Rainy day flintlocks

[Mike Lyons]

What does everyone do in the rain?  I sat in an area 12 hours yesterday and only had a flock of turkey and a few squirrels go by.  Every time I checked my pan,  it was soup.  At the end of the day I tried shooting the ball out and couldn’t get past the flash in the pan.  I used a plastic bag and glove.  I then put it under a dry log.  It’s almost as if the powder would drawl moisture. Any tips?

[Mike Brooks]

That's why I bought I house, so I didn't have to sit in the rain anymore.

[hanshi]

A fired gun will suck up moisture like a sponge.  I've hunted with flintlocks in downpours and never had that problem as long as I didn't first fire the gun.

[smylee grouch]

mix up a cap tin worth of bees wax/bear lard (deer tallow is ok too) the consistancy of peanut butter, put a SMALL bead around the pan/frizzen after its been primed and close the frizzen down on the seal.

[Mike Lyons]

That's why I bought I house, so I didn't have to sit in the rain anymore.

My next place will be in an area where I won’t have to leave the house or barn or some fixed structure. It’s been 12 years or more sense I’ve been hunting.  I’ve been butchering buddies deer for half the past years. Rain, snow or shine, I was taking off and going this year.  I enjoyed every minute of freezing cold and soaked to the bone. 

[Flint62Smoothie]

My friends and I setup a primitive camp in VT for the recent muzzleloading season, ferrying the supplies on a toboggan (there was snow whilst setting up) and stayed a week. It rained for the forst 3-days of hunting. I used a cow’s knee, overlapped welt on the stitch, and well treated w/ beeswax.

Using 4Fg priming powder, I never had an issue, as did none of us. One night, I got wicked tangled in brambles on my out and lost the cow’s knee. Most days I wore 100% wool products and just kept the lock tucked up underneath my armpit. Less a sore pit a week later ... the lock was protected.

One day in a torrential downpour I wore the oilskin poncho over my wool items as shown, thos poncho from Panther Primitives. You can see the rifle tucked up underneath, but it was easier to manuever in & out than it looks.

After 4-days of hunting, I had to leave due to an emergency at home and rather than bother to pull the ball, I shot it out and the ignition was instantaneous.

[Flint62Smoothie]

ADD:  Four days later and a friend got a shot at a 4-pointer and he too had instant ignition - from same load as loaded before the heavy rains. Unfortunately he hit the one sapling between him and the buck!

We also shoot from ‘clean’ guns and do not bring our loaded guns into any heated area ...

[Flint62Smoothie]

Here’s that same poncho whilst on stand. Not having a longhunter hat yet ... I used my ... err, wickedly not historically correct ball cap (ouch!) under my 100% wool  orange voyager cap to keep the rain of my period correct eyewear.

You can see that the ‘skirt’ of the poncho is enough to cover the firelock whilst on stand.

[Huntschool]

Like smylee grouch said above..... Yer shootin a flint lock...  learn to "waterproof" the pan...  Some locks have a ridge or lip to help but really carry some sort of fairly stout grease and just dab some of it around your pan and barrel fit.  Its amazing what it will do.  I use my vent pick or a twig to put it on.  A patch knife works well also....

[Darkhorse]

Your photo shows the barrel pointing up. Don't do that.     It allows rainwater to run down barrel and stock right into the pan. Keep your barrel pointed down.
I use a oily cows knee when hunting in wet weather. I sometimes carry my rifle in blanket case lined with heavy canvas.
Personally I try not to hunt in the rain anymore.

[Brokennock]

I have not had any issues with firing my 1st shot after being in the rain all day, even a few days later if I left the gun loaded. I start with a clean pan, and regardless of weather I wipe it with a little alcohol before priming, I seal the edges of the closed pan with my beeswax/olive oil blend. I use a well greased cow's knee arranging the seam and ties in such a way as to form a @!*% to keep water from running back down the stock/right side barrel flat and into the lock (it's easier said than done to keep the muzzle down all the time). Try to keep the muzzle down as much as possible and to keep the lock tucked up under your arm.

Some folks use a type of scabbard that covers from muzzle to tang screw and is only closed at the muzzle end, a couple strings from that end back to the shooter allow it to be removed quickly for a shot. Can't remember who makes and markets them, seem to remember it was a forge serving the reenacting community.


A second shot in wet weather?? 
That's a whole nother kettle of fish.

[bob in the woods]

Cow's knee, and a thin layer of bear oil/ bee's wax to seal the pan etc .  when the humidity is so high it feels like I'm breathing water, I use 3 F in the pan instead of 4 F   .  As far as reloading in the rain, I prefer to hunt using paper cartridges. They are waterproofed/lubed with bear oil/ bee's wax.  Tear off the end , insert, and push it on down. 

[Hungry Horse]

I never hunted in the winter with 4F in the pan, it’s too hygroscopic. The biggest enemy you have in wet weather is your brimmed hat, or your billed cap, they funnel water down your bore while you’re loading, and onto your pan while you’re priming, and shooting. I don’t bother with a cows knee, but do carry my gun with the lock sheltered under my arm. A little grease of some sort around the pan edge is a good idea. That grease doesn’t have to be anything special Vaseline works fine. Heck, a little lard, or even chapstick, work.

  Hungry Horse

[Flint62Smoothie]

Your photo shows the barrel pointing up. Don't do that ....

Uhhhh .... that was for the picture only, in-betweenst the rain ...    , but thanks for the reminder.

[terryk]

As a partial solution I mix fletch dry powder with the 4F. It was originally used as water proofing on natural feathers for archery.  You can actually pour water on treated 4F, and it beads off.  I looked at the MSDS and the stuff is aluminum oxide, but it is super light and white like snow.  The down side is that it makes the powder slower to flash.  It is sold by RMC as Wonder Powder.   It is standard stuff to carry hunting here.  It is also great to sweep/clean out the flash pan after the first shot.  It drys out the pan.
Lucky for me RMC is 15 minutes from my house. 

 

[OldMtnMan]

Shoot a caplock.


Hey! Why are you getting out a rope?

[Dan'l 1946]

Shoot a caplock.


Hey! Why are you getting out a rope?

The one time I had a rifle  fail to light off in the wet it was a caplock. On the other hand, my flintlock rifle wound up with a thin coat of ice covering it and still fired instantly. And I had to scrape ice from the frizzen face before the shot.
                                                          Dan

[Mike Brooks]

 Before I bought a house and I was still living in the bushes, I never had trouble getting a previously fouled gun go off in wet weather. I always kept the lock area tucked into my arm pit and was careful to not tip the barrel up so all the water would run in the pan. I would leave this fouled gun loaded for several days and it always went off and I didn't have any problems with corrosion in the breech. Of course, I'm a professional, you shouldn't try this yourself at home if you're a novice.

 I still prefer to stay inside when it's raining, except for when I'm fishing.....

[Turtle]

 Old fashioned strip window calk works good to put around the pad for waterproofing. A piece of electrical tape over the muzzle keeps water out. You can substitute PC stuff to do this. I have been using Lehiegh valley in the barrel and on the pan. it seems not to damp the powder and retards the rust. I also plug the vent right away after de-primeing. If your in doubt, you can dump the prime and clean out the touchhole with a nipple pick, and push a little fresh prime in the hole.

[OldMtnMan]

Shoot a caplock.


Hey! Why are you getting out a rope?

The one time I had a rifle  fail to light off in the wet it was a caplock. On the other hand, my flintlock rifle wound up with a thin coat of ice covering it and still fired instantly. And I had to scrape ice from the frizzen face before the shot.
                                                          Dan

I'm picky and have never had a caplock failure. As long as the nipple is dry and the cap fits tight. Water can't do any harm. Providing the channel is clear and the powder is dry, but that's the same for a flinter.

[WadePatton]

That's what my grease-hole is primarily used for: holding the tallow for sealing up the pan, and making a dam to stop bbl gutter effect from tipping skyward, lastly for lubing a patch if my prelubes go missing or become unserviceable.

Don't miss the underside of the cover either--wiping up the lock after a shot.

I learned this the very first day I hunted with a flinter:

Finally got that sucker together and shooting and it wasn't quite done, but ready enough for a hunt.  I was completely amazed HOW EASY it was to penetrate tangles and bush and handle such a long gun in my woods. Actually found it easier than toting a scoped, sling-equipped carbine--with their telescopes or slings or slung-mode bbl snagging on stuff all the time.  The long-rifle, in-hand just slipped right through any spot I could maneuver my 6' frame no problem.  What I was experiencing was so different than all those laments about "tight cover" and "long rifles" so I was focused on that.  THEN, after a few hours of this slipping and sneaking around, I finally thought to open my pan. 

It was empty.  The wind and my casual handling of the gun had let all the fine powder slip out the tiniest gaps. It was dry and windy that day.

Since then I grease/seal the pan, wet or dry or windy or calm.  Don't care.  Tallow is cheap. And I started priming with FF. Now it's always there, every time I check.  Heck yeah, I check.  So happy I didn't get a shot on game that first day 

[OldMtnMan]

I wasn't as lucky Wade. The first time I hunted with a flintlock I was pretty excited. I snuck up on a nice muley buck. Put the sight on him and squeezed the trigger. Click!

All the pan powder was gone. After much cussing I started to seal the pan and it was fine from then on. Live and learn.

[Mike Lyons]

Thanks everyone.  I’ll start sealing the pan.  It was great getting back out in the woods and I enjoyed the time while having a rifle that would have misfired moreso than hunting moose, caribou, sheep or anything for that matter.  I’ve been in a hunting slump for several years.  Being in the woods, climbing hills with gun fire around me has been a terrifying thought.  I tried going in the woods about 12 years ago on the first day of buck season and it didn’t go well.  I’ve did some pretty crazy things to shoot animals in the past but now I enjoy the time I get to be in the woods more than shooting animals.  It was sort of depressing when the sun started fading and I had to make my way back to the truck.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Vet,

While I do hunt with a fouled barrel, I am pretty meticulous about cleaning the pan and touch hole area between shots while hunting in humid weather.  The fouling will really suck in the moisture.

When the water is falling from the sky I will grease the pan/frizzen and I use a cow's knee.  I didn't see it mentioned yet, but along with sealing the pan-frizzen contact areas, I grease the seam between the lock and the barrel just forward of the pan.  If you imagine rain collecting on the barrel, it will run down the side, then along the step between barrel and stock towards your lock.  You want a bit of grease right there before it gets to the pan.  The reason is that the seam between stock and barrel and/or between lock and barrel can actually wick water along.  Filling that seam with grease will obstruct that wicking action.

[Leatherbark]

I use SPG to seal the pan and run some along the barrel/wood ahead of the lock. With the cow's knee, the first firing is usually Ok but if you have to reprime after shooting make sure you clean the fouling out of the pan really good because that fouling will make the new charge soup up quick from the humidity in two shakes of a sheeps tail.