New .62cal Flint smoothbore Hawken materialized...

[roundball]

Well, since I hung up the deer hunting duds last weekend I spent a couple hours today cobbling together a new smoothbore Flintlock.

Had a new, pretty, spare .54cal Hawken stock I had picked up a couple years ago...a new spare GM .62cal Flint drop-in smoothbore barrel for it...and a spare lock assembly I had cobbled together with the redesigned new style parts some time back.

Got everything hooked up, fine tuned, polished up, and ready for the skeet range...cylinder bore should be close enough to Skeet #1 choke to work fine with a load of #9's at 21 yards...got some parchment paper today to use for making some premeasured skeet powder charges.

Interesting the way an entire muzzleloader just came into existence today in a couple hours where none had existed before...kind of like a "found" muzzleloader

 

[mazo kid]

So.....everything finally just fell into place for you!!?? Got any pictures? Emery

 

[redwing]

Roundball, that is what happens to fellows that shoot for years and are pack rats. It is amazing what you can find in you stash. Things you have forgotten about that just all comes together one fine day. :thumbsup:

 

[wtilenw]

Roundball,
Will you remove the rear sight for skeet shooting?

 

[roundball]

Roundball,
Will you remove the rear sight for skeet shooting?

No...but I actually tried that a couple years ago on a different barrel and couldn't hit anything very well, so I figured it was because the front sight by itself was too tall, so I ground down an old front sight to try but then it got everything so low I couldn't get my head down low enough with the little bit of drop that there is in a Hawken stock.

Then discussing it here, member 'Articap' gave me a tip...said to just put a piece of tape across the back wall of the rear sight and simpy use it like you would a 'rib' on a skeet barrel. I did that and just acquired a sight picture with the bead on top of the taped rear sight and it worked perfectly.

Note:
Leaving the adjustable rear sight on means that you have to adjust that rear sight ('rib') to center the pattern vertically, but once I did that on the patterning board I just shot it like my Remington 1100/1187. Will be doing the same thing with this barrel.

 

[Oldnamvet]

On the premeasured charges -- do you pour in the charge from the paper and then shove the paper down, following with an OP wad? I was doing that until some of the traditional skeet shooters complained that I was "contaminating the ground with paper bits" -- as they continue to use plastic wads which will never degrade. :cursing: So now I just pour from a paper charge, put the paper in my pouch, push down an op wad, shot, then os card.

 

[roundball]

Yes...was planning to do that based on the suggestion posted in my other thread...one was for wax paper, the other for parchment paper...in fact I just started making some parchment paper tubes. In fact, I've only made 12-15 parchment paper tubes so far...based on you raising this excellent point I'll make the rest out of wax paper...test them both and see what the differences are...the wax paper should be less visible for sure.

 

[roundball]

So now I just pour from a paper charge, put the paper in my pouch, push down an op wad, shot, then os card.

I just rolled some tubes out of wax paper...very flimsy delicate things that I wouldn't trust not to open up in a pouch...and if I have to start figuring some way to glue them, for me it might be more trouble than its worth...thinking about it, in the time it would take me to wad / stuff a paper powder carrier into the muzzle I can just as easily drop an empty 35mm film canister in a vest pocket on the way to reach for the cushion wad & shot...and no complaints abut debris. I'll know better after I get a couple sessions under my belt with the 35mm film canisters.

 

[SimonG]

good job roundball!

that is the nice thing with factory made parts and drop in replacement parts, it takes as much time to think it up as put it together.

probably why you have a dozen flinters! LOL, making them by hand with forge anvil, files and etc etc etc I bet you'd own 1!

let us know how this gun shoots all winter for oyu, I have three barrels sitting here and as sson as I get some stocks inletted I will be dropping them together as well, I am looking forward to some new guns going off around here.