touch hole is dangerous?

[Va.Manuf.06]

Good Lord, you just fall off the turnip truck? :shake:

:shake:

ebiggs, don't be so skeptical, I am afraid Mike is right. (I was wondering what that was bouncing down the road this morning on my way to work.) :haha:

Seriously, one regularly seen "identifying feature" of a former soldier in the flintlock days was a powder burn mark on the left cheek or jaw. It is seen in descriptions of military deserters and occasionally escaped criminals.

When firing in ranks, your cheek is about 12 to 18 inches from the soldier next to you - you can feel the heat and often an occasional burning particle. Add that to the often larger touch holes often seen on original guns and occasionally on modern reproductions and it is easy to see how this happens.

 

[Stumpkiller]

The side-blast from a 1/16" or #50 hole is a mite different from the 7/64" to 1/8" vent hole my 'ol Bess had; plus a pan that held about eight grains of powder.

First time I fired that I had a low and wide brimmed hat on and smoked both my eyes well and good.

A Bess at night.

 

[Randall Slemp]

Yep, sure beats plinking with an air rifle doesn't it? :wink:

 

[Diggerfly]

That's a cool picture!

I just "got" a guy at the range last Friday.

Fortunately he was sitting with his back to me so the particles mostly hit the back of his neck.

For some reason the young guy putting people on lanes just filled up lanes 1-5 leaving 6-10 open on the 100 yard indoor rifle range, he knew I was shooting black powder too. :hmm:

Anyhow, I was on lane 4 for a bit when a guy comes in and sets up on lane 5. He is sitting on the bench with his back to me when I fire a shot. I see him flinch then slap at his neck out of the corner of my eye. I asked him if I had just got him and he said he thought I had. :shocked2: I apologized and moved down a couple of lanes.

He was about 4 feet away when I fired.

 

[jethro224]

Check this topic. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/.../852144/hl/"powder+burn"/fromsearch/1/#852144

I've been sprayed a few times. Never close enough to get the tattoo. It hurts a little.

 

[jerrywh]

A bullet only makes a small hole in a piece of paper also.

 

[Trench]

My finger was in front of my touch hole...say about 2 inches and it felt like someone hit it with a hammer. I had some temporary tatoos from it.

In competition someone elses face could be three or four feet away from your touchhole. That's why flashguards are nice for that sort of thing.

 

[cas]

I was going to post the question last week”¦ "How far does flint go?"

I had a new 3/4" flint vanish after a shot last week and I looked for it for probably about 45 minutes in total over the course of the shooting session. I never found it. The only place it could have gone was over the berm, which was about 20-25 feet away.

 

[hanshi]

My palm got a major, and painful, tattoo some years back when I accidentally let it get in the way of a 1/16" vent. I don't even want to think about one larger.

 

[Carl Aldridge]

I have a 12"X18" plywood shield that I set up to my right when shooting from a bench, this after a sliver of flint hit my daughter in the leg ,and she was over 12 feet away! After that incident I made the shield and use it when ever I am at a public range.

 

[VEARL]

Last Sunday at the Crosstimber Club's range, I got peppered from a friends flintlock rifle. He was approx 18 inches to my left. Will really get your attention quick.
Said to him " Tom..I think that is your only bulls eye today.
Next time,will wait for him to shoot before I step up to the line :surrender:

 

[rabjr]

I have a 12"X18" plywood shield that I set up to my right when shooting from a bench, this after a sliver of flint hit my daughter in the leg ,and she was over 12 feet away! After that incident I made the shield and use it when ever I am at a public range.

Same here. It doesn't take much to make and setup a shield. :thumbsup:

 

[Fred_Dwyer]

I used to shoot with a geezer that had made a small easel to hold a steel plate on the bench to his right to block the spitzensparken. He has a deflector on his flashpan also, it didn't seem to do much good. That plate had been repainted 3 times, yellow, green, and the latest red. The paint was burnt through in numerous places.

 

[ebiggs1]

I am sure you all had the experiences you posted. I am sorry anyone had any mishap. Maybe some of you should be a little safer. But the fact remains that after a dozen shots, that piece of paper was the worse one. Plus I boosted the contrast in Photoshop to make it show better. It was less than 12 inches away form a #50 touch hole. Also this little test does not take into consideration the flash from the pan powder. I never commented on the flint breaking and flying off somewhere. And I know anything is possible but I still think causing a fire is unlikely. Please don't read anything into the original post that isn't there. I am not advocating anyone should be careless. No one should ever shoot any muzzle loader with out safety glasses as I have stated many times before. Always be safe but there is possible and there is probable.

 

[cutshurt]

I've had my finger to close to the hole as well and ... man did that hurt and the powder that it left in the tip of my finger hurt for a good long time ... ouch

Darrel

 

[jethro224]

I think most sparks would probably just bounce off of a sheet of paper.
I wonder what would happen if you hung a sheet of light colored flannel instead. Maybe a hank of tow. Something that the sparks could "stick" to.

 

[Zonie]

IMO, a piece of paper is hard to light with a powder flash that lasts for less than a second.

Perhaps if you had used some dry tinder your results would have been different?

I have read that more than one person has ignited a fire that way.

Stumpkiller mentioned it but Musketmans story which he told on the forum years ago is worth repeating.

He was shooting his Brown Bess and used a dry bale of hay to rest the gun on.
When the smoke from the shot started to clear he looked to his right only to find the hay bale had caught fire.
He didn't know if it was caused from the pans flash or from the flame from the vent hole but there was no mistaking the blaze.

 

[BrownBear]

I agree that paper is a poor test medium. Better would be for the shooter to hold his hand out there in the same spot and record the results. But this is a family site, so please use clean language. :rotf:

 

[shortbow]

I don't know if it was sparks, unburnt powder or bits of flint, but I was once hit in the face from a flinter about three feet to my left and it hurt plenty. I'm more careful now of where I stand, whether it's me shooting or the other guy. Just something to be aware of.

 

[Robinnz]

It won't set anything on fire, but you can get flash-burns or tattooing if you get too close.

I can vouch for the tattoo statement sat cross legged while shooting my underhammer ,still got the marks on my calf muscle