Euroarms 44cal Kentuckian Flintlock rifle!

[stevenjay1]

Wow, every once in a while you get lucky. I picked up a Euroarms 44 cal Kentuckian Flintlock rifle cheap that was left in the corner for a lot of years. Looks like it was made in 1974, fired a few times and stuck away. I cleaned it up enough to test it and I was impressed, it fired with fast lock time. Did I get "lucky" and find a rifle with a good lock or were the earlier guns made better. Looking forward to testing it for accuracy but that might have to wait until it warms up a bit, like April or May.

 

[Zonie]

My first muzzleloading rifle was a Kentuckian flintlock. I bought it back in 1972 or thereabouts.
Mine was a .44 caliber rather than the more common .45 made by other companies. It shot a .433 diameter patched roundball.

I hunted with it and got one Javelina that went down like a fright train had hit him. Of course, the shot hit him in the spine so that might explain why it fell so rapidly.

The flintlock always produced a good shower of sparks that lit the prime but sometimes the main powder charge took maybe 1/2 second to fire. It seemed to have the old, "Click.Poof, Whoooosh, Bang" syndrome.
Later in life when I started building flintlocks and installing vent liners with an internal cone I noticed they always fired almost instantaneously so I looked at my Kentuckian. It just had a small vent hole going thru the barrel wall. I attributed the slow fuse-like firing to this.

By that time, I no longer shot the Kentuckian so I didn't bother to try to install a vent liner and sold the gun at a local gun show.

I ran into the buyer about a year later and asked him, "So tell me. How does that Kentuckian shoot?"
He looked at me and made a grumbling noise and said, "I don't know. My wire thinks it's so pretty she claimed it when I got home and hung it on the wall. She won't let me shoot it."

 

[stevenjay1]

Thanks for the info Zonie, I need to break this rifle down to the last pin for a real good cleaning including removing the breech plug. I would like to evaluate the bore, hopefully it is in good shape. When I was kid in the 50's & 60's a friends grand father shot muzzle loaders and he took me a few times. I remember him telling us that he would grind up his priming powder and made sure it filled up the little flash hole and pan. it was impressive when he shot. It got the attention of us 12 and 13 year olds. I did grind up a little 3F when I tested the Kentuckian Flint lock...a lot of smoke but I remember the lesson. I not sure if grinding the priming powder is standard these days.

 

[dave61965]

Here is a Kentuckian in .45 cal I picked up years ago, it had never been fired but had some dings and some finish loss on the barrel, I took it apart, draw filed the barrel, thinned the stock down some and took a lot of brass off the nose cap, made some homemade alcohol based stain for the stock, I polished all the moving parts, enlarged the touch hole a tad and also coned it a bit, it was a fun little project and sparks great and shoots darn good too, we’ve taken squirrel, rabbit, and a bunch of crows with it, it belongs to my son now, also we shoot Goex 3f in the pan and down the barrel and it has no noticeable delay on ignition.

 

[rafterob]

I built a rifle around a used Kentuckian Barrel. Very accurate right from the start.

 

[stevenjay1]

I want to shoot as soon as we have a break in the weather. I have ONE and only one of the sawn flints and I think that will wear out quickly. Does anyone know what size flint I need and where can I get some. I'm a newbe at this flint stuff. thanks

BTW Dave6, very nice rifle and it looks like these were good rifles to start with.

 

[BEP]

Owned one of these in percussion. On mine, the rammer was too short and came with about a six inch or so extension that had to be screwed on the rod in order to load the rifle. Strange. Oh, mine was a .44; said so on the barrel.

 

[MC One Shot]

I have a Euroarms .44 Kentuckian Flinter and Percussion that I picked up for the Grandkids to start with. They are both marked .44 cal but I use a .440 ball and .018" patch. Cant remember or find what the bore miked out to. Three years ago I found a matching flint pistol in the same cal.

 

[Critter Getter]

After reading this thread I would like to find one of these! Nice job on your project Dave6! Can’t say I have ever even seen one before. Greg

 

[azmntman]

I want to shoot as soon as we have a break in the weather. I have ONE and only one of the sawn flints and I think that will wear out quickly. Does anyone know what size flint I need and where can I get some

Measure the one you have then look at TOTW for replacements.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Euroarms was always a slight cut above the rest in whatever they sold. Better over all quality control I suppose. A little more attention to detail, etc. I picked up a new Euroarms pistol just two years ago, after I thought they had shut their doors. The pistol was quite a bit better than most production guns.

 

[RHensley]

I want to shoot as soon as we have a break in the weather. I have ONE and only one of the sawn flints and I think that will wear out quickly. Does anyone know what size flint I need and where can I get some. I'm a newbe at this flint stuff. thanks

BTW Dave6, very nice rifle and it looks like these were good rifles to start with.

WHAT IS YOUR LOCATION. These flints are they the sawn flints like with t/c.

 

[stevenjay1]

WHAT IS YOUR LOCATION. These flints are they the sawn flints like with t/c.

I'm in south east New Hampshire and the flint is a cut flint like TC.

 

[RHensley]

I'm in south east New Hampshire and the flint is a cut flint like TC.

I think I have a couple of those flints in my shooting box left over from years ago. Send me your shipping address and I'll through them in envelope and send them to you. I'm pretty much content on the napped type English and French and I've had them for many years. It'll be good to put them to use. It'll be a few days before I can get to the post-office.

 

[stevenjay1]

I think I have a couple of those flints in my shooting box left over from years ago. Send me your shipping address and I'll through them in envelope and send them to you. I'm pretty much content on the napped type English and French and I've had them for many years. It'll be good to put them to use. It'll be a few days before I can get to the post-office.

Thank You, How do I send you a private message with my address?

 

[RHensley]

Send me a Private Message (Conversation) and I'll send you my E-Mail address.

 

[stevenjay1]

[email protected] email me. I don't know if this is the way or if there is a more private way so I'll give it a try.

Hi Roger, I went to a black powder shoot over the weekend and picked up some real flints and wow, what a difference in the amount of sparks! I appreciate your offer but I don't want to take something that I'm not going to use. Hopefully someone else can use them. Again, thank you for your willingness to help me, Steve

 

[RHensley]

Hi Roger, I went to a black powder shoot over the weekend and picked up some real flints and wow, what a difference in the amount of sparks! I appreciate your offer but I don't want to take something that I'm not going to use. Hopefully someone else can use them. Again, thank you for your willingness to help me, Steve

Glad to hear you enjoyed the shoot and like the flints you've found. Have fun. that's what it's all about.

 

[Jellis]

Does anyone have a lock (flint) for one of these? I want to convert my percussion to flintlock.

 

[Jellis]

Does anyone have a lock (flint) for one of these? I want to convert my percussion to flintlock.