Thomas Maxwell Bagnold1 to Faraday   Between 1818 and 1848

Dear Faraday

diagram

With the smallest portion of gum possible to hold them together.

I have fired from 2 to 300 of these without missing fire.

The following is Inactions, but I do not think it so certain

diagram 2

The less gum the better

Certainty of fire - depends mostly upon the following points

“keeping the patches in a close stopperd phial - except those that are in use.

“if they are ever exposed to much damp dry them in a moderate warmth.

“good workmanship in the lock if the 2 surfaces do not come into perfect contact fire is uncertain

“as the reaction of the charge soon beats a hole in the cock the certainty of fire is then over therefore I recommend Focks3 plan of shifting primer kegs - which are primed before the sportsmen goes out & changed every fire - as nothing reduces the effect so uncertain as putting a fresh patch into a foul or used primer.

Above all things take care to load the cock down upon the nipple this is a rule to be rigidly observed in all percussion guns otherwise the ramming down of the wadding forces the powder out of the touch hole & the cross chamber being empty the gun misses fire - in Forsyths4 & other magazine locks a neglect of this precaution fills the primary countersink with common powder - of course a failure is the consequence

Yours truly | Thos Bagnold

Gun-powder for these guns should be of the best materials but rather coarser grain - say the 2d or 3d sort.


Address: Mr. Faraday | RI.

Watermark: 1818

Thomas Maxwell Bagnold (d.1848, age 68, Gent.Mag., 30: 668). Captain in the Royal Marines.
An arsenic based mineral.
Unidentified.
Alexander John Forsyth (1768–1843, ODNB). Scottish clergyman and inventor of a percussion lock for guns.

Please cite as “Faraday4619u,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday4619u