using a burning match cord with a flintlock musket in a pinch?

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lobsterman89

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has anyone done this or think this would work good? if you could not find suitable flint or sparking rocks for your flintlock, you could use some cotton cord to light the powder in the pan like a matchlock?
I know it's a nutty idea, but I started thinking about it and wonder what other people think of it?
 
A version of this is called a snapping matchlock.
Not a new concept, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_matchlock , a tanegashima is an example.
In a pinch or if you want a different approach in you shooting. giver a try.
I hear the trick is to set the match at the rite spot so the prime wont be pushed out of the pan or the match be stubbed out all the while not setting off the gun with the prime in the pan and a match in your hands at the hammer of the lock. A bit tricky but dont prime when the match is any where near the vent.
 
lobsterman89 said:
lighting a flashpan full of blackpowder with a lighter? are you nuts? lol
and as I said, no flints or sparkling rocks to be found.
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In my young and foolish days I tried that ONCE with a buddies Tennessee Mountain rifle that snapped the frizzen off. I flicked the flame of the Bic to the side of the pan, thinking in all my misguided wisdom that I could light powder without causing any issues. The guy was shooting cross-sticks 50 yards and I got the shot off with this method. He scored a ten-X with that shot and i was picking powder residue out of my hand the rest of the day.
Note...first sentence..."I tried that ONCE".
Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Alonzo said:
In my young and foolish days I tried that ONCE with a buddies Tennessee Mountain rifle that snapped the frizzen off. I flicked the flame of the Bic to the side of the pan, thinking in all my misguided wisdom that I could light powder without causing any issues. The guy was shooting cross-sticks 50 yards and I got the shot off with this method. He scored a ten-X with that shot and i was picking powder residue out of my hand the rest of the day.
Note...first sentence..."I tried that ONCE".
Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

yes, that's what I was thinking. but the method I was considering was taking a burning match cord(piece of smoldering cord saturated with a nitrate) and fixing it in the jaws of the ####/hammer, allowing me to use a flintlock as a makeshift matchlock musket.
 
yes, that's what I was thinking. but the method I was considering was taking a burning match cord(piece of smoldering cord saturated with a nitrate) and fixing it in the jaws of the ####/hammer, allowing me to use a flintlock as a makeshift matchlock musket.
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Better off applying the match cord to the open pan when you are ready to shoot then to mess around with a burning match when your not. Certainly do not go wandering around with a smouldering match hanging over a flintlock pan, closed or not!

FOr what it is worth: With rifle on a rest use your left hand thumb and index finger to lower a cord on a stick (i.e with your hand not in front of the vent) to the priming. Remaining fingers as a steadying tripod. Play around with your hold/body position and the angle/legth of the match/stick. Given a choice in perfect weather when time was not an issue this is the way you'd choose to ignite a firearm. Of course you are not holding this rifle with two hands so load accordingly or tie down the muzzle to your camel bag.

Very accurate shooting is possible this way. If you doubt it ask any survivor of the retreat from Kabul!
 
lobsterman89 said:
yes, that's what I was thinking. but the method I was considering was taking a burning match cord(piece of smoldering cord saturated with a nitrate) and fixing it in the jaws of the ####/hammer, allowing me to use a flintlock as a makeshift matchlock musket.
Click to expand...

Or you could do it like Edward Teach, keep a couple of braids of hair on slow burn:D

blackbeard.jpg
 
I think you would have a hard time getting the slow match to strike the powder and if you did by say wrapping the match with wire so that you could hold the match in the desired location, I think there is a good chance that you would either stub the match out and/or push the powder out of the way.

I have fired a friend's gun by holding my gun upside down over his pan with his frizzen open. A good lock will fire upside down and the flash will ignite the priming in the non funtional lock

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
I think you would have a hard time getting the slow match to strike the powder and if you did by say wrapping the match with wire so that you could hold the match in the desired location, I think there is a good chance that you would either stub the match out and/or push the powder out of the way.

I have fired a friend's gun by holding my gun upside down over his pan with his frizzen open. A good lock will fire upside down and the flash will ignite the priming in the non funtional lock

cheers mooncoon
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I remember that ! at Heffley Creek IIRC :)

Cheers nessy.
 
Alonzo said:
In my young and foolish days I tried that ONCE with a buddies Tennessee Mountain rifle that snapped the frizzen off. I flicked the flame of the Bic to the side of the pan, thinking in all my misguided wisdom that I could light powder without causing any issues. The guy was shooting cross-sticks 50 yards and I got the shot off with this method. He scored a ten-X with that shot and i was picking powder residue out of my hand the rest of the day.
Note...first sentence..."I tried that ONCE".
Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Wes:

Last night I started typing a response to this thread to relate this very tale (..... I was the shooter, guys .....) but decided not to embarrass you ..... or myself for letting you do it! Since you've 'fessed up on your own, I guess I can jump in and take my medicine, too ..... :rolleyes:

As "Alonzo" says, it turned out that the shot (first one on a 5-shot target) was an incredibly good one, considering the circumstances, so I accepted the loan of a functioning flintlock rifle from another shooter to finish the target. The loaner rifle was one of the fairly crappy Spanish or lower-quality Italian ones, as I recall .... at any rate, it had a horrible trigger-pull and let-off compared with with the set-trigger of my DGW Tennessee Mountain Rifle .... but I nevertheless went on to have the first-place target in the event!

Those were the good old days, eh Alonzo? About thirty years later I still have that rifle .....
tennmr02.jpg
 
GrantR said:
Wes:



Those were the good old days, eh Alonzo? About thirty years later I still have that rifle .....
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Oh Gawd yeah, those were the days.
Remember the fellow who came out to one of the winter shoots with his new muzzleloader. If I recall he shot the bullet split, missed the blade but made a square hole with his patched round ball. I still get that image of him telling his son to go to the truck to get a bigger hammer in order to ram the ball down the barrel. We all asked him about his overly tight load, he replied, well they say the ball should fit tight in the barrel. He was using a .490 round ball, in a 45 cal rifle...and was wondering why the patch was cutting on every shot, plus the square hole in the paper. Hmmmm...what was the nickname we gave him???????
 
I once saw a small cannon fired by using a cigarette. Fortunately the cigarette was long, not a butt. It disappeared. The shooter's fingers were clear of the touch hole.

I doubt that snapping matchlocks had springs anywhere near as strong as those in any flintlock.
In desperation, a flintlock could be fired with a linstock arrangement, like a handcannon.
 
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