mauser06

i heard a perfectly tuned flintlock will fire upside down....how many have tried this?? is that a good way to tell?? i was just curious...i read or was told that somewhere along the lines....and i had my gun in 10000 pieces to blacken some of the brass again...and add a few coats of truoil to the stock....so i took the lock COMPLETELY apart...figured im going to school to be a mechanical engineer in the fall..i can handle it...did fine...took it apart and cleaned it ALL and smoothed all the contact points...reassemmbled and took just the lock outside with my priming powder....fired perfect upright...then i remember about upside down...never tried it before....but it ignited the flash powder every time upside down just as quick as upright.....anyone ever try it???? this was also with a half broken flint that was in there from last season....when i put new flints in it sparks 100 times more.....after seeing that and in the dark im alot more confident in MY flintlock going off....just wondering if anyone tried anything like that....my lock was all gunked up too...i never had it COMPLETELY apart with all the little parts out of the lock like that....but i scrubbed them all and lightly smoothed the contact points a fuzz....and whiped it all down with a real light coating of oil....but it works great now...not that it didnt before.....the things i do at 2am when im bored lol........i think mechanical engineering is something ill like...and when done id really like to get a job working for a gun manufacturer doing just what i did last night and stuff like that....

eldeguello

Yes, a good flintlock is truly an amazing piece of technology! If the sparks fly directly into the center of the pan, and the touch-hole is correctly located, (even with, or slightly above, the top edge of the pan), a flintlock will fire in as little as 1/1000 of a second! No perceptible delay at all.....

cayugad

Both my T/C Hawkins and Lyman Trade Rifle will fire upside down. You need to remember, once the flint strikes the frizzen it throws the sparks into the pan causing a minor explosion of sorts with those sparks flying in all directions (pictures of them firing in the dark are real interesting to say the least). All it takes is one spark to get through that touch hole and fire the rifle. Just make sure when, or ifyou try this stunt that you do not forget and have any part of your body in line with the touch hole because when the rifle fires, it throws a large flame ofheat and fire from the vent hole. What comes out ofthe touch hole can cause bad burns.....That's the same reason why we never let anyone sit on the touch hole side of the rifle at the range within three feet they claim. I like them much further then that.