An Old Rule Of Mine.

An old rule of mine is never place yourself too close to the right side of a person shooting a flintlock. There are two escape roots for the pressure in the barrel when the gun is fired, one is the muzzle, the other is the vent. If you are too close to the vent on someone elses flintlock, then you are going to get hit by the hot gasses & flame escaping from the vent when this gun is fired.

Take a look at an example of this shown in the movie "The Mountain Men" (1980) with Charlton Heston & Brian Keith. Keith was obviously not aware of what would happen, & if you take note of number 13 in this clip you will see what I mean!

Keith.