SHTF PREPPER black powder gun

I have a Pedersoli Kentucky which is probably 80's vintage. It came with both a cap lock and a flint lock.

The drum unthreads and a touch hole liner can then be threaded in the hole on the breech.
 
The most reliable and available means of ignition would be some sort of electric squib. Just my $.02, coming from the stand point of MacGuyver/ improvisation based on universally available components (flintlock not naturally found in North America in most places), but batteries, resistant wire, dc power sources etc is a bit more available and would do the job just fine.

Of course, purists are going to cringe
 
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fat tony said:
The most reliable and available means of ignition would be some sort of electric squib. Just my $.02, coming from the stand point of MacGuyver/ improvisation based on universally available components (flintlock not naturally found in North America in most places), but batteries, resistant wire, dc power sources etc is a bit more available and would do the job just fine.

Of course, purists are going to cringe
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a lot of guys running matchlocks use a glow plug for a nitro RC cars since good match cord has to be made by you and the stuff to make it is not the nicest stuff in the world
 
fat tony said:
That is interesting Antiqueguy - going to have to look into that!
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its pretty easy to set off the nitro fuel that's mostly methanol with a bit of a additive in it(same thing used in many different forms of race cars dragsters and funny cars come to mind) but trust me these little glow plugs get hot there's a little starter used on the that heat up the plug runs off of a single AA battery im sure a different method can be made up if needed
 
So after the bbq starter suggestion and the rc innovation, we arrive back at the point where you may just as well hord a skid or two of .22 lr for a life time supply of ammo that can kill any animal on the planet given proper placement.
I get the mental challeng of indipendent existence in the face of armegedon and it is fun to imagine different sinarios but IMHO reality places the solution to this exersize clearly in front of anyone who has thought it through.
 
For the prepared person that insists on a cartridge firing shotgun, I think one would be doing very well indeed with a modern drilling combination gun, a stash of plastic & brass hulls in reserve. Maybe a larger bore of rifle calibre underneath the two shotgun barrels, that could easily accept a charge of smokeless or black powder with a cast lead bullet if need be. With good sights one could use the rifle barrel at distant targets/game. As well as the fairly quick choice of two birdshot/buckshot/slug in reserve.
With normal extractors, those 3 very valueable and pesky little brass hulls would not eject into a nearby creek to be lost forever.

maybe?
 
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antiqueguy said:
a lot of guys running matchlocks use a glow plug for a nitro RC cars since good match cord has to be made by you and the stuff to make it is not the nicest stuff in the world
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Perhaps you could show us a photo of someone using a glo plug. Even though I have a couple of matchlocks and know of one or two others with matchlocks, with one exception, I have never seen one shot in competition, much less with a glo plug. The one I did see was a Swiss friend who brought his over a number of years ago and he used a slow match to ignite his charge.

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
Perhaps you could show us a photo of someone using a glo plug. Even though I have a couple of matchlocks and know of one or two others with matchlocks, with one exception, I have never seen one shot in competition, much less with a glo plug. The one I did see was a Swiss friend who brought his over a number of years ago and he used a slow match to ignite his charge.

cheers mooncoon
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your not going to find any pics now I was looking at some threads a number of years ago and stumbled on it
 
The only reference I ever found to an electrically fired muzzleloader (recent project) was a guy who made one in .22 using the circuitry from an old disposable camera with the flash.

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/electric_ml/electricml.html

19th century illustration & description of an old electric muzzleloader

http://firearmshistory.########.ca/2010/05/exotic-firing-mechanisms-electrical.html
 
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fat tony said:
The only reference I ever found to an electrically fired muzzleloader (recent project) was a guy who made one in .22 using the circuitry from an old disposable camera with the flash.

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/electric_ml/electricml.html

19th century illustration & description of an old electric muzzleloader

http://firearmshistory.########.ca/2010/05/exotic-firing-mechanisms-electrical.html
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When I was growing up on the farm we used to build all sorts of contraptions. Anything from go-carts and mini-bikes to rockets powered by used CO2 cartridges stuffed with black powder. Don't bother with the latter as they are inherently unsafe by design. Modern hobby rocket engines are much safer, more practical and therefore much more fun!

I spent a fair bit of time playing around with packets of matches wrapped in masking tape to make a bang (firecrackers were no longer available). I graduated from those to larger constructions ignited by wire and battery. You see, I had figured out that the bang had as much to do with the quality of the containment as with the quantity of fuel and after a certain number of layers of tape it isn't possible to make the striker reliably contact the matches anymore so I turned to electrical means. At first I used the wire from flash bulbs (remember those?) and then I noticed that a single strand of fine copper wire burned up when placed across a 9volt battery so I used that to good results. This coupled with the servo from a toy car makes an excellent wireless fire control mechanism. Just be sure to test the servo to determine which state is NO (Normally Open) on the control and know the range limits of the toy.

A glow plug may work on a matchlock and this has me thinking that a spark-plug might be a good starting point for a muzzleloader experiment. I would be interested in comparing the relative pressures a spark plug might experience compared to the chamber of a muzzle loading rifle. The only problem I see is that once the rifle was loaded, there would be powder between the anode and cathode of the spark plug which could short out the circuit. The device will require a coil and a coil of sufficient output will make this a moot point.

Thinking that someone might have already gone down this path, I did a search and found this: ht tp://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=401634

If you are worried about finding a 9volt in a SHTF situation then I remind you of how simple battery technology is and refer to the bagdad battery as proof.

To be honest I am more inclined to the pallet of .22lr / ammo as a strategy but have to admit that it isn't very portable. A crossbow and a slingshot would probably be my backup. After that comes many other arms including some air powered. My percussion rifle and a future flintlock figure into the mix as well. Heck, having more just means that more of my close friends are better armed.
 
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If I had to guess, I would bet on 'any device' but the reality after practice could easily prove different once you get lawyers and politicians involved.

Are you thinking in terms of import? I haven't yet seen one of these offered in Canada." Please excuse my ignorance. I don't completely fathom the "Jerkit' smiley in this context. Is this just another innocuous toy we don't get to play with due to our convoluted laws?
 
Get a 20 ga/62 cal Trade Gun in flint ignition: they cut the mustard for about 200 years. A .600" PRB will kill anything in Nova Scotia.
 
Ol' Flinter said:
Get a 20 ga/62 cal Trade Gun in flint ignition: they cut the mustard for about 200 years. A .600" PRB will kill anything in Nova Scotia.
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best oiption as along as you have good real black powder considering we are talking a hunting gun a few pounds of powder would last a while and in the barrel you can use say 10gr of real BP and then a sub like pyrodex or homemade sulfur less BP making the real BP last a long time. reason for this is you need real BP in the pan and near the flash hole real BP will ignite at a lower temp in turn setting off the sub/homemade stuff.

a smooth bore is the best idea as you can use shot or round ball and if needed anything can be used as a projectile or projectiles you can cast round balls old 100% cotton tee shirts can be used for patch's for the balls and newspaper wasps nest balled dry grass just about anything can be used as wadding for shot or rocks.

it would be best to stock up on flints real BP subs and lead/lead shot
 
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