The flintlock pistol has a very
short barrel and a very short range.
Here the pistol is shown with the cock pulled back to the first position known as half cock. |
A cartridge is withdrawn from the
cartridge box and the end bitten off.
With the pan cover swung upwards a
small amount of black powder is placed in the pan.The pan is closed. |
The remainder of the black powder is inserted into the end of the muzzle. At this point a lead ball would have been placed down the muzzle also. Of course we do not use ball in our public demonstrations. |
The charge is rammed home.On a pistol the ramrod is fixed with a swivel so that it does not get lost.
The whisk and pricker can be seen clipped to the Colonel's coat. The pricker cleans out the touch hole and the whisk cleans out the pan.
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The pistol is ' presented'. The cock is pulled back to the second 'full cock' position. The pistol is not aimed. There are no sights and the range is very short. |
The picture captures the moment of firing perfectly. The trigger is pulled, the flint hits the frizzen causing sparks. At the same time the pan cover is knocked away. The sparks can be seen in the enlargement.
This causes the powder in the pan to flash. The flash travels down the touch hole causing the main charge to explode. |
