Small Priming Horns

[Virginiarifleman]

Is there any documentation that suggests small priming horns were carried to prime with ? or were most rifles and fowlers primed from the main horn ?

[skillman]

There is documentation of priming horns. How common?  Good question.

Steve

[WKevinD]

A number of years ago I lived in an old farm house in Bethlehem NY (near Albany) there was a carriage house/barn/garage out back. I was exploring the second floor (of the carriage House) and found the remnants of a linen haversack with a large (14") horn and a small (8") horn buried in bat guano under the strap and shards of the bag. matching plain horns with pine plugs. The large horn still had a lump of powder in it.
No doubt that the small one was a primer. At the time I guessed 1800- 1820 for the set.
Kevin

[Tim Crosby]

 You may find this interesting.

  http://www.flintriflesmith.com/WritingandResearch/Published/priminghorns_mb.htm

   Tim C.

[gizamo]

Is there any documentation that suggests small priming horns were carried to prime with ? or were most rifles and fowlers primed from the main horn ?

It is a yes and no type of question. The old saw goes like this.

What time period? Where? And Who is using it?

In the 18th Century....unlikely. 
Early 19th Century....possible. This is the part about where and who.  Military, Militia using cartridge boxes or a market hunter type.
Mid 19th Century...likely.

Finer powders being available in the timeline also comes into play.

[Virginiarifleman]

You may find this interesting.

  http://www.flintriflesmith.com/WritingandResearch/Published/priminghorns_mb.htm

   Tim C.

   Very interesting Tim, Thanks for posting it.

[skillman]

I agree with Giz. Any question needs to be prefaced with a time. Early in the history of firearms a priming flask was even military issue. The powder being very coarse. As powder got better there was no reason and the military cartridge made loading a very strict process.
 We have samples of them but it is very uncertain about dates. I really appreciate Tim's link and would tend to agree with the information. This will always probably be a point of discussion.

Steve

[Kopfjaeger]

You may find this interesting.

  http://www.flintriflesmith.com/WritingandResearch/Published/priminghorns_mb.htm

   Tim C.

Interesting article Tim. I'm sure others found it interesting also.