range from a profligate youth when I seldom wore muffs.

[bones92]

I fired a .40 SMR this weekend, and noticed I was putting a bit more powder than usual in the pan.  I started putting less in and I believe the rifle fired a bit more quickly.

[smylee grouch]

More powder in the pan might help but I wonder if powder placement isn't more critical.

[Hungry Horse]

I know everybody is more afraid of the flash of a flintlock than they are the pop of a percussion cap, but in my experience you are more likely to receive eye damage from a caplock than you are a flintlock. The only time I truly thought I had lost an eye, was when shooting a Remington Zouave replica a piece of scalding hot cap landed on my eyelid ( and they say flinching, and blinking, won't save you) and stuck to it. So, when my eyes went wide with surprise and pain, the hot cap fragment rolled up in the eyelid. If that doesn't get you into eye protection nothing will.

  Hungry Horse

[hanshi]

My experience as well, bones92.

Hungry Horse, I agree!  The only times I've been spit on - by a gun, not a person - was with caplocks.  It's happened on a number of occasions since I started BP in the mid 1960s.  Never had it happen with a flintlock.  I always wear glasses for protection AND both plugs & muffs for ear protection.

[Daryl]

I know everybody is more afraid of the flash of a flintlock than they are the pop of a percussion cap, but in my experience you are more likely to receive eye damage from a caplock than you are a flintlock. The only time I truly thought I had lost an eye, was when shooting a Remington Zouave replica a piece of scalding hot cap landed on my eyelid ( and they say flinching, and blinking, won't save you) and stuck to it. So, when my eyes went wide with surprise and pain, the hot cap fragment rolled up in the eyelid. If that doesn't get you into eye protection nothing will.

  Hungry Horse

Good warning HH. 
My wife had a tiny cap fragment - which turned green embedded into her right eye lid for many years. That taught both of us to wear eye protection with our cap locks ever since. Her cap-frag came from her Tc Seneca .36. It actually took about 15 years for her body to finally expel the frag - one day, it was gone and found on her pillow.

[n stephenson]

I  "caught " a piece of a musket cap in my cheek it was a pretty good sized piece. Big enough to leave a little stream of blood . Just another reason I don`t shoot perc.                Nate