(no subject)

[titusnowl]

Programs and essays which mention flintlocks - especially in terms of duelling - usually mention that "flintlocks often misfired." Now, I realize I haven't been shooting that much, and I've only used my gun under fairly optimal conditions - dry day, so the powder's not at all damp - but I've only had one misfire, and even it would have been preventable if I'd been cleaning my touchhole every few shots. One would assume that duellists would be very careful to keep their equipment in pristine condition and to try their best to have appropriate weather to minimize misfires, so I can't see how the guns would misfire THAT often.

They're notoriously inaccurate, slow to reload and a bitch to clean, but that doesn't mean they're completely useless.

The biggest reason that a pistol duel was less likely to be lethal is the fact that duelling guns were unrifled, making them even LESS accurate than your normal mediocre-aiming flintlock.

Comments

[weirddave.livejournal.com]

AND, as a point of fact to the last statement you made, a lot of dueling flintlocks were designed to cheat- they had what is know as "blind" rifling. The barrels were rifled, but it ended before the end of the barrel, so that one looking in couldn't see the rifling. "Gentleman's" method of settling differences, duels were deadly serious.

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

Getting caught using one of those, of course, would probably get you killed even if you survived the duel by using it. I don't believe the majority of dueling pistols were rifled at all, although there's no denying that you're right about a fair number.

Pistols are generally cited by these programs as being one of the least-deadly weapons to duel with.