Hunting in Snow….Wet Prime

[Jeff Murray]

Daryl,  your gloves sound like mine.  The coldest I have been out in over the past few years was 7 below.  My wife thinks I am an idiot and I have found it smart not to argue with her.  With many seasons of "experience" under my belt, I find it easier not to go out in extreme weather any more.  A good trappers's journal by the fire seems to have increased appeal.

[hanshi]

Never having hunted in snow I can't say much about that.  Virtually all my hunting has been in the deep south where there's little to no snow.  But OTOH I've hunted a fair amount in fog, mist and even pouring, frog-choking rain with flintlocks.  By simply being diligent and using my armpit & coat tails I've never had a flintlock fail to fire when I got back to the truck for the trip home.  Ambient moisture or even water has never dampened the pan prime or the main charge.  When at home I immediately take the gun to the basement which is still pretty cool but not cold like outside.
I must disagree with those who claim pan prime sucks moisture out of the atmosphere, even 4F won't do that.  But once the gun has been fired you WILL have soup in the pan unless it is wiped out thoroughly and dried.  After a rainy hunt I always fire the first load in the gun prior to going home.  Otherwise I leave it loaded.

[BJamesBeck]

Last year I was hunting in west-central Illinois in alternating heavy snow and freezing rain with a pretty high humidity percentage. My prime powder was turning to almost a solid hockey puck every 15-30 minutes. That was happening even with the lock tucked under my arm most of the time. A cow's knee is a bit out of the question for me hunting at that time of year, hoping to just happen upon one, because of how sparse the deer get. My solution was to just keep checking the pan and re-priming as necessary. Wasting a bit of powder but not a ton.

One of the days I probably reprimed the pan 20+ times, but when I got back to the house I primed fresh and the rifle fired without a problem.

I can't say for sure where the moisture comes from, whether it's from the atmosphere or the rain/snow, but I was pretty happy with the performance considering the conditions. All the iron sure needed a scrubbing after that day!

[Ric Carter]

Wet prime can certainly be a problem. Pulling your load is probably best, if it won't fire.
Years ago, I was hunting elk on the south fork of the Flathead River. Rain and show mixed all day, with heavy fog. I was refreshing the prime constantly, and was having serious doubts about it firing when needed.
I was heading back towards camp, and saw some movement in the brush ahead of me. I did a quick check of the pan, and saw a muddy mess in it.
Looking up, I saw a grizzly standing less than thirty yards away, looking directly at me. I stood there, considering the ramifications of a full bowel dump, when the bear fortunately decided I wasn't interesting enough to eat.
I waited for the bear to have enough time to move off, while drying my pan and pricking the vent. I was thinking I wished I had a cartridge rifle, rather than the .62 flinter that day.
As I was working on down the mountain, I saw an elk about 80 yards down the mountain.
I sat down, and took aim. I squeezed the trigger, and was rewarded with a flash in the pan. As I watched the elk wander off I was thinking I was sure glad I didn't have to shoot that bear.
I was still pondering this circumstance, when the rifle went off unexpectedly, a full twenty seconds after the flash in the pan. I made a clean kill shot on the stump in front of me, and had my trigger hand stuck under the opposite armpit, as it felt like my fingers had been torn off by the recoil. 180 gr, in a 7 1/2 # rifle will do that kind of thing.