Loaded Flintlock - problem or not?

Shakethetrees · 25th September 2014, 11:06 PM

This reminds me of a situation I had in April of 2001.

I was at Charles DeGaulle airport waiting in line to get a boarding pass.

As luck would have it I found a nice little French flintlock pocket pistol, c.1760 at the Marche Paul Bert at the Puces.

While waiting in line, (and remember, this is pre 9-11 when security was a lot looser.) the lady asked if we had anything that we might have that could cause a problem down the line, as my baggage still was not checked.

I called her over and mentioned the antique pistol. You should have seen the look on her face! She then nervously called her manager, who was French, over, and mentioned our dilemma.

He asked to have a look at it, so I took it out and handed it over. One quick look, he gave it back with the admonition, "Monsieur, the only way this pistol could be a danger is if you threw it at someone."

So I packed it up and flew home, no other problems.

Jet lag took over, and, being unable to sleep, I got the pistol out and began making a top jaw. (The original was missing when I bought it.)

Just for grins, I decided to replace the ramrod, also missing. Lo and behold, as I was measuring the depth of the bore, to my surprise I found it was still loaded!

A little oil down the bore and the ball and charge came out.,the wadding used was tow, a fine straw like thin dried grass. The remains of the powder was up dampened by the oil, so I lit it and it burned as one would expect.

So, the old admonition of treating each and every gun as though it IS loaded, really rang true.

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25th September 2014, 11:06 PM	#20
Shakethetrees Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Louisiana Posts: 363	This reminds me of a situation I had in April of 2001. I was at Charles DeGaulle airport waiting in line to get a boarding pass. As luck would have it I found a nice little French flintlock pocket pistol, c.1760 at the Marche Paul Bert at the Puces. While waiting in line, (and remember, this is pre 9-11 when security was a lot looser.) the lady asked if we had anything that we might have that could cause a problem down the line, as my baggage still was not checked. I called her over and mentioned the antique pistol. You should have seen the look on her face! She then nervously called her manager, who was French, over, and mentioned our dilemma. He asked to have a look at it, so I took it out and handed it over. One quick look, he gave it back with the admonition, "Monsieur, the only way this pistol could be a danger is if you threw it at someone." So I packed it up and flew home, no other problems. Jet lag took over, and, being unable to sleep, I got the pistol out and began making a top jaw. (The original was missing when I bought it.) Just for grins, I decided to replace the ramrod, also missing. Lo and behold, as I was measuring the depth of the bore, to my surprise I found it was still loaded! A little oil down the bore and the ball and charge came out.,the wadding used was tow, a fine straw like thin dried grass. The remains of the powder was up dampened by the oil, so I lit it and it burned as one would expect. So, the old admonition of treating each and every gun as though it IS loaded, really rang true.