Flintlock safety

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I eventually would like to take my trade musket turkey hunting (and other forms of hunting as well). One of the problems is that we usually hunt small patches of ground, get in the car, and then drive to another....maybe hunting 4-5 different spots in the course of a day.
I would like to be able to dump the powder from the pan in my flintlock and then just take the gun and case it and go to the next spot. I have heard that some guys put quills in the touch hole, and others put a leather covering over the frizzen.....both seem to make sense to me. Is there any danger of the gun discharging accidently if both these techniques are followed? I had to run through 4-5 rounds of nickle plated shot or econoshot or bismuth just because I discharged the gun to move to another spot.
Thanks in advance................

[roundball]

I consider myself to be pretty safety conscious with firearms...and with my Flintlocks, I always use a thick leather hammer stall over the frizzen when hunting.
But for the vent, I make a concession to a modern item to ensure a fool proof safety when traveling with a loaded but unprimed flintlock in the vehicle.
I eliminate the possbility of any extraneous ignition source by firmly taping over the vent...a blue jay feather and all that sounds romantic/nostalgic but seems to precarious...at least for me...to consider it as a bone fide, trustworthy safety measure.

I bought a roll of Mil Spec OD color duct tape years ago, which uses a dry adhesive that leaves no residue.
At the start of hunting season I cut several 1/2" wide strips across the 2" width of the tape and have them available at my work bench, using a fresh one for each hunt.
I load the flintlock for a hunt in my garage before leaving, I press one of those strips of tape across the pan, up the side flat sealing the vent, and over the top flat to really anchor it in place.
When I get to where I'm ready to hunt, I peel it off, stick it to the stock on the off-lock side, and when finished hunting I brush out the pan and reapply the tape over the vent for the drive home.

Other tapes would work as well I'm sure, just mind the type of adhesive so you end up with a sticky pan area...for example, medical adhesive tape is usually a dry type of adhesive...the tape idea gives me 1000% more peace of mind than something like a feather.

That's just me...others mileage may vary

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Thanks roundball.....I never thought about a piece of tape to cover the touch hole; I'd only heard about the feather trick from reading on traditional sites. In this instance, I'm looking to be more practical than traditional.
Do you know where I can get "plans" for a leather frizzen cover?

[roundball]

Originally Posted by Mr. 16 gauge

Thanks roundball.....I never thought about a piece of tape to cover the touch hole; I'd only heard about the feather trick from reading on traditional sites. In this instance, I'm looking to be more practical than traditional.
Do you know where I can get "plans" for a leather frizzen cover?

As Adam mentioned, you need only use your frizzen as a guide...here's how they look on mine using 1/8" thick leather:

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 Gauge,

Excellent Thread!

Here in PA, the law requires the pan on a flintlock be emptied, or cap removed from a percussion arm, to consideder the muzzleloader UNLOADED for motor transport. Some folks put a round tooth pick in the touch hole, or a quill, but that seems a bit much to some Longhunters.

I used a spare frizzen to make leather frizzen covers for my flinters from scrap leather I had on hand. I also made 6 "Cow's Knees" from scrap leather for inclement weather hunting.

Adam

[fishdoggydog]

After a 7 day season here in Wisconsin one year, I tried the flintlock without any powder in the pan, it was loaded the entire season. I thought it maybe would not fire because of moisture getting into powder over that time, I was wrong, even without pan powder she went off without hesitation. Best to keep safety in mind.

[Swift]

I've gone the route of dumping and cleaning the pan before travel for many yrs without problems. I lower the flint also.