Touch hole picks

[Hatman/2nd line]

Does anyone have any information on what kind of picks might have been carried under the cheek pieces of some of the rifles, especially the ones that only had eyelets? I'll try to add a picture of what I'm referring to. I know some rifles, especially southern would carry a feather in a hole in the stock but I'm thinking some other kind might have been used under the cheek piece.

 

[appalichian hunter]

My take on this would be any type of vent pick that would stay securely in the holding loop examples could cover a wide range from one as simple as a piece of wire with a loop on the end to hold onto, to as fancy as you would want, I believe at least in my opinion the feather in the stock would have been used in bad weather to protect the vent hole from wet weather.

 

[FishDFly]

Feather, makes a lot of sense

 

[appalichian hunter]

I carry a feather from a crow in my small tool kit that goes along with me and the flintlock when hunting comes in real handy sometimes if it's very wet out.

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

Yeah, I've read about some of the southeran rifles having a hole in them for just that purpose.

 

[RC]