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I know this is a year old but I'm dying to get more info on these, if you have any. Google comes up short. Is that last one just a Berdan II with a ball trigger?

Well I think I found my answer. I found this paper which looked at historical examples and measured velocities of an 18.5mm ball out of 18.7mm, 19.5mm and 20.4mm barrels. https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1826/14894/Ballistics_of_seventeenth_century_musket_balls-2019.pdf...

Second update. The maker is going to get the barrel custom drilled from 1040 steel, so I do have a choice of diameter after all. Because it turns out the commercial barrels in his country are too short and shipping one from overseas would be too expensive. This will be mainly for target...

I just wanted to know what the best choice would be. If the barrel is made to order and I can get any caliber I want, then I would want to make the best choice possible, and I don't know if that's .59" or .62"... even though either would surely work, I'd like to maximize performance. But...

No problem with shooting BP at Angeles Shooting Ranges except that it's rather crowded and you'd be advised to bring a screen to catch sparks from your matchlock or flintlock. The shooting benches have mounts for wire screens, normally for catching brass. Also a good idea to bring the best...

Would like to hear more details, if you have any, about how widespread this was in what contexts. E.g. was it only for hunting or also for war. Having tried patched roundball in my smoothbore, I can't imagine a sane person doing it on the battlefield, but then again maybe they were better at...

Eh? I do not intend to hunt deer with this gun, I stated so explicitly. This will not be a deer gun. I suggest ignoring post #13 of this thread as it appears to be confusing you.

That raises another question honestly, which is that if I want to go deer hunting, it will have to be non-lead balls, which only come in a few specific sizes. So for a deer gun I think I would start with the ball size and then pick a caliber. But, I have no deer hunting plans.

Let me clarify - custom gun builder, I think he makes everything himself, and I haven't asked him about the barrels but I'm pretty sure he could bore it to whatever size I'd want. Yes this will be a smoothbore, not rifled, and I mainly intend to shoot round ball without a patch. I didn't set out...

I've seen many threads about which size of ball works best for a given bore but I want to ask the reverse question. Say (not so hypothetically) that I'm going to get a custom barrel, but I want to use cheap ammo, so I plan to use Hornady round ball, of which the largest size is 0.570". I...

Looking at this pistol and wondering if anybody has experience about the reliability of this particular lock. I understand the India made flintlocks are generally a mixed bag. I like my matchlock just fine but am more worried about this piece. https://militaryheritage.com/pistol5.htm

Yeah I normally make match on the stove. But: when you say wring, you mean wring the match itself? Interesting. I'll try that next time.

I tried bucking it without a fire - just let it sit in my rather hot summertime Los Angeles garage. I haven't tried igniting powder with the product, but the results are quite poor judging by how much ash gets left behind by the burning cord. I'm not even sure it's significantly better than...

I got one of those standard patch worms as sold by Traditions/Muzzle-Loaders/etc but I found the wires bent pretty easily, I could bend them back into shape but don't know how long until they get too messed up. And then, this week I had a ball down the barrel and didn't know it, I thought I...

Jay. Usually when this method is described, one is told to keep the solution simmering, and also that it doesn't need to take so many hours. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to doing it cold? Does it make the process take longer?

Thanks, do you know where I can get details about how to attend? Can't find a good website or anything. Like what time to show up? Thank you, saw it upthread, will try to be there this weekend. Also, I called Angeles Shooting Range at Kagel Canyon and apparently they will allow a matchlock...

Hello - I'm in Glendale. Got a matchlock but haven't started shooting yet.

I got 100ft of 6mm twisted jute for ten bucks. I know braided is better and most cite flax or hemp but I wanted to see if I could do it the cheap way, and it seems like twisted was more common historically. After bucking, when it burns there is still a bit of grey residue behind the ember, and...

Sorry to disappoint yall but I've dropped this project and ordered a matchlock from Military Heritage. For all the apparent simplicity of the mechanism, the cost+time involved in reproducing a matchlock is much more than I'd originally envisioned. And I think it'd be better to have some shooting...

Anybody happen to know the widths of the stocks of any of these matchlocks?