not by me, of course. i went with kevin to the shooting range so he could try out his new flintlock rifle that a guy in the 114th custom-made for him. it looks very fancy, and very authentic.
this is the flint part of the gun. you pour the…powder…down in there, and that thing on the left side, that looks like a black rock, is the flint. i’m pretty sure that’s how it goes, but when kevin explains stuff like this to me, even though i try with all my might to focus and listen and understand, i have a lot of trouble focusing and listening and comprehending what the hell he’s talking about.
this is all the stuff. the ear protectors, and he puts the little discs in the bag underneath the bullet. the jar in front is BEAR GREASE, which is usually in our fridge and the other night amy was looking for mayonnaise and pulled out the bear grease instead. the thing right in back of the bear grease is the…thing…that kevin stores the powder in. at least one of those slender things is what he measures the powder into so it’s the correct amount to put into the gun. i should make a video of this whole deal and that way he’d be explaining it instead of me trying to remember and making things up.
here he is, getting ready.
and he aims, and he fires, and…nothing. the first time it worked, but the second time there was a problem and it didn’t go off.
here he’s fixing…something and adjusting. lots of adjusting.
getting ready to shoot again.
and it’s good! the target is for a postal shoot. it’s called that because he shoots five rounds and then mails in the target, and it’s a competition and that’s the entire amount of postal shoot knowledge i have.
a close-up of the target – as you can see, he did really, really well, especially considering this was the first time he’d used the gun. he’s getting better and better at the shooting, and he was already good to begin with.
walking away from the target.
i have more photos, more things to say, but i have to give a massage right now. i can’t believe it’s FRIDAY already. the summer is starting to gallop along and it’s not even officially summer yet.
ok then,
friday grace.
Grace, you did a good job explaining things for never having seen a flintlock fired before! Just a couple clarifications from me….
The little pan on the right of the barrel is the Flash Pan. It is covered by the Frizzen when I cock the hammer after pouring FFFFg black powder in the Flash Pan. When I pull the trigger, the hammer hits the Frizzen, and (hopefully) causes a little shower of sparks which drop into the Flash Pan and ignite the powder, which then travels through the flash hole and ignites the powder (FFFg black powder) inside the barrel.
When I load the rifle, I measure powder from my powder flask (the brass container) into a measuring tube (the smaller brass tube thingy) and pour it down the barrel. Then I dip a cotton round patch (the white disk) in the bear grease (to make it slippery and keep the burnt powder fouling soft) and put it on top of the barrel opening. I then put a round lead ball on top of the patch, and using my ramrod, I shove the bullet and patch down the barrel until it snugs up to the powder at the bottom of the barrel.
The times when I pulled the trigger and the hammer dropped onto the frizzen, no sparks were created because the face of the flint was changing shape as I shot with it, so I had to pull the flint and move it so it would spark again.
oh boy. i’ve read this three times and it’s hard to visualize so far. but it’s early (for me) on saturday morning…i think we’ll have to make a video of the process.