This is the first year in the last 16 I broke from archery and hunted deer with muzzleloaders. It was a great year and I'm tagged out. Launched a number of balls with the flints and never touched a hair. I found the flint humbling time and time again. On most of the hunts I'd carry the flint most of the day. The flint is my favorite. When It was time to take home the meat and quit missing. I'd grab the cap gun. :redface:
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Flints are fun, caps are deadly.
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Missing from flinchin or misfires? Caplocks are so easy ain't they, next year its flinchlocks only for me...unless I don't have any meat in the freezer.. :wink:
Hello from Germany,
when the days become short it is a must here in GE to take a scoped ML, but not an inliner! Therefore a capgun works best. But in spring and summer when days are long I'll take my .54 Investarm/Lyman Hawken flinter outside to harvest the little roe critters.
Regards
Kirrmeister
when the days become short it is a must here in GE to take a scoped ML, but not an inliner! Therefore a capgun works best. But in spring and summer when days are long I'll take my .54 Investarm/Lyman Hawken flinter outside to harvest the little roe critters.
Regards
Kirrmeister
Sounds to me like you don't need the caplock, you need a new flintlock! Not that any of us need an excuse for a new gun...
This is my first year with a flinter and I've found it every bit as accurate and 98% as reliable as a caplock. Taking a good rest for the shot certainly helps, but I try to do that with any gun. I've had three one shot kills with it this year, longest was 80 yards.
This is my first year with a flinter and I've found it every bit as accurate and 98% as reliable as a caplock. Taking a good rest for the shot certainly helps, but I try to do that with any gun. I've had three one shot kills with it this year, longest was 80 yards.
I have three flints and again any one of these could be my first choice for the day. My vacation every year is ten days in Eastern Montana busting prairie dogs from morning till dark. I spent a number of years in the Marines. I've always been a shooter and kind of pride my self in this ability. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good. This is true untill I met the flintlock. Humbling is the first word that comes to mind.
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Cap guns are fun but Flints are deadly. :v
Back in the 90's I missed a good 6 pointer inside 50 yards with a caplock due to a hang fire...have never missed a deer with a Flintlock in all the years since...if I could only have one type it would be a Flintlock for sure they are that reliable...probably just a thing or two to work out with yours and you'll have full confidence in it
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
I'm not proud of this one. This year I missed a large blacktail buck when I went for a headshot at twenty yards. When I squeezed the trigger. The primed flashed, but no boom. The buck was gracious enough to lay there while I reprimed, this time with twice as much 4f to assure ignition. The rifle ignited this time and I cleanly missed. Flints are always an adventure.
Protrucker
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It sounds to me like you just need to spend more time with your flinter. Learn the techniques of loading, picking the vent, priming, etc., and get used to the flash near your face. That flash is the cause for a lot of people to drop the shot, especially when there is game in front of you. I've been guilty of that in the past too. :redface:
I think/hope that I'm pretty well past that now. :v
I think/hope that I'm pretty well past that now. :v
I can understand how a person can lose confidence in a flintlock, if you have not got to know the gun, a flintlock is not the kind of gun you grab out of the cabinet and say, think I will hunt with this today after shooting caplocks and modern guns all summer. Once a person gets to know his flintlock, you will see that they can be just as reliable as a caplock. Having said all that, I do have a tendancy to flinch, using a rest when hunting helps a lot. flinch
To borrow from Johnny Kennedy:
I don't hunt with a rock-lock because it's easier. I hunt with one because it is more difficult. :wink:
For certain it can be humbling and frustrating.
I don't hunt with a rock-lock because it's easier. I hunt with one because it is more difficult. :wink:
For certain it can be humbling and frustrating.
"I'm not proud of this one. This year I missed a large blacktail buck"
Sounds like you may be out here in the Pacific N.W.....the flinter will find you or you it, as long as it has a quality reliable lock and proper vent, and tempting as it may be untill the rock crusher is dialed in 100% even at that close range put the ball in the boiler room.
Sounds like you may be out here in the Pacific N.W.....the flinter will find you or you it, as long as it has a quality reliable lock and proper vent, and tempting as it may be untill the rock crusher is dialed in 100% even at that close range put the ball in the boiler room.
The rifle I missed with is an old Dixie Penn. long barrel .45 caliber. The buck was bedded faceing me and by the look in eyes he wanted me to chuck him an apple. I'm certain like many folks previously had done. I have deer in my backyard but I go to hunt deer in other peoples backyards if that makes since. The lock on this rifle looks like a small Siler type lock. There is a bowl cavity that the powder goes into and a channel that leads to the flash hole. This lock has thus far never given me a fast ignition. I'm careful with the flash hole. In fact. The day I missed, the rifle was fresh. So I cannot blame the flash hole. The only thing I can come up with is the 4F prime powder is a couple years old? What does black powder act like when it gets a little on the old side?
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I have never heard of any age related problems with black powder. I understand that FFFFg is more vulnerable to humid conditions. I've gone to FFg for both main charge and prime In my GPR Flinter without any ignition delay or problem. I enjoy not having to carry two horns.
Age won't affect the powder, some of those breech designs do need special attention when cleaning and drying though, if you get a constant flash in the pan but irregular ignition that channel sounds suspicious to me,if the pan does not go off every time the flints may be poor or the frizzen may need tempered or the lock geometry may be wrong
I wouldn't dry it on the stove, it's more than a mite dangerious.
Do what the fireworks folks do, used calcium chloride (damp rid, or the ice remover, same thing)
Put the black powder with the tops open in a sealed box with a cup holding the calcium chloride.
After a few days the BP will be as dry as a bone.
Calcium chloride holds a fair amount of water before it liquify's, so it might have a fairly good load of water absorbed already. Just bake a batch it in a electric oven at 250 deg. F for 4 hours, let it cool in the oven then store it in a zip lock bag until you're ready to use it.
Do what the fireworks folks do, used calcium chloride (damp rid, or the ice remover, same thing)
Put the black powder with the tops open in a sealed box with a cup holding the calcium chloride.
After a few days the BP will be as dry as a bone.
Calcium chloride holds a fair amount of water before it liquify's, so it might have a fairly good load of water absorbed already. Just bake a batch it in a electric oven at 250 deg. F for 4 hours, let it cool in the oven then store it in a zip lock bag until you're ready to use it.
Oh, one more lesson from the fireworks folks I wanted to pass on.
Non bp based compositions(like smokeless powder) vary widely in strength or speed of reaction based on the amount of water absorbed, but fuse (which is bp based) also varies greatly in speed based on the humidity it was stored in, just not as much as the non-bp based compositions.
So the old saying "keep your powder dry" is a very important one.
Bp though unless you get it wet, not moist can usually be dried and work as well as it originally did.
Non bp based compositions(like smokeless powder) vary widely in strength or speed of reaction based on the amount of water absorbed, but fuse (which is bp based) also varies greatly in speed based on the humidity it was stored in, just not as much as the non-bp based compositions.
So the old saying "keep your powder dry" is a very important one.
Bp though unless you get it wet, not moist can usually be dried and work as well as it originally did.
I do not place the open BP can on top of the stove. That would be severely foolish. I do however place it on the mantle above the wood stove where allot of very warm and dry air passes.I've read back in day of folks very carefully placeing the BP in the oven portion of their stoves. The heat from the stove was receding but still hot. This meant for a quick ignition for the next days hunt. I have never attempted this. I have however purchased a super fresh can of FFFF and placed the can inside a food sealer bag and sucked it tight to preserve the powder. Works for me.
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