Interesting feature

I was scrolling through the Flintlock Collection web site and came upon a fowler by Joseph Gulley. On close inspection of the lock I noticed a small loop on the pan cover next to the vent. It would appear to move the prime away from the vent on closing the frizzen, to avoid hang fires.

If you go to http://www.flintlockcollection.net/joseph-gulley/ and click on the picture of the lock. I'm no expert in antique flintlocks but this is the first time I've seen this.

That is interesting, I wonder what that is??

:idunno:

I've seen such an attachment on pictures with other fowlers. However, without a hole like this one has. I assumed it was designed as a cover for the vent hole when the frizzen is down.

Croppy Boy,
From the overhead shots, it appears to be a seal between the frizzen and the barrel
Perhaps an atempt to " waterproof " the pan
I also am no expert :surrender: :surrender:
Granpappy told me an " ex " was a has been, and a " spurt " was simply a drip under pressure :hmm: :hmm: I humbly bow to those with much more experience than I :bow: :bow:
Shreck

Croppy Boy,
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the patent breech appears to have a recessed cut-out to accept the frizzen :hmm: :hmm: if you were to cant the gun to the right when priming; close the frizzen; and , return the gun to level position, the prime would then have an open path through the attached loop on the frizzen to the main charge, allowing waterproofing and ignition.
Or, I could be just :bull: :bull:
My 2 pence :v
Shreck

My take is that the maker recessed the breech and lined the touch hole, most likely platinum. He was minimizing the the depth of the touch hole by getting the pan closer to the charge. For clearance reasons the frizzen couldn't be moved and had to have an extension to fully cover the pan. Don't know about the hole.. :idunno:

What a beautiful firearm!! :idunno:

Agree with you. Interesting. Like you, I can only guess. Have never seen that. What I do know is I'm drooling over the rest of it.
The description is also interesting. With all the detail given, the two specifications we usually first ask ourselves are gauge/bore and rifle or smooth. From the inclusion of shot pouches, we can surmise it is a fowler. Bore size is not disclosed.

That was fairly common on late English flintlocks. It was intended that the lock would self-prime as the gun was loaded with the frizzen closed. That would pack the pan full of powder but when the frizzen flipped up that little loop would carry away the prime packed against the vent and thus eliminate what we now call "the fuse effect". Loading with a closed frizzen was also the reason for the safety catch which assured the gun could not fire from half-cock, although this particular lock does not have one.
The recessed breech was mainly cosmetic, it allowed for the lock to not stand out so far and made for a less bulky stock. Flint doubles were nearly always recessed in that way, elsewise they would be extremely wide across the locks.

Good info. Thanks.