Loaded Flintlock - problem or not?

[kronckew]

oil and ammonium nitrate makes a very nasty explosive. google ' nitrate' and 'motor oil. then wait for NSA and/or homeland security/ATF to pay you a visit. the 1947 houston ship channel disaster was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever. 2300 tons of the stuff. wiki linky

i suspect 3in1 and potassium nitrate (saltpeter) would be similarly dangerous.

wear your saftey goggles justincase when you ignite it. you may also want to wear flameproof gloves as well. i didn't once, disposing of some black powder before i moved from alabama, i got 2nd degree burns on the fingers of my hand that held the match i lit a trail of BP with. it smarted. for weeks.

awaiting your results.

addendum: found a 1932 patent (US 1882853 A ) for black powder fuses using castor oil to slow down burning time. it noted that combustion propagation was 'unreliable' with more than 5% oil. it also recommended using a water emulsion of water and a miscable oil instead.

water or oil down the muzzle may or may not get past the ball sealing off access to the powder charge, injecting it into the pan or cap hole also may not work very well. never think, now it is safe so i can pound on it.

attached is a photo of a toolkit for a flintlock, the double helix ramrod tip was screwed on & used to extract the patch or patched ball. if that could not get sufficient purchase the the screwed tip that looks like an upside down wood screw was screwed into the lead projectile. if that failed, the whole barrel would need to be removed from the stock & the breech plug unscrewed to give access to remove the powder and ball. initial procedure would have been to re-prime the pan (or replace the percussion cap with a new one) & try again to fire it. in combat that whle procedure was off course impractical, so you'd drop the darn thing and pick one up from the nearest corpse of one of your companions who didn't need his anymore. or, if an officer, draw your sword.

in any case, NEVER point the muzzle at anything you hold dear. that of course includes never looking down the barrel muzzle. never put your hand's palm on the ramrod end to push it down, even a small squib discharge can spear you. a full discharge would put a rather larger hole in your hand. better to lose a couple finger tips.