Quote:
Originally Posted by Mel H
An under hammer flintlock, It's May 1st, not April  |
Oh, ye of little faith!
Not only were there underhammer flintlock pistols, but there were rifles as well - tho not as popular for offhand shooting.
Try an internet search for "underhammer flintlock".
(I used Google - lots of images too)
Appears they started making them mid 18c.
They work. In spite of gravity.
I found a gun oriented forum thread where a reply to another sceptic indicated the poster, initially sceptical himself turned his 'normal' flintlock upside down, and successfully fired it! (well, 3 out of 5 tries, once he got used to it, and experimented with a larger/finer priming charge, it fired every time.)
I gather that when the flint displaces the pan cover, kept closed by a spring, the sparks are being sent in all directions and actually ignite the falling prime charge faster than 'conventional' locks.
I noted in one photo the touch hole was at the bottom, er top of a fairly deep oval recess, providing room for a larger charge. With the rising heat, larger charge, you get a bigger ball of flame and burning powder, which as I noted earlier, going off over your offhand arm supporting a hand guard might be a bit uncomfortable for the arm. Not so much if you fire resting the barrel on a support, like a tree limb. On the other side of the equation, keeping that lock and the ball of flaming powder and smoke out of the line of sight improves accuracy.
When they had the infrastructure to mass produce percussion caps, they did become a lot easier and more reliable