Barrel Twist

[roundball]

Why would you go with the flintlock? Is it because of the funcion, do you enjoy the challenge or are there other reasons?

Reliability, challenge, all of the above...they are just like any new undertaking...put in a little time to learn how they work, the do's & don'ts, the care & feeding, then forget about it...the first year I hunted with them, every time I saw a buck coming along, I would consciously go through a mental checklist that everything was ready, but time and use breeds confidence and since then I don't think about it anymore...I get on stand and get myself ready, then if a deer comes along I just take the shot no differently than if I was holding a lever action .30-30.

IMO, Flintlocks can be/are reliable rifles for hunting in all kinds of[url] weather...in[/url] fact, taking the shot would not even be the hardest part in some rain conditions...you can bring the rifle out from under your coat and take a shot before rain causes any problems.

The real challenge is actually after the shot trying to reload in the rain...one time after shooting a deer from a treestand, I climbed down and stood under my treestand platform 10 feet above me so I could use it as a roof to keep a light rain off me while I cleaned the bore, reloaded, etc...but this all applies equally to a caplock as well...keeping everything dry while reloading.

PS: If a rain came up that was so heavy I couldn't hunt with a Flintlock, I wouldn't be hunting in that kind of rain anyway...

 

[LONGHORN]

Thank you roundball, tg, JiminTexas, I enjoy hearing all your thoughts that helped me to better understand why people choose flintlocks.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I am not Roundball, either, but I shoot flint because I like the challenge, and the greater satisfaction I get from hunting with my flintlock rather than a caplock. The only caplock I now have is a DB shotgun, and that is because no one is making a DB flintlock shot gun I could afford. I have learned how to keep my gun shooting in bad weather, and have had the satisfaction of not only showing up some percussion gun shooters, but also loaning them both the 4Fg powder and my nipple wrench to remove their nipples so we could put some priming powder under them to get their guns to fire. On one afternoon, the two flintlocks fired as ordered, while 5 different caplocks failed to fire, multiple times. We had all been hunting on the same farm, and had all be out in the woods pretty much the entire day. The percussion gun shooters were amazed, angry, frustrated, and then downright ****** that we fllintlock shooters were able to fire our guns when their rifles would not fire. they realized that the sitting they had done, probably for the past several hours, would have been pointless, even if a deer had come past them, as their guns would have failed to fire at the deer. It was a humbling experience they did not like. All 5 men thought they had taken care to keep their actions dry.

When you learn to tune your lock, and learn how to prime the pan, and open the main charge with your vent pick, so that ignition time is very fast, and sure, the confidence factor adds to the feelings of the hunt, and knowing that you are killing a game animal useing a weapon similar to one used more than 150 years ago just creates greater satisfaction.