The Baron
45 Cal.
- Joined
- May 10, 2004
- Messages
- 927
- Reaction score
- 15
Well, after having to leave it at home on account of rain on my last planned attempt, the Caywood 20ga. Type "C" finally came to the goose field with me this morning. I do a lot of goose hunting, but wanted to change things up a bit. This wasn't really a "period correct" hunt, what with the 150 Bigfoots, field blinds and modern short reed calls and clothes, but the gun looked good. :rotf:
We had some birds lined up for the occasion, and set up at the edge of an alfalfa field, bordered by cut corn sileage. These birds were not easy as they wanted a cut corn field just to the south of us, but we got what we came for in the end.
I was shooting 80gr. FFFg Goex, overpowder crd, pre-lubed and 1 pre-lubed wad under about 1 1/8oz. of Bismuth #4's (by volume). I also used plastic shot cups for a few shots, but no shot cup for ones where I was in a hurry to reload. I didn't see a difference in effectiveness on the birds I shot.
On the first flock in, I whiffed on a left-right crosser at about 15 yards. I knew hitting birds with a flintlock is tough due to the major delay from trigger pull to pellet launch, so I sucked it up and reloaded.
Next flock in, I lined up a bird passing straight over me at about 20 yards and... dropped him dead as a hammer. I was like a kid, pointing at the falling bird and saying "I got that one!". Actually, it nearly dropped on my pal and took out a BigFoot on impact.
The next flock set-up from behind us and we took the shots going away. Well, I forgot what I was doing and pointed right at the bird, instead of under him. A rookie miss. :redface:
There were a few flocks I didn't get to shoot at, as I couldn't finish the reloading process in time. LOL.
But, after that I was on fire and went 3/3 for a total of 4 birds falling to the flintlock. Every bird that came down was well shot in the head/neck and 2 of the 4 left quite a blood pool on the ground. The ol' flinter really "smoked 'em.
Oh, and by the way... at the end of the day, the modern guns with me (I had 2 partners) went 11 birds for 28 shots (39%), but me and the flintlock went 4 for 6 (66%). I just had to throw the stats in! :grin:
I was honestly quite surprised at how effective this gun was on geese. Mind you, all my shots were 20 yards or under, but it really clocked 'em. I will definitely give this gun another try in the waterfowl world!
Here's our setup...
And here's me with the "smoked" goose meat...
This was my first goose hunt with the flintlock (I've done it percussion style). If you havn't tried wingshooting with a flintlock, you really should. It is very rewarding! Maybe too rewarding... as I am now thinking a 36" barrelled Cumberland fowler in .75 would make a great waterfowling gun... :hmm: This could get expensive! :haha:
We had some birds lined up for the occasion, and set up at the edge of an alfalfa field, bordered by cut corn sileage. These birds were not easy as they wanted a cut corn field just to the south of us, but we got what we came for in the end.
I was shooting 80gr. FFFg Goex, overpowder crd, pre-lubed and 1 pre-lubed wad under about 1 1/8oz. of Bismuth #4's (by volume). I also used plastic shot cups for a few shots, but no shot cup for ones where I was in a hurry to reload. I didn't see a difference in effectiveness on the birds I shot.
On the first flock in, I whiffed on a left-right crosser at about 15 yards. I knew hitting birds with a flintlock is tough due to the major delay from trigger pull to pellet launch, so I sucked it up and reloaded.
Next flock in, I lined up a bird passing straight over me at about 20 yards and... dropped him dead as a hammer. I was like a kid, pointing at the falling bird and saying "I got that one!". Actually, it nearly dropped on my pal and took out a BigFoot on impact.
The next flock set-up from behind us and we took the shots going away. Well, I forgot what I was doing and pointed right at the bird, instead of under him. A rookie miss. :redface:
There were a few flocks I didn't get to shoot at, as I couldn't finish the reloading process in time. LOL.
But, after that I was on fire and went 3/3 for a total of 4 birds falling to the flintlock. Every bird that came down was well shot in the head/neck and 2 of the 4 left quite a blood pool on the ground. The ol' flinter really "smoked 'em.
Oh, and by the way... at the end of the day, the modern guns with me (I had 2 partners) went 11 birds for 28 shots (39%), but me and the flintlock went 4 for 6 (66%). I just had to throw the stats in! :grin:
I was honestly quite surprised at how effective this gun was on geese. Mind you, all my shots were 20 yards or under, but it really clocked 'em. I will definitely give this gun another try in the waterfowl world!
Here's our setup...
And here's me with the "smoked" goose meat...
This was my first goose hunt with the flintlock (I've done it percussion style). If you havn't tried wingshooting with a flintlock, you really should. It is very rewarding! Maybe too rewarding... as I am now thinking a 36" barrelled Cumberland fowler in .75 would make a great waterfowling gun... :hmm: This could get expensive! :haha:
