Range Report - Original Barwick 20 bore flintlock

[Brian the Brit]

I took the pistol to the range this morning and came away with very mixed feelings. On the one hand I was delighted that I got it shoot after all these years but at the same time disappointed that I didn't even worry the target. How embarrassing!

The moment of ignition

I had cast a supply of excellent .575" balls from my new Lee mould (.593" bore) and cut some Irish linen patches that I pre-lubed with Stumpy's famous Moose Juice. The target was a standard 25 yard pistol target mounted on a 3ft x 3ft board set at 25 yards distance.

Initially I loaded 20 grains of fine powder using the same powder in the pan. To my astonishment, my first three shots all fired perfectly with little noticeable lock time. I had used a quill in the touch hole and not over-filled the pan as per advice given on this forum. The gun was a delight to shoot but despite the most careful examination of the target, no holes could be found.

After a couple of misfires due to poor sparking, I replaced the flint and fired another string of shots this time with 25 grains of powder. This certainly felt better but I'd be hard pressed to say why. It somehow felt 'just right'.

By now people had gathered to offer advice, spot the fall of shot and generally take the p**s. What soon became apparent was that the pistol (or perhaps 'I' in my ignorance) was shooting very high indeed, a full three or four feet over the target.

Adjusting my point of aim to four feet below the target I still couldn't hit it and although the elevation was now about right, windage was all over the place. So, out of a total of 20 shots, not a single one hit a nine square foot target board.

The recovered patches were perfect with a nice black circle and no signs of burning, tearing or blow-by. If anything, I would think that my patch material is perhaps a little thick (approx .020")as I really had to push hard on the rod to seat the ball on the powder particularly after a couple of shots had been fired.

I'm baffled. What am I doing wrong? I might as well have thrown the balls at the target. I knew that shooting a flintlock, particularly one that is 200 years old, would present a challenge but I never dreamt it would be quite this difficult.

Please advise. It's clear that I have a great deal to learn!

 

[renovato]

Sounds like the sights are way off. Once you get them set up right, you'll do much better. It's almost impossible to hit anything with sights that are that far off. Maybe move closer to the target until you can figure out where the gun is hitting. Start tinkering with the sights until you get the gun zeroed, then move back to a farther distance and see how you do.

 

[Brian the Brit]

The problem is, Plink, that on this pistol the sights are not adjustable for elevation. (See my previous post 'My First Flintlock' for a picture.

Unfortunately at our range we can only shoot at either 25 or 50 yards.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I think I would do some shooting from a sand bag to see where the pistol is hitting. That would eliminate some of the human error. Stay with your 20 or 25 grain measurement, but shoot from a bag. That should help you a lot.
Good luck and have fun :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

It is too bad that your shooting range doesn't have provisions for shooting at 10 yards. After all, these smoothbore pistols were really designed for close quarters combat.

Perhaps you could speak with the range master about allowing you to dig a hole and putting a temporary wooden board with a large piece of cardboard on it for your target?

As for the sights, I think they were more of a decoration on many of these old pistols intended to put the "fear" into the opponent more than actually serving to aim the shot.

As for the patches, especially with smooth bored guns I would recommend using the thinnest patch that does not show signs of burn thru. Anything thicker just serves to make the gun difficult to load.

Good luck on your next outing.

 

[rafterob]

Considering the pistol was really meant to hit a man in the torso area at close range It will take some work to get it on that 25 yard target. It sounds like you will get there, keep practicing.

 

[thewho66]

Its going to take some playing around with it to make sense of where it shoots. I have a 20 gauge fowler that at 25 yards Im lucky if I can keep it on a peice of poster board. I have some more correct balls to shot but havent made it out to the range.(.600 verses .610) Smooth bore anything will take time to get right. Ps sorry about thinking the gun was a reconversion just looked that way in the pictures.

John

 

[arquebus]

Brian, good to see you took the Barwick out for a bit of excercise. Looking on the bright side, at least you know it's mechanically reliable now & that it fires reliably. Now, it's just a matter of getting it on paper. As was mentioned by one of our USIMLT shooters in your original thread on this pistol, most of the MLAIC smoothbore flint pistol shooters are using a bit stiffer loads than you have tried so far. It's your gun, & you have the best idea of its condition, etc., but I'd be inclined to up the charge a bit more (30-35gns 3Fg?). I shoot a .44 caliber & use 40gns of 3Fg with a bare (Knurled) ball & felt wad. Your mold sounds like it would be too small to try knurling, but that's something to try in the future if you decide to get another mold (can't have too many!). At this point, I'd suggest that you also PM forum member MikeOTDP who has much more experience with these particular animals than I do, I'm sure he can give you some good tips.
Another friend, & fellow USIMLT shooter, who has a lot of experience (& medals) with smoothbores told me the secret to getting good accuracy with a smoothbore. This is just between you & me(!), but the secret is to get the ball out of the barrel before it has time to realize that there wasn't any rifling in there! In other words shoot them fast! Good luck, we're all pulling for you, & PM MikeOTDP.

 

[Zonie]

I might mention that when shooting my Queen Anne (which has no sights) I've found that using the instinctive "point at it" method of aiming works far better than actually trying to aim the thing.

The point at it method works well if the shooter is good at pointing his index finger at things.
Using the same mind frame and remembering to line up the lower part of the index finger with the barrel (while the rest rests on the trigger) one merely points at the target and squeezes.

Folks often surprise themselves at how well this method can work.

 

[Brian the Brit]

Many thanks for the kind words of support and encouragement, Gentlemen!

I shall experiment with some thinner patches and different loads and see what happens.

If by some miracle I do manage to hit the target one day I'll be sure to let you know. :wink:

 

[HMSLion]

Arquebus is right. Smoothbores need fairly heavy loads to shoot well. I would seriously try around 30 grains. You can play with the patch thickness, but from your description, it seems like you have a good tight fit - which is exactly what you want.

I would also get some Swiss Null B priming powder. You will be astonished at how much of a difference it will make in ignition.

Now, there is another factor - shooter flinch. Have you shot flintlock before? They are VERY unforgiving. Brutally so.

As to the sights, you might want to look at soldering on a new front sight. It sounds like the original one is worn down to the point of uselessness.

 

[colmoultrie]

Someone above mentioned a felt wad. Try that over your powder and under your patched ball, and also try some of the vegetable fiber cushion wads. My smoothbore trade gun just sprays round balls unless I use a wad, and then the groups tighten up considerably.