Flintlock vs. Caplock?

[David W.]

Oh, by the way, welcome to our forum! :hatsoff:

 

[Larry Pletcher]

Chad,
I'm 45 minutes north of you. Let me know if you want to try out a flintlock.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[beaver foot]

Well guys, you sure have helped me out. I have got the advice and learned a few things that i wanted to know here. I am going to follow through on some of your ideas at my next rondy. I love my hawkens and my buckskins so much, but i am anxious to now learn the flintlock side of them. Again, i would like to thank you all for your kind comments, and welcoming me to the forrum, chad.

 

[David W.]

If you get an invite from someone like Pletch, I'd take it. He's really knowledgable on the subject.

 

[Tony Logan]

You have been given some good advice. If you look at the forum classifieds it seems to me that you see an awful lot of caplocks sold to buy custom flintlocks( usually production caplocks) it might just be my opinion, but I dont recall seeing many custom flintlocks ever being sold to by a caplock. There is nothing wrong with either. You might ask yourself, if maybe you would like a whole kit to represent a certain time period. That could be your next addiction, if it isn't already.( I started thinking everyone wore buckskins and shot a hawken) Now I think tricorn hats and powdered wigs are cool, just kidding about the wig, I wouldnt be if I was bald, then you might want a firearm that would possibly go with that outfit. Your going to love it either way.

 

[jethro224]

I'll second that. :thumbsup:

 

[Darkgael]

..... with all the problems i read here about them,i'm not sure i want to go the flintlock route.....

Problems? What problems? Other than a single underhammer target pistol, flintlocks are the only BP guns that I shoot.
A misfire is a rare event.
Pete

 

[beaver foot]

Pletch, I'd be very interested on taking you up on your offer. If you would like, you can email me at [email protected] with your contact info on how to reach you. Thanks, Chad

 

Chad,
You just took the best first step toward making YOUR decision.
Mark :thumbsup:

 

[1950DAVE]

Just getting into this, but as for myself it was easy. Two sons have been hunting with cappers traditional and inlines for years but I had never fired one. I told them I thought I would prefer a flinter I had built myself, should I ever own one. Well, lo and behold they along with daughter pool money and buy me a Lyman GPR .54 for Fathers day. So Thas all I have shot, and there ain't nuthin' like it.

 

[tg]

You will take a giant step by spending some time with Pletch, no bull just fact there.Enjoy.

 

[jethro224]

Pletch, I'd be very interested on taking you up on your offer. If you would like, you can email me at [email protected] with your contact info on how to reach you. Thanks, Chad

Just scroll up to his post, under his user name and avatar you will see a box that says "user options, Hover your cursor over that and then click on "send user a PT". Then you can send him a Private Topic and discuss stuff off the open forums.

 

[boar]

For that price you should get a good lock. That is what makes the different. If you get a fast lock you can shoot as good as a cap. I have a couple that are good and a couple that aren't. The one back in the day, I shot a kitchen match with it at a shoot. It has a real short travel. Good luck. Dilly

 

[Ken Cormier]

Been shooting flinters for 30 yrs and all the problems I have had or seen are.
1' low quailty locks
2. poorly assemenbaled locks
3.bad flints
4. shooter not doing his/her job
with a proply tuned quailty lock good flint and shooter doing there job
KABOOM flinch,follow thru and hit the target easy enough lol. :2

 

[vern faulkner]

I own 3 flint locks and they all function as they should and I really like them. Never shot a cap lock so I can not comment on them.

Vern

 

[juancho]

I have one cap lock and four flintlocks.I put 100 round thru the cap gun (I forced myself to empty the box of RB) and spent over 30 pound of black powder with my flinters in the past three years.
For me they are in a different class of fun altogether.

 

[MSW]

If you're considering plonking down what would once have purchased a pretty good used car (and, no, i'm not really that old), you are well considered to try a few flintlocks before you make a "purchase decision."

Having said that, i will paraphrase the little green starwars guy: once flints banged have you, forever will they control your range time.

best of luck.

(he's as good as hooked: another one turned! BWAHAHAHAHA!)

 

[Danbo]

Would second some of the thoughts expressed here. Have both flint and cap, but in my experience the flinter is less problematic than the caplocks so far as reliability.

You'll have to learn how to stay focused and follow thru on the shots for offhand accuracy, but with that done you will be far better off with other guns and that's a fact. Lock time with flints is slower than the others, but if it's properly set up and fed it is difficult to discern the longer ignition sequence.

 

[Steve French]

Chad, Save yourself the trouble of going and finding a flintlock to test to see if you'll like, just get the flinter, you will like, no, you'll love it. I love all three of mine. Besides, all the guns Americans killed the Red Coats with were flintlocks. Enjoy your new rifle.

Pustic

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

A flint rifle in the hands of a capable individual gives up nothing to the cap gun. This was shot this weekend, 2nd overall in a mixed class. Took first in the long gong competition.