Jumping the string

[Eric Krewson]

Not really the string but the time between a click and a boom with my flintlocks. I aim low most of the time and hit high. I hunt real spooky deer.

Shot a big buck this morning, I forgot to hold low, the shot was about 40 yards. The deer here react by dropping when they hear the first click of the flint striking on a flintlock. I think I hit him just above the spine, he went down like a sack of potatoes but got up in about 5 seconds and ran off like nothing happened. Three hours of searching turned up a couple small drops of blood about 250 yards away from where I shot him and no deer. I suspect he will live but hate to let one get away.

Do the deer in you guys area's drop a lot on the shot?

 

[majg1234]

Nope never had that issue with my flinters,,,,Now bow is something else.Most always my ignition is instant.That is except this one time this year with a "klatch" due to a loose flint :cursing: :redface: .My loading ritual and preparations have always resulted an a very quick lock time.....except once this year :td:

 

[don hepler]

Deer, and almost all animals including man, will bend and lower, or squat before taking off from a standing position. I contribute most of my high shots to either down hill or shooting down from an elevated stand. My son-in-law and I killed five deer last week, all from elevated stands, and every one was hit high. I keep telling myself that looking at a deer is like looking at a globe of the earth. We are trying to shoot at the equator, but are looking at the North Pole, and sure enough, the shot winds up being high. With a bow, I've had better luck remembering this, but I can't always remember with a rifle.

As far as the flintlock goes, my large Siler, with a new or really sharp flint, is so instant that my son-in-law, said he thought it was a center fire rifle, that fired.

 

[Spikebuck]

For gun, percussion or flint, not that I've ever noticed. I don't make any aiming compensation for it.

With the time between the click and the boom being around .050 to .075 seconds (I think that's an average for a good lock based on Pletch's high-speed photography results I've seen here) it's hard to see how a deer could move too much considering that a ball moving at 1500 fps covers 50 yards in 1/10th of second. Sound is 1088 fps at 32 degrees F. & dry air. So the click gets to the deer in .140 sec. From click to ball arrival would be something like .175. The ball is only around .035 of a second behind the sound at 50 yards. :idunno:

For bow, I've always only shot at unalarmed deer. If that deer is all tensed up and looking around, or at me, I just do not take the shot no matter the distance as it's too much chance for wounding. I will shoot if they are looking in my direction but aren't showing any signs of uneasiness. I do aim "low" with bow on deer..about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up the chest. Would rather miss low than hit too high. Even unalarmed deer can and do react, but it seems slower than those ready to bolt.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Sorry you lost out. He may be fine if sore.

:thumbsup:

 

[Flint311]

He'll be fine, just sore for a while. The ball probably hit one of the "fins" of the spine. They'll drop hard when hit, stuns the spine. He'll probably drop at the shot even faster next time. Good luck!

 

[Stumpkiller]

I've had deer start to drop when an arrow is released but I've never noticed one quick enough to get much steam up before the ball is on it's way. That's 170 fps vs. 1,500 to 1,800 fps. Thay're fast but they're not that fast. They can't beat the speed of sound for the "Bang" (979 fps). I could certainly see with a hang fire.

I draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the deer's chest and focus on a spot just below that and above the front leg. Top of the heart & low in the lungs. Being a bit to either high or low is still lethal.

 

[daniel collums]

the deer are so spooky around me that when you cock the hammer you better be shooting the same instance. sometimes when they come running up if hounds are after them the cock of the hammer will stop them in their track and most have that o' manure look.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I need to work on my ignition time which is a little slow, sorta' like a click--boom. The sound of the click gets to the deer before the boom sends a ball and they act accordingly.

I am going to retire the .54 from hunting and work out all the bugs.

Now, I have a .44 with a Roller lock that no deer can react to before they have a hole in their chest.

I built the .54 so it had priority but after losing a deer the .44 is going into action tomorrow. The only problem with the .44 is it has a double set single phase trigger that has to be set to cock the hammer. You can't cock the hammer on the deer I hunt and expect for them to be around for a shot. I sit cocked with a frizzen stall on to prevent sparks but a trigger already set is problematical.

I have my stall laced on tightly so it can't come off by dropping the rifle, I have to stretch the lacing to get it off and on.

 

[Swede50]

I have had a lot of deer drop down when they hear any noise to make a fast escape.
Most of the time I have been able to take the deer cleanly but sometimes I hit them in or above the spine.
This has been with a percussion BP rifle.
I will put this in as a thought not as criticism.
Are you use to shooting a Flint Lock or is it new to you?
I am new to Rock Locks and have found I must hold on target longer to have better accuracy or my groups open many inches.
Is it possible that you are missing or hitting high because of not holding on target long enough.
It feels like an eternity but it only takes a second or two and makes a lot of difference on ball/bullet placement.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have been shooting a flintlock for a while, not the best off hand but can drill dimes if I have a rest. I was shooting out of a blind I built out of cedar logs, resting on a log, real stable.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Eric,did you have hold of the fore end? Or was it just sitting on the timber?

 

[Eric Krewson]

It was resting on my hand which was sitting on the log.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I wonder if it encouraged the gun to rise!

 

[smo]

I had the same thing happen with a good deer about four years ago. He went down tried to get up flopped back down stretched out his legs and went stiff ,his head slammed the ground. I thought man that was easy and laid the rifle down to stand up from my seat I heard a noise looked up and the deer got up and ran off down the ridge like nothing happened. I found a little hair and a couple small drops of blood where he went down. I searched for three more hours making zig zags and circles up and down the ridge only to find two or three more drops of blood. I watched the skies for the next week for buzzards but never recovered the deer. I have hunted much of the the same areas you hunt and have killed deer within a couple miles from where you live. You are right the deer are very jumpy and I had them jump a bow string more than once. You might want to enlarge your touch hole a little for quicker ignition :idunno:

 

[Eric Krewson]

You are right about the touch hole, mine is 1/16th. On my 12ga fowler with a big English round face lock I drilled it out to 5/64th because I shoot 1F, The fowler goes off instantly.

The touch hole on my .44 is huge, it self primes with 3F if I don't put a toothpick in it when I load. It has instant ignition as well.

Midwest and northern folk hunt a different deer than we do in the south and don't know just how jumpy a sounthern deer can be.

 

[majg1234]

yep,southern deer are jumpy....I'd say get the gun where it is almost instantly going off,My 58 cal Early VA is used full cocked and trigger set once in the blind etc.The Hammer stall is all I have to remove to fire.I once had a Doe hear me set the trigger 60yrds away and she took off.The 40cal is used the same way.My fowler is fully cocked with a stall on too.When I'm moving about the guns are all on half cock with stall on,Of course you have to do what your comfortable with. Good luck :thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

It sounds to me like a flyer. Sometimes a shot just goes wild. Using precut patchs you can get off center, using hand cast ball you can get a bad ball, in the darker woods on a brown target you don't get down in the sights, powder get damp in the woods ect ect. I had a shot at about 15 yards just a little uphill deer ran off I waited while running home a new shot. Went to track him, followed him about 1/2 a mile never found a drop of blood, how could I miss a broad side where I could have got powder burns on him? I think I shot under him shooting before I was on target.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, when I unloaded my rifle at the end of the day I had a flier, a bad one off the sand bags. The ball was out of a loading block that I had filled a few days before.

My next shot to see if something was wrong was right on.

 

[Darkhorse]

What kind of touch hole liner is in your rifle?
What brand of lock?

I approach the lock speed by first polishing every spot where the moving parts show wear on the lockplate. Friction is an enemy to flintlocks as it slows things down. Get rid of it and use a fine oil on the lock parts.
When I begin shooting a new rifle I take a set of number drills with me. If the locktime is too slow I'll drill it out 1 size up, then test fire it several times. I do this until the speed satisfies me. Remember though, you can always remove metal but you can't put it back on. So go slow.
FWIW I use Chambers White Lightning liners on the rifles I build.
I don't care what kind of surface, soft, hard, tree or limb, the fore arm is resting on, I always grip the fore arm with at least a couple of fingers. This helps keep the barrel from riseing.
I use the hammer stall also, but I keep my rifle on half cock. It is almost noiseless when I fully cock it and remove the stall.
For deer, single trigger only.