Slow match - how to make your own! Pic' heavy.

[Samon]

Righto chaparoonies!..?

Um, having a little time the other day I had a poke around the mountain of hoarded goodies and stumbled across a few bits that I knew would make something neat. So, slow matches it is!

For this recipe you need to pre-oil your hand drill, ready a vice and file and gather up your spent bullet caseings! I also have 9mm cotton rope for this one and for a real home feel I use .357 magnum and .223 remington.



First thing you'll need to do is remove that .223 primer! And I don't mean with a reloading bench, you need to drill and bore out some brass too. In the broken vice..



And with a little steady drilling.. (file it after this to smooth the insides out).



Next you cut a generous length of your rope and feed it into the bored out butt end of the case. You can marinade your cotton rope with salt petre to make it ignite, rather than smoulder. I have chosen my first few to have cotton only as to light my smokes without any other chemicals.



Now, what was the .357 case for? A lid! A safe and cool way to put out your ember and keep your pocket clean. The case should be the right size to simply slip on and off of the .223 case and leave it snug and sealed.



And in action.. so to speak..




Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the littlediy tip! Nice bit of recycling too, and a great conmversation starter!

Thanks for reading,

Sam.

 

[Ecoman]

Excellent post sam. Love the idea of using spent casings.

 

[ozzy1977]

A great idea, thanks for sharing

 

[Albus Culter]

Love the idea, but no clue where to get spent cartridges from?

Is the cord easy to feed through?

 

[Samon]

Thanks guys!

I given the brass as I don't shoot carbine, but any gun club with a live range will have plenty of brass going. I asked on here and a member was kind enouhg to send me some.

The cord pulls throuhg nicely, not too tight or anything. If you decide to make some, simply choose the right drill bit for the diametre of rope!

 

[Nomad]

Does the untreated cotton rope take a spark okay from a ferro rod?

 

[Samon]

Yep, aslong as you 'roast' the rope it will take an ember from a ferro rod. Roast it by burning the roap all over, just enough to amke it go dryer without making it char. Char the end with a flame and it should take nicely. I just retested it with a bit of ferro I have left and it worked nicely. I can assume doing the same thing in the wind would be even easier!

I also found building the ember was helped by pulling the rope down to tighten up the weave and concentrate the heat!

I will be making up 7 or so to trade so if anyone would like to one let me know.

 

[British Red]

Very neat Sam!. Brass cases are harder to get shooters to give up than shotgun cases as a lot of us reload them....but most will donate a few if you buy them a drink!

 

[leon-1]

The last slow matches I made were housed in brass tubing from the model shop. The actual cord had been left to soak in a solution of water and Potassium Nitrate (it's not as hygroscopic as Sodium Nitrate) for 24 hours. I used a linen braid for the cord.

 

[Husky]

Nice write up and a cool looking item but - what does it do?
Is it a way to light tobacco with flint and steel or what?

 

[Samon]

Nice write up and a cool looking item but - what does it do?
Is it a way to light tobacco with flint and steel or what?

It's an old school lighter. You can light your smokes, or a fire with it. Any spark flinging method will work if done right and it lends itself particularly well in the wind as it burns hotter instead of blowing out like a match or lighter. They were particularly favoured by fisherman at sea I believe and some have fixed flint strikers like the ones from trench lighters.