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Shooting & Reloading - Mausers, Big Bores and others >> Muzzleloaders & Blackpowder

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cordite
.333 member

Reged: 29/01/07
Posts: 341
Loc: NW Montana

Lure of the Flintlock
#313461 - 04/03/18 03:52 AM

I enjoy all kinds of guns which has been hard on my pocketbook. I've been shooting and hunting with percussion guns for nearly 40 years. I stayed away from flintlocks probably because I bought the story that they are finicky and unreliable.

A few years ago I decided to get a flintlock. There is nothing to compare with the challenge of shooting one well with that pan going off next to your face. I have found them to be extremely reliable if one really takes the time to learn their care and feeding.

Now my other guns get much less use. I'm getting my reproduction flint 11 gauge smoothbore ready for spring bear season. Why would a normally rational person with a safe full of modern guns do this?

If you are the sort of person who enjoys the connection between guns and history and likes the challenge of becoming good at something most people haven't a clue about, give the flintlock a try.

[image]

[/image]

Edited by cordite (04/03/18 03:56 AM)

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DarylS
.700 member

Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 26998
Loc: Beautiful British Columbia, Ca...

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: cordite]
#313462 - 04/03/18 04:28 AM

Hey Cordite, I think I recognize the fellow in the picture, from a different forum perhaps. Maybe not. Flinters are indeed fun to shoot.

I followed the same path as you, with the moderns and cap-locks. I really had to bear down on the flinters and learn control.

My 'best' trail walk, rendezvous guns are now flintlocks.

That .75 will work well on bears! Good luck.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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tinker
.416 member

Reged: 12/03/05
Posts: 4835
Loc: Nevada

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: DarylS]
#313465 - 04/03/18 05:00 AM

I love my flintlock rifles.

--------------------
--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--

"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...

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cordite
.333 member

Reged: 29/01/07
Posts: 341
Loc: NW Montana

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: tinker]
#313466 - 04/03/18 09:46 AM

Daryl, I think I posted that picture on another thread somewhere around here this winter.

I actually have 2 eleven bores, a 30 inch barreled northwest trade gun and this fowler.

[image]

I've been working with paper cartridges and I think, with some more practice, I will be pretty dangerous at 50 to 75 yards.

I've been waiting some months for the arrival of a 16 gauge fowler. It's addictive!!

Edited by cordite (04/03/18 09:50 AM)

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cordite
.333 member

Reged: 29/01/07
Posts: 341
Loc: NW Montana

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: cordite]
#313469 - 04/03/18 10:15 AM

The trade gun is lighter and handier but doesn't have the sight radius of the fowler.

[image]

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MikeRowe
.333 member

Reged: 23/11/11
Posts: 478
Loc: Arkansas, USA

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: cordite]
#313470 - 04/03/18 10:49 AM

I have shot and hunted with flintlocks for 35 years, and have bagged a lot of game with them. I would use one in preference to a percussion rifle in damp weather any day - they are much easier to dry out in the field. Damp seems to wick into a percussion rifle very easily.

I remember sitting watching a bench one morning, and heard a "pop" below me. Familiar sound, I thought. Soon, another hunter came crunching up the hill. I waved at him and he came over, complaining how his percussion gun had misfired on a deer. He saw my flintlock and commented " them things don't work", and walked on. Say what???

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Rothhammer1
.400 member

Reged: 06/01/17
Posts: 1826
Loc: The Redwoods of California

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: cordite]
#313471 - 04/03/18 10:54 AM

Quote:

If you are the sort of person who enjoys the connection between guns and history and likes the challenge of becoming good at something most people haven't a clue about, give the flintlock a try.

This fella agrees (as do I).

--------------------
Citizen of the Cherokee Nation

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szihn
.400 member

Reged: 24/06/07
Posts: 2121
Loc: United States

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: MikeRowe]
#313472 - 04/03/18 10:59 AM

I Love mine too.
I have been making them to earn about 90% of my living now for the last 30 years. I made my first one about 40 years ago.

I also have stacked up a lot of game with them. Deer (White Tails and Mule Deer both) elk, moose and antelope, not to mention a lot of small game and varmints.
Many of them were taken with this rifle.

My Rifle 3 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

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Longknife
.333 member

Reged: 17/04/08
Posts: 263
Loc: Illinois

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: szihn]
#313529 - 06/03/18 04:01 AM

Flintlocks got a lot a bad publicity back in the '70's when those cheap one were being imported. I have ben shooting flint for longer than I care to say and I have NEVER lost game because of ignition problems......

--------------------
Longknife

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DarylS
.700 member

Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 26998
Loc: Beautiful British Columbia, Ca...

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: Longknife]
#313531 - 06/03/18 04:13 AM

You are right, Ed. The only times I have trouble with ignition with either type of ml, is after firing 12 to 15 shots. Then, but only sometimes, a bit of 'dirt' (fouling) may block the vent or the flint needs napping. This never happens for the first 10 or so, for me, with either type.

--------------------
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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fsrmg1
.300 member

Reged: 25/07/03
Posts: 158
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: DarylS]
#314089 - 18/03/18 10:59 AM

I had a transition plains rifle built with a quick little Durs Egg lock. It eas lightening fast and waterproof. Just about no delay when firing. I could hunt all day in the wet rainforests of Southeast Alaska, and she always did her part.

--------------------
Cheers,

Rich

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Heelerau
.300 member

Reged: 31/01/17
Posts: 105
Loc: Australia

Re: Lure of the Flintlock [Re: fsrmg1]
#314358 - 23/03/18 08:17 AM

I have several custom flintlocks, two long rifles of Lancaster lineage and a Jaeger. I got bit by the bug about 20 years ago and find that I pick up a flintlock in preference to any of my cap locks.
The trick is a quality lock. One rifle I have had a Russ Hamm lock and my may who left it to me used to have all sorts of ignition issues with it. the lock had been worked over by a local chap who is ver good at tuning locks, but it was still most unreliable. I bought an RPL drop in replacement lock from Track, had it tuned by a chap in Michigan and it has never been an issue since.
You definitely have to learn their quirks, but I have taken lots of rabbits and Kangas without two many misfires in all sorts of weather. Those pieces pictured are ver nice!

Cheers

Gordon

--------------------
Keep your horse well shod and your powder dry !

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