I shoot southpaw, and have a rather long goatee.

[balaperdida]

Go to your local motorcycle dealer and ask for a balaclava.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Many "Gentlemen" of the mid to late 1800's and on up into the 1930's were bearded, and it was seen commonly as a status symbol or wealth and prosperity! For a Common man to be seen in a beard, he had to be well known and respected! Many of the greatest names from the later 1800's HAD beards; Sam Colt, Cyrus McCormick, Richard Gatling, Elisha Otis, Hiram Maxim, Paul Mauser, ect...........Many of the movers and shakers of our history had beards!

 

[Tilos]

Get a Harley type Skull face mask.
That'll work

 

[LDmax]

Chain mail beard cover. Or an ancient Egyptian burial mask. Or a gourd. The possibilities are endless.

 

[jj500]

Just don"t load the pan up with a lot of primer and you will be fine.I have shot of lot of R/H flinters and I shoot L/H with no problems.If you are concentrating you will never see the pan go off anyway.Break down and get a L/H later and you will enjoy it more.

 

[Longbeard]

Will shooting a flintlock pose a problem with its lock facing my face with the initial flash in the pan? I am wanting to jump in with a flintlock blunderbuss, but want to make sure it is safe to do so. Any thoughts from you shooters of black powder?

My beard is well over a foot long now and I've never had a problem with either flint or percussion. Hence the
nom de guerre. Historical Reenactors have flash guards for their Brown Bess Muskets, etc. when they stand
shoulder to shoulder at reenactments. I just can't think of the source at the moment...

LB

 

[tac]

I just want to be safe. My wife doesn't let the goatee get to its length I had for a while. (Below the sternum) But it can still get to about 7 or 8 inches VERY thick. I just don't want to set my facial hair on fire again. I think I will be safe. It is not as if most mountain men were clean shaven. But speaking from experience, putting your beard out is not fun. I'd rather avoid that. And yes, I do believe I am going to be diving into this world soon. I already reload and cast bullets, so it just seems logical.

It's the use of the word 'again' here that got my attention.

I sure would have paid serious funds to have seen that.

Nothing personal, of course, but........

Also, in the abbreviated form of heading used by this site, it read, 'I shoot southpaw and have a rat..................'

That is also a bit of an attention-getter.

 

[HB of CJ]

Consider a left hand cap and ball.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

It's the use of the word 'again' here that got my attention.

I sure would have paid serious funds to have seen that.

Nothing personal, of course, but........

Also, in the abbreviated form of heading used by this site, it read, 'I shoot southpaw and have a rat..................'

That is also a bit of an attention-getter.

I have blown up a gas grill that set my beard on fire. (Note, it wasn't my grill and I grill over charcoal lit by a blowtorch). I do some blacksmithing and a bit of rogue firescale also caught my beard onto a slight smouldering. It took a bit of a moment to realize my beard was on fire. It is just a little awkward putting out a fire attached to your face. Alas my goatee had to be trimmed as I seek further employment and is about an inch long now as opposed to near my sternum.

But I am quite sure the second was entertaining. The incident with my aunt's defective grill took my eyebrows, most of my goatee and required a head shave as I had also lost enough of my hair from my face being briefly in a fireball of lit propane as to be rather bizarre mixed lengths.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Consider a left hand cap and ball.

I will, though I think I will get a blunderbuss first

 

[tac]

Talking about accidents with embarrassing results [for some] and great mirth [for the onlookers] here is a story from my childernessship.

For those who don't recognise this contraption, being as how all your moms had washing machines waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, and over in Wales they didn't, it's called a 'mangle' and is really an arm-driven rotary wash squeezer that got most of the water out of the just-washed clothes and sheets and so on.



As you can see, it has a safety cover on the gears at the far end, but the one belonging to my Great Aunt Fanny-Jane Edwards did not. Her eldest son, Estyn, was beloved of the mechanical clanking gear-y sound made by this device as his mam toiled away mangling....and got his right ear too close to the gears.

The result was inevitable - his ear got caught in the gears, and amid much screeching [him] and tears of laughter [his mam], he was finally released from the mechanism. His ear was a sorry sight, looking like a raw crinkle-cut French fry, and remained so until the end of his days, some seventy-something years later.

After the manner of the Welsh, he was nick-named variously 'gear-ole', 'coggy', or just plain old 'gear-you'. He took it all in good grace, although not from me, and I got a richly deserved clout around MY earole when I one day inadvertently referred to him as 'crimp-ear'.

Image courtesy of Hinkley Open Air Museum of the black Country....

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Talking about accidents with embarrassing results [for some] and great mirth [for the onlookers] here is a story from my childernessship.

For those who don't recognise this contraption, being as how all your moms had washing machines waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, and over in Wales they didn't, it's called a 'mangle' and is really an arm-driven rotary wash squeezer that got most of the water out of the just-washed clothes and sheets and so on.

View attachment 625840

As you can see, it has a safety cover on the gears at the far end, but the one belonging to my Great Aunt Fanny-Jane Edwards did not. Her eldest son, Estyn, was beloved of the mechanical clanking gear-y sound made by this device as his mam toiled away mangling....and got his right ear too close to the gears.

The result was inevitable - his ear got caught in the gears, and amid much screeching [him] and tears of laughter [his mam], he was finally released from the mechanism. His ear was a sorry sight, looking like a raw crinkle-cut French fry, and remained so until the end of his days, some seventy-something years later.

After the manner of the Welsh, he was nick-named variously 'gear-ole', 'coggy', or just plain old 'gear-you'. He took it all in good grace, although not from me, and I got a richly deserved clout around MY earole when I one day inadvertently referred to him as 'crimp-ear'.

Image courtesy of Hinkley Open Air Museum of the black Country....

My grandma had one, and I had a cousin whose long hair suddenly had to be a page boy cut after a run in with those gears!

 

[MannyGlocks]

For the short time I lived with my Mother, she had a washing machine that came equipped with a mangler, but it was electric...I think...

 

[P7M13]

The goatee you can protect.
The only problem I've run into shooting a RH flintlock left handed is that the powder flash is awfully close to the guy at the next bench, shooting his RH Flinty, right handed.

 

[Mygrainman]

Short answer...Maybe...
Not sure of just how long and thick your goatee is ...Wow that reads just as strange as it sounds...

Generally speaking .You do not need a lot of pan priming , nor do most locks stick out real far... so I would think you could...

I'd be happy to let you try one of mine...And I promise not to laugh too much if you start to smolder...
Andy

just begging for @Stomper to take "out there"