Flintlocks & Poor Weather

Flintlocks & Poor Weather​


This is and always will be a touchy subject to the die hard flint lock hunter. Any time you talk flintlocks with a croud, you will hear the typical, Flintlocks in snow! No way, its hard enough to get them to fire when its dry out, you are just asking for tag soup.

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Tag soup, is of course, where you draw your big game tag, go hunting and come home with nothing but sore legs, a stiff back and not one piece of meat to show for all the effort you put into your hunt. Tag soup keeps you warm on a cold winter day while you sit out a snow storm and reflect back to that hunt and how you got skunked.
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Some like to make a big issue over flintlock's in poor weather. Die hard fans go to the most extreme to make sure everything is just right, but in the end, it boils down to plain common sense and a little ingenuity.​
What causes a Flintlock to be so unreliable in poor weather conditions?​


Flash Powder: What is flash powder? Flash powder, or more commonly called, Pan Powder, is typically 4fg grade black powder, that is super fine and ignites very rapidy, setting off the rifles main charge.​
Pan Powder should be used strictly as just that! Never load the barrel with 4fg powder due to the high pressures it builds up.

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Pan Powder in poor conditions ( Snow - Rain ) LOVES to suck up moisture like a sponge and turns to goop in as little as an hour, depending on moisture levels in the air.​
While hunting hogs for the first time in Oklahoma with a friend and family, I used my brand new flintlock, which I had received only 6 days prior to my hunt.​
On the first real day of the hunt, I was sitting in a 13' tall ladder stand and with the fog and a amount of mist in the air, I changed my pan powder Four times due to the moisture in the air causing the 4fg Goex powder to turn soft and gooey.​
After the second time of changing pan charges, it got to the point, that it was so bad, I had to go through my possibles bag and take an Alchol swab packet and wipe down the pan, frizzen and flint because they were completely wet with dew.​
Once I re-primed, I took that alcohol swap and wrapped it around both the flint and frizzen to help keep moisture out. It worked extremely well, until the swab eventually dried out.​
Keep half a dozen Alcohol Swab packets on you at all times while hunting! They do a very fast job at removing moisture from the pan, flint and frizzen.

Part Two​

Covering your Frizzen/Pan
A pan cover is designed to cover the entire lock and protect it from the elements. This item is typically referred to as a "Cows Knee" and is a semi-round piece of leather or waterproof Canvas that wraps around the lock/stock and has a long piece of leather thong to wrap around and hold it in place tightly.

When attaching the cows knee, I like to make sure my leather thong wraps around behind the Flint Cock and in front of the Frizzen to ensure the cover does not work up while hiking, exposing my Lock mechanism.

This is one item I did NOT have with me on my hog hunt and if I had had it, it would have made a big difference and would have cut down on a lot of the moisture problems I had encountered during that hunt.

Think of the cows knee as a rain coat. Its water proof, it sheds water/snow away, it keeps you dry.

If you are a Flintlock Hunter/Shooter, this is one MUST HAVE item to carry in your possibles bag at all times! Those blue skies can quickly turn foul as soon as your back is turned and you are hiking up the mountains through thick timber. Also think of the trees, plants, that are can be covered in dew as the night turns to day light and the plants are covered with a dewy mist that ALWAYS finds a way to drip down our neck as we walk past that cedar tree.

Hunting with the Cows Knee:

It seems crazy to be hunting with a piece of leather that limits how quickly you can engage the game you are hunting.

While hunting with the cows knee in place, I normally leave it loosely tied into place or not tied at all. Still hunting with the cows knee isn't difficult, but when taken by surprise, it can come as an adrenaline rush, trying to untie it and get ready for the shot.

When I am watching a field or water hole, the cows knees is just draped over the lock, easily removed at a moments notice. This can also be done while slowly stalking through the mountains as long as the hunter pays attention and holds the cows knee in place.

The Unknowns:
Yes, we have the "Unknowns" to worry about as well!

What are these Unknowns?
How does the lubricant that I applied to the internals of my lock perform when Cold weather hits? Will it gum/thicken, causing my locks "Fly" to stick, causing the lock to not engage full cock( ready to fire postion)?

Will the lubricant that I applied to the Frizzen Spring, freeze, gum/thicken, causing the frizzen to fail to fully open?

How will the lubricant that I applied to the barrel and metal parts perform under wet/cold conditions?

What can I do to prevent Rain/Snow from entering the bore? Most commonly, a Finger cot, balloon, Muzzle Cot is slipped over the end of the barrel and does a good job. Remember that these are very thin and made of latex which rips very easily. My personal way of carrying a rifle in wet weather is cradled in my arms and pointed at a slight toward angle.

Its basically simple techniques to keep your flintlock dry and reliable in all weather conditions.
Cows Knee
Alcohol Swabs
Rag to mop up dew
Barrel pointed slightly downward
Light grade lubricant inside and outside of the lock
Wax the stock channel & lock in-letting to prevent wood swelling
Plug touch hole with Tooth Pick to help seal out moisture that may contaminate main powder charge while in camp

Extreme Flintlock Shooters/Hunters,
Have been known to seal around the pan with beeswax to prevent water from seeping into the pan, ruining the pan charge. This is a great extra step to prevent your powder from becoming contaminated.
NEVER! melt the beeswax and pour it around the frizzen. Allow it to gum up and then apply it by hand as thin as possible.

Lots of folks like to keep the lock tucked away under their great coat, capote, or whatever other they are wearing, in lieu of using the cow's knee.  Me?  the dog and I stay home by the fire.  We did enough of that rain stuff in SE Alaska!  

~Kees~

this post has so many helpful to-do's that I rely liked it

I do about the same thing Winter Hawk does. I stopped going outside in rain years ago. But when I was tough back then I've hunted in fog, mist, sprinkles and frog choking downpours. NEVER had a FTF. I've also never experienced 4F or any other prime get damp in a clean and unfired gun. But once the gun is fired you then have to carefully wipe and dry the pan to keep moisture from getting sucked up by fouling.

yes black powder of any grade will wick up moisture! after all it is HYDROSCOPIC in it's makeup! I too have became a fair weather flintlock shooter, not a hunter anymore, at 77+++, in any weather.

At 73, I don't let my boys down. Rain snow...we go. Enjoy the outdoors too much I guess.

Well, 75 here and I no longer hunt anything; haven't hunted in 5 years. And if by some chance I DO take a notion to get out after game I'll stay in bed if it's raining, very windy, too snowy or too cold.

Hanshi wrote:Well, 75 here and I no longer hunt anything; haven't hunted in 5 years.  And if by some chance I DO take a notion to get out after game I'll stay in bed if it's raining, very windy, too snowy or too cold.

Sounds to me like you need your ole' buddy Stan here, to partner up with

even when I go to the range I take my OLD CLAM SHELL PHONE. just in case something happens, with CONJESTIVE HEART FAILURE! another reason I don't go out in the woods!!

toot wrote:even when I go to the range I take my OLD CLAM SHELL PHONE. just in case something happens, with CONJESTIVE HEART FAILURE! another reason I don't go out in the woods!!

Toot, you take good care of that ticker.

Mustang65, thank you for your concern & reply. I still have a load of hunting memories to fall back on. not only is my DICKYTICKER shot but stage 4 KIDNEY FALIURE, and a host of other maladies, the list goes on. so that is the reason that I posted I don't go out in the rain.

toot wrote:Mustang65, thank you for your concern & reply. I still have a load of hunting memories to fall back on.  not only is my DICKYTICKER shot but stage 4 KIDNEY FALIURE, and a host of other maladies, the list goes on. so that is the reason that I posted I don't go out in the rain.

I can honestly say I have walked in your shoes, but I won't discuss medical on a forum.
You take care Toot and don't let the illness defeat you, fight for all it's worth...I know that for a fact.

thank you for your kind reply, toot.

toot wrote:thank you for your kind reply, toot.

You know Toot, when they say when we are in our golden years, they must have meant golden for doctors and medical facilities, because they are getting the gold

a doctor once told me that the only thing in your Golding years that is Golding is your urine!

Mustang65, how true! at the doctors office I am a frequent flyer! and on a first name basis! I think that when your BLUE CROSS is maxed out and you are on life support they just pull the plug on you! as long as you are covered they will keep it plugged in?

toot wrote:a doctor once told me that the only thing in your Golding years that is Golding is your urine!

I don't know about that...they make me drink so much water, it dang near comes out more filtered than city water.

you have a point there!!! I never thought about that, me two, because of the kidneys.

I have stage 3 kidney failure and there is a pile of bubbles when I go. and the DIRETECTS THAT I take makes I gotta go very frequent! remember that old age isn't for sissies!

Every time you think old age causes all your illnesses and you complain!!
Think about that little child that is dying of cancer!! Apparently childhood isn't for sissies either. That is when I see no justice from the creator!! According to the bible children are born without sin, then why are they suffering some horrible deadly disease???!!!

toot wrote:I have stage 3 kidney failure and there is a pile of bubbles when I go. and the DIRETECTS THAT I take makes I gotta go very frequent! remember that old age isn't for sissies!

Take care Toot.