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#2
01-09-2008, 10:50 PM
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I'm not Rocky but pretty sure it came from flintlock days as when the priming powder ignited in the pan, after the flint hit the frizzen, but failed to set off the main charge in the barrel.
Now used to signify sudden burst of relatively meaningless or short lived activity 
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#3
01-10-2008, 01:48 PM
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Yes, that is it, and I'm sure.
There are MANY gun-related aphorisms out there. Lock, stock and barrel Going off half-cocked point-blank men of such caliber keep your powder dry a shot in the dark set your sights on hair trigger misfired
__________________
Freedom of the Press Does NOT mean the right to lie! Visit me at my Reloading Room webpage! Get signed copies of my Vietnam novels at "Baggy Zero Four" "Mike Five Eight"
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#4
01-10-2008, 05:09 PM
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WRONG
Thats what I thought for years. It started way before flintlocks. This was the way they tried to get the alcohol content of liquor. They would mix powder with the booze and then time the burning time, thus "flash in the pan."
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#5
01-10-2008, 05:58 PM
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razmuz,
Sorry, but "flash in the pan" is a well documented phrase regarding a flintlock that set off the pan powder, but not the main charge; everyone in 18th and 19th Century America understood the meaning. On page 551 of Webster's New World Dictionary it says, ""flash in the pan"-an ineffectual flash of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket, which fails to explode the charge. You may know of some process for distilling alcohol that Webster did not know about, BUT the more common meaning applied to a flintlock, usually in times of greatest need. Adam
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Adam Helmer Last edited by Adam Helmer; 01-10-2008 at 06:05 PM.
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#6
01-10-2008, 07:46 PM
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#7
01-10-2008, 09:48 PM
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muledeer,
By Jove, I think ye nailed it, hey wot? Your input was more colorful and informative than my reference to a dictionary- many thanks, my friend. Adam
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Adam Helmer
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#9
01-11-2008, 04:43 PM
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Yuppers, darn good link.
__________________
Freedom of the Press Does NOT mean the right to lie! Visit me at my Reloading Room webpage! Get signed copies of my Vietnam novels at "Baggy Zero Four" "Mike Five Eight"
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