12 Ga. Trade Gun Range Report

[Cosmoline]

I finally got back to the range for some more testing on the 12 Ga trade gun. I cast both .690" and .715" roundballs for it, plus brought some buck. Here's a video of the beast in action. If you pause it in the right spot you can see a nice glow from the pan.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2sZ0NBA3-g[/youtube]

--All loads were 100 grains FFG with a lubed divider disk over the powder. I'm using a shotgun measuring tool set for full load. I worked up from 75 but the lower charges had a very low POI even at 25 yards.

--The .715 balls only load well with lubed cloth patches. The ticking is too thick. They have a 3" higher POI than the .690's at 25 yards but are no more accurate. This was surprising to me, but I tested from the bench with a dozen of each and there was no difference as far as I could tell. Both do about 3" groups at 25 yards with the occasional flier. I suspect this may change at 50 yards or beyond, but I ran out of balls and my hands were freezing. (I rode my bicycle there and back, 25 miles)

--The .690 balls from the Lee mold are pretty much spruless and load very easily with lubed ticking cut on the spot. I find they do better with a generous amount of ticking around them.

--The .690 with three buckshot balls and an overpowder wad (buck and ball) give big 6" patterns at 10 yards. I doubt they'd be of much use beyond 25 at the most. But they're a load of fun.

--Buckshot patterns are running to the right, but are reasonably consistent. What I really need to check are loads for squirrel, as I am unlikely to be hunting anything with buck. I'm wondering if I should go with No. 7 or something larger, given the lower FPS vs. smokeless.

--Ignition is 100% so long as the flint works, but I'm working off some really weird shaped flints. I've got an order in for proper flints from Track of the Wolf. The rifle-size flints you can get in the store are WAY too small for this huge lock.

 

[PreglerD]

Hi Cosmoline,

you have a pretty good gun there. Ignition is very fast as seen on the video. Did you have tested RB without patch too. I use in my .54/28ga smoothie .525 RB with a bore button over powder and one over bullet. Works really well.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[Cosmoline]

I haven't tried that yet. I'm a bit afraid of leading the barrel. But I suppose it's no different than shot.

 

[gjkershul]

Go one or two shot sizes larger than you would use with smokeless powder.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'm getting the .710" mold from Track and will give that size a try as well. I expect I'll zero in with one combination or another. Shooting with no rear sight makes the process a bit of a challenge, plus I'm new to flints and have too much flinch between hammer fall and ignition. But I have to say learning is a blast. I have little interest in going back to smokeless after unleashing this fire demon.

It's odd, but I've gotten a few comments that this is the first flintlock anyone has seen at the F&G range for a long while. I don't remember seeing any myself. Most of the black powder firearms are inlines or caplocks.

I'm also very pleasantly surprised on how good the ignition system is. It's just a matter of picking the flash hole free of soot every few shoots, and making sure your flint is sparking. My pedersoli patent breech caplocks would ALWAYS end up going "click" after a dozen rounds or so. And there's no easy way of getting in there to clean them out.

As an experiment I loaded the pan with 4F before leaving home, and closed the frizzen. All it has now is a simple leather cap, nothing else to protect it. I then put it in a bag, put it on the back of the bike trailer and rode 12 miles or more through snow and hail. I unwrapped it and fired my fowling shot down range. The full pan lit up, with no visible loss of powder or potentcy in spite of the bumpy ride. A cap would likely have fallen off.

I'm staying with the rocks from now on!