Red’s Even MORE Incredible Shooting of Tradition’s Kentucky: .50 Cal of Accurate Goodness

[Panama Red]

Between mail order and a trip to my local gun shop, I’m ready to light this thing off. I bought a .490 mold, and some .018 ticking from Midway, as well as a pan primer.
Got the flints from TotW.
And a quick visit to the gun shop this morning I found a larger powder flask, some .495 balls, some .015 ticking, a breech scraper for CVA (hoping it fits Traditions), and a tin of CCI #11 caps for my 1858. The balls and caps were over priced, IMHO, but the other stuff must have been on the shelf for quite a while. A brass powder flask for 4 bucks? Had to grab that.
Anyway, going to shoot this thing this weekend, for the first time. I made this thread to document the whole learning curve. The good, the bad, and the ugly…
-Red, fingers crossed…

 

[rafterob]

That is a good price on the balls. .490 are usually up around $15 now.

 

[kyron4]

That's an interesting scraper. I've seen flat faced ones like a screwdriver and rounded tipped ones but never one with a tip to clen the hole of the CVA patent breech. I'd be worried of it breaking off.

 

[Panama Red]

That's an interesting scraper. I've seen flat faced ones like a screwdriver and rounded tipped ones but never one with a tip to clen the hole of the CVA patent breech. I'd be worried of it breaking off.

Hadn’t thought of that… I’ll look at it real hard.

 

[Panama Red]

Full cock, half cock, and dropped in the pan. Sparked well, as far as I know, because this is my first flintlock, so I was happy.
Cut a pinky finger out of an old work glove, and used that to hold the flint.
After test sparking it two or three times, I primed the pan and dropped the hammer. Everything went “PFFFF”. Did that four more times with the same results.
Going to pour up some balls tomorrow, and try this thing out on Saturday, if I can wait that long.
What’s a good charge of FFF for a .490 ball? I’ve got a little reading to do before I make it go BOOM.
-Red, tickled with himself…

 

[kyron4]

I'd start with 50 grains and go from there.

 

[davidmc62]

I usually use 50 grains as my go to for 50 caliber guns and work up or down from there to work up a good load.

 

[Sun City]

100 grains 2F

 

[Erwan]

The flint seems (I think) too low, too much in front of the vent, and in the pan, it could burn: too much hot gas. Have you tried placing it the other way around (up/down)?
50 grains is a good load for beginning with the powder charge...

 

[kyron4]

That is a good price on the balls. .490 are usually up around $15 now.

At $4 that "shorty" flask was a steal, those usually run around $20.

 

[kyron4]

What size are those flints ? I use the 5/8"x3/4" flits in my Trad. Kentucky rifle, and they fit and work well.

 

[Panama Red]

What size are those flints ? I use the 5/8"x3/4" flits in my Trad. Kentucky rifle, and they fit and work well.

These are the 5/8x3/4 from TotW. I had to pop off a piece of the corner to keep it from hitting the lip of the pan. It’s pretty tight in there.
-Red, knapping, not napping…

 

[brightboy]

Looking forward to seeing patterns!

 

[Panama Red]

The flint seems (I think) too low, too much in front of the vent, and in the pan, it could burn: too much hot gas. Have you tried placing it the other way around (up/down)?
50 grains is a good load for beginning with the powder charge...

I tried flipping it both ways when I first put it in. It definitely doesn’t work flat side up. The flint then strikes the front lip of the pan. It sparks well this way, and has lit off the flash pan every time so far… well, all five times, LOL. I didn’t know the gas venting out the flash hole would hurt the flint. Digging in to it.
And my first load in here will definitely be 50 grains.
-Red, flipping flints…

 

[Panama Red]

Looking forward to seeing patterns!

Will be either Friday or Saturday. And, my shooting doesn’t really create “patterns”… it’s much more abstract. I’m just hoping for holes in paper. It’s a lot like my game of golf. My goal is to be able to hit that same ball one more time.
-Red, shooting in the low 120’s…

 

[Panama Red]

At $4 that "shorty" flask was a steal, those usually run around $20.

Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. They didn’t have any black powder, all substitute, and I was a bit bummed. I saw the balls, and the caps, and was like, yeah, here we go. Then I walked around to the other side of the display stand. Patches, and flask, and that weird little breech plug cleaner that I really hope works. I started looking a lot harder at that point. All I can figure is they had it in the store for a loooooong time.
That, or I hit the black powder clearance rack.
Now that I’m looking traditional, I’m realizing how slim the pickings are out here. Thank goodness for the interwebs!
-Red, flintlock in an in-line world…

 

[LME]

That is a good price on the balls. .490 are usually up around $15 now.

How much did he pay for the balls? I didn't see where he mentioned price but I am not as sharp as I once was? LOL!

 

[Panama Red]

How much did he pay for the balls? I didn't see where he mentioned price but I am not as sharp as I once was? LOL!

12 bucks. I never mentioned it, but you can zoom in on it.

 

[hanshi]

In your photo of the hammer at half cock it's easy to see it's too close to the frizzen. At half cock the flint should be about 1/8" from the frizzen face but no more than that.

 

[Panama Red]

In your photo of the hammer at half cock it's easy to see it's too close to the frizzen. At half cock the flint should be about 1/8" from the frizzen face but no more than that.

I guess I’m going to have to shorten the flint a smidge. It’s up against the screw.
There’s no stop adjustment on these things…
-Red, itching to make smoke…