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PA Pellet Flintlock
- Thread starter jgray
- Start date
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Pyrodex is a lot harder to ignite than real black powder. Takes a lot hotter spark to set it off. It normally isn't recommended for flintlocks, but i guess that Pa. Pellet rifle was designed to be able to use it. But i am certain you would bet better ignition with real BP.
Actually the advantage I saw in Pyrodex was that since my daughter wanted to hunt with a flintlock, I wouldn't have to worry about her measuring powder accurately, and she would be able to load it much more easily after firing.
I'll let you know how this theory works in practice. I know she was able to seat a bullet in a friends inline after half a dozen shots without cleaning the barrel, and she couldn't load the second shot in my flinter.
Sorry about the confusion I typed the right name in the subject of my post but screwed it up in the body.
Here's some more info regarding pyrodex and flintlocks:
1) It can be loaded with regular BP or loose Pyrodex, or Triple 7, either loose or in pellets.
2) Loading it with pellets requires that you prime the touch hole with FFFFg as well as the flash pan because loose powder will drop down into the breech plug and that won't happen when you load it with pellets.
3) It is capable of firing with pellets because the breech plug redirects the spark so that it enters the breech from the rear of the powder charge and not from the side.
4) The T/C Firestorm is also a flintlock which is capable of firing Pyrodex (and I believe 777) pellets.
Here's some more info regarding pyrodex and flintlocks:
1) It can be loaded with regular BP or loose Pyrodex, or Triple 7, either loose or in pellets.
2) Loading it with pellets requires that you prime the touch hole with FFFFg as well as the flash pan because loose powder will drop down into the breech plug and that won't happen when you load it with pellets.
3) It is capable of firing with pellets because the breech plug redirects the spark so that it enters the breech from the rear of the powder charge and not from the side.
4) The T/C Firestorm is also a flintlock which is capable of firing Pyrodex (and I believe 777) pellets.
Guest
CAUTION: .... Sometimes a serious "hangfire" can be more of a saftey problem for youngsters, then measure'n powder, or learn'n how to wipe 'tween shots.
YMHS
rollingb
It doesn't seem to have anymore of a hangfire than either of my Traditional Flintlocks. None of that matters anyway now. I am proud to announce that she ask if she can use my gun instead. It's a BP only flinter; so this year at least the pellet rifle will stay home.
I bought the Pa pellet. This is my first flintlock. I got the camo/nickel version. I love the gun. I shoot loose 777 in her, Goex 4f to prime. Fast ignition, very few misses once I learned a thing or two. First of all, don't load no 150 grains of anything in this gun. You are wasting your money and threatening the integrity of the gun. I doubt that all the powder will burn in the barrel anyway. I shoot 80 gr. 777 2f and a 295 gr. Powerbelt. She goes off like a cannon and really shoots flat. I think 80 gr. 777 equals about 92 gr. of BP. No need for more powder IMO. I too had a stiff trigger. It would actually hurt your finger to pull it even one time. I removed the lock and adjusted the sear till the catch was just enough to cover the tip of the pin in the notch. Real nice now, not too much hair trigger either. I polished the pin a little with steel wool and lubed the works with synthetic grease. What a world of difference a little tinkering will do.I found the frizzen was not swinging open completely so I removed it and polished the ends to make a little more tolerance in the journal and greased it. She has lightening fast lock time now. She is designed to shoot pellets but a waste to do so IMO. You have to dump a trickle of loose in to fill the channel to the t-hole to shoot pellets. Easier to just use loose and be done with it. If you can tinker a little with things, I highly recommend this gun. Good for the money.
Oh also,
The ignition is fast, like centerfire, if you do your part. A flint needs adjusted often, that's just the nature of the beast. If you wipe the flint and frizzen with alcohol after each shot, you should have no problem. You can buy the little individually wrapped alcohol wipes at the store, they are good to take hunting in your bag. I am using sawed agates right now, but they don't last too long. A good English flint or Amber French should make a world of difference. The only thing that affects my lock time is quality of spark, now that I have fine tuned it a little.
What folks don't understand is that a flintlock needs paid attention to. As long as you keep her clean and adjusted, they are very reliable and rarely misfire.
The ignition is fast, like centerfire, if you do your part. A flint needs adjusted often, that's just the nature of the beast. If you wipe the flint and frizzen with alcohol after each shot, you should have no problem. You can buy the little individually wrapped alcohol wipes at the store, they are good to take hunting in your bag. I am using sawed agates right now, but they don't last too long. A good English flint or Amber French should make a world of difference. The only thing that affects my lock time is quality of spark, now that I have fine tuned it a little.
What folks don't understand is that a flintlock needs paid attention to. As long as you keep her clean and adjusted, they are very reliable and rarely misfire.
That's exactly what I was thinking Livbucks. I bought this gun for my daughter to use so I do want to use pellets if they don't affect the ignition time. My reasoning is so that she can load the gun without my having to worry about her measuring the powder. Pyrodex makes both 50 and 30 grain pellets, I hope they perform the same as the 80 grains of loose stuff.
Oh yea, by all means try the pellets, it is designed for them. There is a flash funnel in the breech plug that you have to fill with loose powder though. A couple of pushes of the pan primer dumped down the barrel should do it. I just premeasure and fill prescription bottles with charges of loose powder to avoid measuring in the field. I never bothered with the pellets. Let me know how they work in it, I would think fine as long as you do what you should.
Before anyone gets carried away with the criticism of the gun and my hunting techniques, skills, and ethics, the gun is a flintlock it has the same basic limitations as any other fliter except that it is capable of using pyrodex pellets and shooting the equivalent of 150 grains of powder. I normally shoot 80-90 from an inline; so I guess that should suffice for a flinter as well. I dojn't think I'll be mounting a scope on it anytime soon either.
At any rate, my daughter and I shot the gun today and the ignition was excellent. I tried several different loads, the best seems to be a 240 grain PA conical with 2 50 grain pyrodex pellets, I didn't get a chance to try it with 3F GOEX yet.
