My First Flintlock - Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mountain Rifle

[Dave91]

For the past six years I have owned and hunted with a percussion T/C Renegade. I have had a blast shooting, hunting with, and maintaining it, so I decided I would like a flintlock. Having a great interest in early American history was also a big part of my decision, and my Renegade with a Lyman peep sight and modern sling swivels doesn't quite fill that niche. I wanted to get my feet wet with an at least mostly historically accurate flintlock rifle that I could also hunt whitetails with.

So on saturday I attended the Baltimore Antique Arms Show to look around and hopefully find a rifle. The show had an incredible 4,200 table of muskets, rifles, and other stuff in that realm. Most of it was pretty high-dollar as expected. Between admission to the show and the price of the rifle (after some haggling), I walked out having spent just under $400, which I think is a good deal.

From what I can gather, this is a 1970s-80s Tennessee Mountain Rifle from Dixie Gun Works, made in Japan. It's a .50 caliber. I did 5 minutes of research after looking at the gun (thanks to this forum) and it seemed like it's a quality rifle, especially to start with, so I bought it.

Overall it is in good used condition. The stock is mostly very nice with a few minor handling marks. The guy I bought it from said these had a grease hole in the stock, but someone covered it with a brass inlay. The metal has some scratches and patches of minor surface rust that I have already mostly buffed out. Most importantly though, the bore is great with crisp rifling and the lock, for all I know, functions smoothly. It came with a flint that throws some sparks but might need some work/replacement. I already broke down the lock and trigger assembly and oiled/greased it up. I'm glad I did because there was some minor rust that I caught there too. I could not get two of the barrel pins out so I could not give the barrel a full inspection, but from what I can see I'm not concerned. I'll work more on that. Anyone have any ideas? I didn't go crazy trying to punch them out.

There is one kicker - it's a lefty, and I am right handed. It didn't concern me at the time and doesn't now, but I am curious to hear from some of you that shoot an opposite-handed gun.

I have some .490 lead balls, .015 patches, and a new flint on the way from Track of the Wolf. I just need to track down some powder and I can't wait to shoot this thing. Looking forward to reading what you all think, especially from anyone with experience with this model or willing to throw out some advice for a flintlock newbie.

Dave

 

[EC121]

Being left-handed, I have many RH rifles. It really isn't a problem unless there is a ton of castoff in the stock.

 

[Cruzatte]

I had a copy of that same rifle. It was the first one I owned. Mechanically, it never failed me; sparked well, and the triggers were good enough. My only complaint was that with a 15/16" wide parallel sided barrel, it was quite muzzle heavy. In hindsight, it would have made a great bench gun.

 

[Dave91]

I had a copy of that same rifle. It was the first one I owned. Mechanically, it never failed me; sparked well, and the triggers were good enough. My only complaint was that with a 15/16" wide parallel sided barrel, it was quite muzzle heavy. In hindsight, it would have made a great bench gun.

I really like the set triggers on this gun. They seem on par with the ones on my Renegade. This thing is very muzzle heavy but I do fully intend to haul it up the tree stand. If it's too unwieldy that's just an excuse to buy another with a shorter barrel.

 

[Jim K]

I like the inlay over the grease hole. I never liked the grease hole on them. Nice purchase.

 

[Dave91]

I like the inlay over the grease hole. I never liked the grease hole on them. Nice purchase.

I like it too. It has some initials in a fancy script on it currently. I think I will polish that off and either leave it plain or add some new engraving of my own to it.

 

[alcessapiens]

Same rifle but with a gm barrel. The original shot well too but it was 1:56 and I wanted 1/72. Great rifle. Being left handed I bought it new as I had the joy of getting sparks in my left nostril firing a Brown Bess. This is a much smaller lock so it ought to be good right handed. Nice buy!

 

[alcessapiens]

I really like the set triggers on this gun. They seem on par with the ones on my Renegade. This thing is very muzzle heavy but I do fully intend to haul it up the tree stand. If it's too unwieldy that's just an excuse to buy another with a shorter barrel.

They are muzzle heavy but that long sight radius makes them easy to shoot accurately. I’ve considered taking the original barrel of mine and seeing if it could be rebored to .58 by Bobby Hoyt. That would lighten it up a bit.

 

[hanshi]

The rifle appears to be in very good condition and is quite attractive. I once had a .50 flintlock with a straight barrel that made it nose-heavy. But I did some of my best offhand shooting with that good rifle. My .54 weighs some 10.5 lbs but has been hauled up in tree stands where it has killed deer.

 

[Dave91]

The rifle appears to be in very good condition and is quite attractive. I once had a .50 flintlock with a straight barrel that made it nose-heavy. But I did some of my best offhand shooting with that good rifle. My .54 weighs some 10.5 lbs but has been hauled up in tree stands where it has killed deer.

I certainly noticed how easy it is to hold steady, and it shoulders nicely. I only hunt on about 20 acres, so I don't have to lug it long distances. Assuming it goes bang, it should be a great deer rifle for me.

 

[sheriff john]

I've owned two - one a .32, the other a .50. Screws are metric. Dixie had no replacement parts when I owned the last one. The .50 was reliable, great showers of sparks always. The .32 was percussion and, frankly, such a chore to clean it went down the road. $400 is a very good deal around here. Have Fun!

 

[TDM]

That’s a very nice rifle. Congratulations!

 

[TC Tommy]

You say you got it for $400.00. You did really good on that. I have it's little brother, 32's are fun but nose heavy.
Nature of the beast. Good buy on that.

 

[SOLANCO]

You say you got it for $400.00. You did really good on that. I have it's little brother, 32's are fun but nose heavy.
Nature of the beast. Good buy on that.

You can turn those .32's into nice .36's.

 

[Coinneach]

For the past six years I have owned and hunted with a percussion T/C Renegade. I have had a blast shooting, hunting with, and maintaining it, so I decided I would like a flintlock. Having a great interest in early American history was also a big part of my decision, and my Renegade with a Lyman peep sight and modern sling swivels doesn't quite fill that niche. I wanted to get my feet wet with an at least mostly historically accurate flintlock rifle that I could also hunt whitetails with.

So on saturday I attended the Baltimore Antique Arms Show to look around and hopefully find a rifle. The show had an incredible 4,200 table of muskets, rifles, and other stuff in that realm. Most of it was pretty high-dollar as expected. Between admission to the show and the price of the rifle (after some haggling), I walked out having spent just under $400, which I think is a good deal.

From what I can gather, this is a 1970s-80s Tennessee Mountain Rifle from Dixie Gun Works, made in Japan. It's a .50 caliber. I did 5 minutes of research after looking at the gun (thanks to this forum) and it seemed like it's a quality rifle, especially to start with, so I bought it.

Overall it is in good used condition. The stock is mostly very nice with a few minor handling marks. The guy I bought it from said these had a grease hole in the stock, but someone covered it with a brass inlay. The metal has some scratches and patches of minor surface rust that I have already mostly buffed out. Most importantly though, the bore is great with crisp rifling and the lock, for all I know, functions smoothly. It came with a flint that throws some sparks but might need some work/replacement. I already broke down the lock and trigger assembly and oiled/greased it up. I'm glad I did because there was some minor rust that I caught there too. I could not get two of the barrel pins out so I could not give the barrel a full inspection, but from what I can see I'm not concerned. I'll work more on that. Anyone have any ideas? I didn't go crazy trying to punch them out.

There is one kicker - it's a lefty, and I am right handed. It didn't concern me at the time and doesn't now, but I am curious to hear from some of you that shoot an opposite-handed gun.

I have some .490 lead balls, .015 patches, and a new flint on the way from Track of the Wolf. I just need to track down some powder and I can't wait to shoot this thing. Looking forward to reading what you all think, especially from anyone with experience with this model or willing to throw out some advice for a flintlock newbie.

Dave

The DGW LH Tennessee Mtn Rifle was my first Flinter as well, I ended up installing a bone nose cap and later selling it to a guy who kept pestering to sell.
They were a good value rifle and I always regretted selling it.

 

[Coinneach]

I really like the set triggers on this gun. They seem on par with the ones on my Renegade. This thing is very muzzle heavy but I do fully intend to haul it up the tree stand. If it's too unwieldy that's just an excuse to buy another with a shorter barrel.

They were muzzle heavy, what I did was make a side by side "saddle bags" out of fabric and hang it over the Butt with a few cast lead balls in them while I shouldered it, to work out how much counter weight the butt end needed.
Once the muzzle imbalance was weighed out I removed the Butt plate and carefully drilled a slightly larger hole for the .490 cal RBs and rolled them in with some folded greased patch material packing before re-installing the Butt plate.
It worked a treat

 

[earlwb]

Congratulations, on your purchase. It is a great rifle. I have one of the DGW branded left hand versions too. It is a great shooter. Very accurate.

 

[45man]

I made a mistake once by making a .36 flinter for squirrels. Heavy wasn't the right word. It was deadly and all of the critters were head shot but to shoot up, I had to lay on my back.

 

[French Colonial]

I gave the .50 caliber one I had to my brother back in the day and have lately been trying to buy it back, if he ever sells it to me I will cut about 6" or so off the barrel so it is not so muzzle heavy.

He has turned in to a non-gun guy, nothing against them he just has not shot anything for 30 years, yeah I know he is my brother but he is weird!

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Good find, OP.

If you ever tire of how muzzle heavy it is another option would be to have the barrel turned to 2/3 round and 1/3 octagon. This would of course require it to be restocked. That was done by a previous owner of mine. it balances better with some of the weight removed.

In my experience the lock sparks well and it's accurate with 50 to 80 grains of 3Fg under a .490 ball in a .018 or .020 patch.