Mountainman56
50 Cal.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,031
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Well I've been shooting my new flintlock every day for six days now. Got quite a few things worked out and a few left to figure on. I've got it firing quite fast and I'm very pleased with that even though the flash hole sits way low in the pan. If they'd have managed to get it in the middle of the flat it would have been just right. :shake: Someone has filed a notch in the pan below the vent I suppose in some effort to improve ignition. Looks nasty and collects crud rapidly so I'm going to have to do something about that.
I need to measure the vent liner because I think it's been drilled out....maybe too large. I don't know for certain but you can actually load and fire without priming if you so desire as enough powder makes it through to the pan. How big should the hole be?
Flint life, how much mileage should I be getting from my flints? I've read about the large number of shots some of y'all get out of your flints and I'm just not experiencing that. I know next to nothing about flintlocks but the geometry on the lock appears fine, in fact upon inspection I'm quite pleased with the lock. It seems well made and has a nice short throw which surprised me. I may re-arch the spring to get a little more snap but I'm very impressed. First flint lasted 20 shots before becoming iffy, second one about the same. Today I discovered my lock prefers the flints bevel down and I'm so far 15 for 15 so we'll see how that goes. I plan on learning how to touch up my flints this Winter when I'm settin in front of the fire with a glass of single malt.
Right now my biggest concern is accuracy. Thursday morning and this afternoon I fired quite a few shots at 50 yards over the side of my truck. It seemed to shoot quite well at 25 yards but I'm having some grief at 50. While it's certainly "minute of deer" it's far from what I've come to expect from my smokepoles. Of course I really don't like the sights but I don't feel I can blame it on that. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it on a bench rest and find out who's really at fault.
And lastly it seems all the flintlock gurus on this forum neglected to inform me of one important aspect of shooting flintlocks. Every morning when I get to work I've been loading it up and putting it in my truck. You never know when you're going to come across something that needs shooting. So naturally when I came across a porcupine (they are real unpopular in an orchard) I thought it would be good practice.
Never....never shoot your flintlock out the truck window. :rotf: :rotf: . You think that pan just throws a small amount of smoke....try it in a truck cab. :rotf: You should have seen the look on the guy's face who was riding with me....well I wish someone had cause I couldn't see it for the smoke. :redface: ..... and the porcupine walked away unscathed.
I need to measure the vent liner because I think it's been drilled out....maybe too large. I don't know for certain but you can actually load and fire without priming if you so desire as enough powder makes it through to the pan. How big should the hole be?
Flint life, how much mileage should I be getting from my flints? I've read about the large number of shots some of y'all get out of your flints and I'm just not experiencing that. I know next to nothing about flintlocks but the geometry on the lock appears fine, in fact upon inspection I'm quite pleased with the lock. It seems well made and has a nice short throw which surprised me. I may re-arch the spring to get a little more snap but I'm very impressed. First flint lasted 20 shots before becoming iffy, second one about the same. Today I discovered my lock prefers the flints bevel down and I'm so far 15 for 15 so we'll see how that goes. I plan on learning how to touch up my flints this Winter when I'm settin in front of the fire with a glass of single malt.
Right now my biggest concern is accuracy. Thursday morning and this afternoon I fired quite a few shots at 50 yards over the side of my truck. It seemed to shoot quite well at 25 yards but I'm having some grief at 50. While it's certainly "minute of deer" it's far from what I've come to expect from my smokepoles. Of course I really don't like the sights but I don't feel I can blame it on that. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it on a bench rest and find out who's really at fault.
And lastly it seems all the flintlock gurus on this forum neglected to inform me of one important aspect of shooting flintlocks. Every morning when I get to work I've been loading it up and putting it in my truck. You never know when you're going to come across something that needs shooting. So naturally when I came across a porcupine (they are real unpopular in an orchard) I thought it would be good practice.
Never....never shoot your flintlock out the truck window. :rotf: :rotf: . You think that pan just throws a small amount of smoke....try it in a truck cab. :rotf: You should have seen the look on the guy's face who was riding with me....well I wish someone had cause I couldn't see it for the smoke. :redface: ..... and the porcupine walked away unscathed.