Horn rehab project

[LongWalker]

Well, I did say Kdubs thread here https://tradmla.org/tmaf/index.php?topic=27770.0 gave me an idea or two. . . .   

This one has been posted on the Trade Blanket for a couple years, if it was going to sell it wouldn't be sitting on my shelf.  So. . . .

When I first posted it, I wrote:
I bought this one just to see how it was made; once I got that out of my system it is just taking up room on the shelf.  The horn measures about 18" around the curve.  Lathe-turned and carved plug; the tip is actually 2-pieces (an unthreaded collar, and the actual screw-tip). . . . . Now here's the glitch.  The horn is what we'd usually think of as left-hand carry.  It has the usual staple up by the spout, and another near the plug (and I have no idea what the maker/re-modeler was thinking when he put that there).  With the carrying strap going around the tip, under the staple on the outside, and the other end fastened to the finial on the plug, it carries OK on the right.  If you attach the strap to the rear staple, it carries "funny"--not at all comfortable for me.  There are also two holes where a previous staple was installed at the tip, now plugged with glued-in wooden pins. 

And there it sits:







This is not a horn I would have made into a powder horn.  I'm not a fan of the twist, or the way it is so aggressively a left-side carry.  I've seriously considered about 4"-5" off the butt, making a new plug and band for the back, and maybe scratching it up.  The color doesn't lend itself well to the type of scrimshaw I prefer to do, or it would already be done. 

If I'm not going to cut it down, the first thing I need to do is get rid of the staple in the side of the horn.  I cun play with locations and (hopefully) find one where I can put a staple in the side of the ring at the big end, resulting in a horn that can be carried on the right. 

I may use the screw tip and band to do an experiment in coloration that I've been toying with for a couple months.  We'll see on that.

Other thoughts/suggestions?

[Hank in WV]

Unless I'm seeing it wrong, I might cut it to just a little over half. I think it might carry well and make a nice trail walk horn.

[KDubs]

I was having the same thoughts , make a nice day horn!
 Kevin

[LongWalker]

The concept of a "day horn" just doesn't fit with how I shoot.  My first horn was a smaller horn; in the first match I shot I learned that it didn't hold enough to finish the aggregate.  Any more, if a horn won't hold at least a pound of powder, I don't want it.   

[No Powder]

Wow Jim.That's a lot of powder to carry around. My largest horn holds 3000 grains. That's enough to shoot a 17 target course with powder left over after the shoot. You must shoot at a lot of targets or use some pretty stout loads.

[Bigsmoke]

I've never weighed out the capacity of a horn.  How big would a horn be that held a pound?
When I had my .62 sporting rifle, I used 150 grains of Ffg and my horn held enough for a 20 shot course.

[Hank in WV]

Don't know if this old man can carry a whole pound of powder at one time.   

[No Powder]

Well John, it sounds like your horn carried about 500 grains less than 1/2 lb. So a horn twice the size of yours would have carried about 1 lb. Just to give you an idea. Takes a pretty big horn to hold 1 lb. of powder.

[LongWalker]

Had to find some pics with a scale in them. 

If I remember right, this horn held just about 3/4-7/8# of powder:


This is my main horn.  I've used in matches, carried it on jaunts across (literally) thousands of miles, hunted with it from the Arctic Circle to south Texas.  Capacity is just a hair under 2#:


It originally made it in a class I got strong-armed into conducting at a rendezvous back in the late '80s.  As originally made it held just over 2#.  After a canoe wreck left it underwater for a week or so ~2005, the base plug cracked.  I wound up shortening the horn at the base and fitting a new plug (you can see where the scrimshaw got "chopped" in a couple places). 

I do tend to use loads that are heavier than others, but I also shoot a lot--and this is also the horn I use when teaching "Intro to flintlocks" where we sometimes shoot 100 rounds.  At the most-recent match I shot--what we are calling the "First (Possibly-annual-but-maybe-not) Fall Invitational"* (not to be confused with the actual "Spring Annual Invitational"*), I shot two rifles (.50 percussion and .51 flint).  One of my shooting partners doesn't have a caplock, so he borrowed my Leman for the percussion aggregate.  Three aggregates and the side-matches totaled ~120 shots, burning almost 1.5# of powder.

I also took my Colonial as a spare/loaner.  It got loaned to several people who wanted to try it out.  Someone sponsored a "Kibler match"--you had to shoot one of Kibler's rifles--and there went another 20 rounds for me, one of my shooting partners, and a couple of shooters who borrowed it.  There went another 1/2 pound plus. 

This was actually only the second time I've had to fill this horn at a match. 

*"Invitational" is a fuzzy term.  The email invite last spring said "bring a friend, a newbie, your daughter's boyfriend, or some guy off the street".

[No Powder]

Very interesting Jim. And I'm thoroughly convinced now that you definitely need a horn capable of holding at least 1 lb. of powder. If not more.

[Bigsmoke]

Here we go, this is a pretty big horn, probably capable of holding enough powder to fill your horn a couple of times, and then some.  I am thinking I made this sometime in the 1980's when I was buying horns from a fellow around Houston, TX.
I wanted a horn to hang above our display at the SHOT Show that could draw some attention.  It was displayed all the time I attended it, which probably terminated in the mid 1990's



Funny story about that horn.  One time Ms. Smoke took a photo of me in front of our display.  Unfortunately, she didn't double check the background, and it appeared that the horn went in one side of my head and out the other.

The horn is 25" from the tip to the start of the baseplug, on the bottom curve.  It is 13" in circumference at the base.  It has a brass Treso pour spout on the tip.

Another funny story.  I had October Country scrimshawed on the side.  The fellow who did the work misspelled Country with County and he had to scrape all that work off and start over again.  Whoops!!!

Joihn

[KDubs]

Sweet horn John,  I think I could attend a year's worth of shoots with that and never have to refill it. 
 Kevin
 

[Bigsmoke]

It was a good horn to have when I shot my 8 bore double at 300 grains per shot.

[KDubs]

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 Here's my current horn in it's very early stages.
Kevin
 

[KDubs]

  [ Invalid Attachment ]
 Little more progress.
 Narrowing the throat and paneling the spout with a small lip at the tip
 If I don't screw it up.
Kevin