%#$&#@$ Flintlock.....oh wait...

[Mountainman56]

....maybe it ain't so bad after all. :hmm:

Got to shoot my Austin Halleck flinter today. It arrived on Saturday but it was kinda raining off and on all weekend and besides, I had promised my bride I'd work on the bathroom renovation. :shake: Anyhow it was nice and calm and overcast this morning and after nearly washing the entire rifle (there was oil dripping off it's everything), running some alchohol through the barrel, wiping the flash pan, frizzen etc., I figured I was ready to go. I knew the flint didn't look too good, well at least I didn't think it looked too good but it's the only one I had until my order shows up and I sure ain't gonna wait for that! Anyhow I loaded her up, set me a target at 25 yards (might as well practice for the 4-corners shoot at the same time) and.....click......click......click......BANG! Oh hell, I wasn't ready for that. Here we go again.....click......click......BANG! Well I must be doing something wrong. I know I don't have anything but 3f but geez. I load it again, use my custom built vent pick/paper clip/ pokey thingy just like they told me. Put a little prime in just up to the vent, cock it, set the trigger, squeeze......click..... %#$@& :cursing: CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! Man, I can't believe I let these guys talk me into this!! Gotta be the flint. Ain't even gettin my eyebrows singed.

Okay so I take the flint out. Ain't these things supposed to be sharp? I guess I'll have to dress the edge up on this thing.. (you can write a VERY large book on what I don't know about flint knapping). Anyhow I got the edge beat up enough that it looked like it might spark and put back together. Cock it, set the trigger, squeeze...BANG! All RIGHT, I got it now but that one caught me off guard. Okay so I'm ready for it now. Reload, prime, cock, set, squeeze....click.....click, click, click, click. Oh hell, that's enough of this. I bet if I take a grinder I can get rid of that flash pan and that frizzen thingy, get a proper looking hammer and put a drum and nipple on the side of the barrel and make it work. :hmm:

Okay so back to the shop (I AM hard at work ya know) and low and behold the mail has arrived and my new Tom Fuller flints and new pan primer thingy are here. Well I actually get some work done, have lunch then decide there is something on the back 40 that needs my attention. Load up (I've already lost my custom built pokey thing...oh well), prime, cock, squeeze, BANG! Repeat again: BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG........Hey this is kinda cool. Never cleaned between shots, never wiped nuthin, just reloaded and fired. Who knew?

And just a factory built rifle too. :stir:

Anyhow here's my first flintlock, offhand, 5 shot, 25 yard target:

It's a little low and right. The one that actually "hit" the bullseye was pilot error. I never got it to "ignite as fast as a percussion" but it was awful close.

 

[RC]

:rotf: you ain't right! you DO need a flinter! :rotf:


:thumbsup: good fer you MM! good story too... :rotf:

 

[roundball]

"...prime, cock, squeeze, BANG! Repeat again: BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG........Hey this is kinda cool. Never cleaned between shots, never wiped nuthin, just reloaded and fired.
And just a factory built rifle too.

That's outstanding MountainMan
:hatsoff:

And in just a couple range trips you'll experience / figure out the rest of the few little things like that which require attention to keep a Flintlock running 100% reliable...and once you do the only failures you'll have will be your own "human error" oversights, not the Flintlock itself.

After enough range trips it'll all become second nature, you'll go hunting and won't even think about it...and if its drizzling just keep your lock up under your coat / rain jacket and refresh the prime every 30 minutes.
:thumbsup:

Can't beat perfect...and gosh, a factory built rifle at that !!!!!!!

 

[wulf]

"ONCE BITTEN"

 

[lonehunter]

Put a good coat of oil on them caplocks! we dont want them to rust leaned up in the corner :wink: once you get to know the rifle, it will be the one you reach for the most. :v

 

[rabjr]

Hell sell the cappers and buy a nice custom flinter. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

OR...sell the cappers and buy some Flintlock smoothbores or other rifle calibers :grin:

 

[vern faulkner]

another beautiful day at the office. :shocked2: :shocked2:

 

[torn moc]

SEE? we all knew ya could do it! :thumbsup:

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hell sell the cappers and buy a nice custom flinter. :thumbsup:

There you go! What Swampy said. Otherwise those cappers will just slowly rust away...:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Twisted-1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[wilded]

Way to go. Hope mine works too. :shocked2:

 

[Dausener]

Don't ya just love it when a plan finally falls together. :wink:

 

[flaming canvas]

Bring her over to Ft. Davis on the 26th. I'll team up with you on the mountain man run.

 

[Mountainman56]

Hell sell the cappers and buy a nice custom flinter. :thumbsup:

There you go! What Swampy said. Otherwise those cappers will just slowly rust away...:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Twisted-1in66 :thumbsup:

Well :hmm: I ain't too sure I'll be givin up my caplocks anytime soon. Been a habit of mine for over 3 decades. I've always been good at forming habits but poor at breakin em, besides I've always had a hankerin for a .58 Hawken with a tapered barrel. I will admit though this will likely make me get off my backside and try and finish the Isaac Haines I started a year and a half ago. That swamped barrel sure does balance nice compared to this 1" straight barrel (maybe it just needs a bigger hole in the middle?) .

 

[roundball]

I ain't too sure I'll be givin up my caplocks anytime soon.

I will admit though this will likely make me get off my backside and try and finish the Isaac Haines I started a year and a half ago.

I hung on to all my caplocks that first year until I learned some and filled a few deer tags that fall...sold 1-2 the following year to buy another caliber or so in Flintlock, but still kept a caplock ready for deer hunting during bad weather...then finally realized I was holding on to them like a security blanket...wasn't fully committed to the Flintlock.

So after the 2nd deer season I had a talk with myself and decided the only way I was going to build 100% confidence in Flintlocks was to drop hunting with caplocks on rainy days cold turkey...did so and never looked back...got caught in some drizzles but found it didn't matter and then had 100% complete confidence from then on.

Sold all the rest except one which I kept a full 10 years until just a couple months ago...don't own any at all now.

 

[Stumpkiller]

We have another one addicted.


Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

 

[Trench]

Oh, man. I know what range sessions like that feel like. You want to go home and kick your dog. (But of course, you'd never kick you best friend.) Glad you got a proper flint in those jaws. It only gets better from here!

 

[Billnpatti]

Yeah, buddy, those darned flints can give you grief but I guess that is just part of the mystique of a flintlock. Why do we love them so when they are so much trouble? I don't know but once you go flinter, you never go back.

That was some nice shooting, by the way. I guess you take home your share of prizes from matches.

As an aside, I once said %$&#* myself. My mother washed my mouth out with some of grandma's home made soap. I never said it again but later, I joied the Marines and after a tour with them, I joined the Navy for another hitch. Boy! did I learn some good expressions there. I must admit that many have stuck with me to this day and I still use them when the proper occasion arrises. But I still NEVER say %$&#*. Even reading it brings back the memory of the taste of that soap. Yuck!!!

Keep shootin' that flinter and just admit it, you are now a convert. It happens to all of us if we dare to venture into the world of flintlock guns.

Good shootin', good huntin' and keep your powder dry.

 

[RC]

:hmm: actually,,,soon,even though the flint sparked,the pan ignited,but the load didn't fire ,you'll STILL feel better than havin a cap go off...and the gun not.. jus waaaaaaaay easier to fix!

or is that jus me? dryball is a dryball flint or percussion, but a non-fire..(or un-fire?) seems way less stressful in a flinter..specially in the woods, in the cold,,,an them itty-bitty caps and huge frozen fingers :rotf: maybe jus me.. :redface:

 

[jethro224]

Anyhow here's my first flintlock, offhand, 5 shot, 25 yard target:

Purty AND a shooter! :thumbsup:

Yer a gonner fer sure now. :wink: