Both kinetic speotrosoopic measurement of uv absorption of flash-photolyzed F2 and the results of a simple numerical modeling of pulsed HF chemical lasers confirm the existence of an induction period. The computer modeling also shows that, below 100K and at a realizable initiation level (nF=1016-1017cm-3), the chain reaction will carry on only to a tiny conversion of 0.3%, resulting in a considerably lower laser output energy. Consequently, Bashkin’s proposal of operating a pulsed HF laser at 100K appears impracticable.