touch hole is dangerous?

[russecv58]

i was standing about 20 feet to the side of my dad, taking pictures of him shooting his flintlock, and when he touched it off, guess who got peppered by buring powder :cursing: . needless to say i stand clear since that day. :surrender:

 

[hardtimes]

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:

Sounds like a good idea. I just picked up my first flint lock and had no idea of the dangers of the touch hole. Thanks for the education.

 

[ODG34]

Ummm, It's probably this statement that sets people off "It is hard to believe it is as dangerous as some would have you believe." :shake:

 

[F.G. Ford]

I think that all flintlocks should have their touch holes permanently plugged :bull: :youcrazy: :blah: :surrender:
Just wait till someone from Kalifornication reads this.
Old Ford

 

[roundball]

Ebiggs, I thought the fundamental element of 'fire' in your OP was clear.
Unfortunately, 50 different human beings read the same article and come up with a couple dozen different interpretations...then when one reply is made slightly off-target based on a mis-interpretation, the down hill slide on that off-target reply begins and ends up in a free for all flyer way outside the bullseye.

Bottom line, its a good subject, brought out some information for some who were unaware, and made a proactive contribution to the MLF...ie: personally I would have assumed that the vent blast at 12 inches would have shredded that sheet of paper...so keep up the good work

:thumbsup:

 

[Macon Due]

Nicely said Roundball that was how I was reading it as well.
Macon

 

[Ken Rummer]

After reading this topic I scanned down the page and found another titled "Indian made flintlocks".
The 8th post down refers to a youtube video about India muskets.

The muskets in the video have a copper/brass part that looks like a shield to protect others from the flashhole blast.

Apparently this is an old problem.

 

[tv_racin_fan]

All I know is a young man from across the road still has his "tattoo" where he was helping a younger shooter who pulled the trigger before I had warned him of the danger.

 

[fiddler]

Back when I first started shooting flinters and still believed in the "more is better" school of thought as far as priming went, I used to set my hair on fire occasionally. 'Course I had more hair back then too......

 

[Robby]

touch hole is dangerous? Yes!
Another “myth” busted? :hmm: No!
Robby

 

[Tumblernotch]

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

:shake:

I trust neither of you guys have first hand knowledge of the “definitive face” test?

Yes, I do have first hand experience. We were in a competitive live fire military shoot and the guy on my left some how got a bit ahead of the rest of us, his vent hole linedup with my face. On the volley I took a terriffic blast to the side of my face, stunning me and recieving powder burns and a chunk of flintg in the ear, bloody mess. My buds dug the flint out and scrubbed the side of my face with a wash cloth. I still carry visible powder burns on the left side of my face and a large black spot on my ear. All of this from about 12" away.
Test it out for yourselfwith one of your own body parts. :wink:

AMEN! I've been hit that far away with the blast several times as well. One of the last times I was shooting offhand and one of our members sat down to my left to shoot off the bench. He didn't wait for me to shoot and touched off a load with a badly worn touch hole. I had my back to him and I can tell you a tee shirt ain't the best protection there is. I got everybody's attention! I believe a question about his parentage came up in the midst of all this. This was about 4 feet away.

 

[hanshi]

I also think the material has a lot to do with it. I'd always thought a rifle's flint lock would make a good fire starter seeing as how a simple flint & steel kit can do it. Flint & a steel won't set a sheet of paper on fire either without help. I've meant to test a flintlock as a campfire starter for a long time, now. I guess I'll try it before too long and find out. Right now I just wouldn't swear one way or the other.

In the past I've used cardboard sheets to protect shooters to my right. They always worked fine with no apparent damage I could see. Still wouldn't want to put my hand (again) between vent and paper. :shake:

 

[mmahlock]

To quote one of physics professors from university, "It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer."

 

[Dave K]

Stumpkiller, that may have been me, you mentioned earlier. I was shooting a SxS 16ga.flinter at the trap range. It was one that I had just put together and I was having trouble with the left lock throwing sparks (this is before I learned to send EVERY L&R in, for tuning). I was having a bad day. Earlier I tested the sharpness of the flint by dragging my shooting finger over it. That was a real "DUH" moment. Now I had the gun bloodied before I even got to shoot it and a very tender trigger finger! Then I wanted to see what the heck was going on with that left lock and ( I am right handed) held the gun down so I could watch the flint strike the frizzen to see where if any of the sparks were landing in the pan. You YEAH, she fired that time! My left hand was holding the forearm of the gun and my left wrist area was only inches away from the vent. WOW, did that blast hurt. I had blood now dripping down my left arm! I went into the club house to clean up the mess I had from bleeding everywhere and then took a sharp knife tip to get all the blackpowder that was embedded in my arm out. I don't want to be tattooed! Fortunately, I really wasn't hurt and neither was anyone else. But a very good lesson learned.

 

[biliff]

Although the wire was not able to hold the paper but blowing it away a few times this is the worst it did.

I believe this is the reason your paper doesn't get badly damaged but peoples faces/hands/body parts do.

Try stapling the paper to a piece of cardboard so it stays in place and repeating the experiment.

 

[zerb]

My brother and I were hunting on a wet day, and when we got back home,my brother couldn't get his flintlock to fire.We tried to push some dry powder through the touch hole, then I had the bright idea I would light it off with a lighter, because the flint was not throwing any sparks. I was aware of the flame that would come from the touch hole if it lit off, and I assumed my fingers were clear when I held the lighter to the hole. The charge lit off and I ended up with a nice burn on my thumb. Its one of the stupid things I've done, that I will never do again. Most of the time when you do something stupid it causes some form of pain, that in turn teaches you another lesson.

 

[ebiggs1]

Post: touch is dangerous?

 

[ebiggs1]

I can see that more in depth testing is in order!
But should I favor something that will likely burn or keep it reasonable? Maybe some of those turnips that fell off the truck with me? :hmm:

 

[rabjr]

I would glue some tow to the paper just for shits and giggles...

 

[sniper68]

"It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer."

Ya would think so..

Sometimes me thinks we think too much.

:idunno: