Shooting a flintlock handgun

[Flintlock_bob]

What Grenadeir1758 Said!





If the Vent hole is direct drill, I would be careful, A kit would have had a liner usually with a screw slot.

Its definitely not old enough or custom enough to be an original with a direct vent.

My Japanese Tower Flintlock kit and my Pedersoli Harper's Ferry flintlocks both have direct drill vent hole.

 

[bwilson4web]

My birthday present was a Traditions, trapper pistol (1090) that came with nothing else:

Most of my questions have been answered and I still have my Thompson 50 cal, cap-and-ball, supplies: black powder, round and conical, cleaning rod, e.t.c.

My one problem is I've yet to find anyone selling black powder in the North Alabama, Southern Tenn, or anywhere within 100 miles. I see Buffalo Arms sells it in 5 lb lots, +$125 ... I'm 68 and that would be a life-time and then some supply. Any thoughts?

Is it really necessary to have fine-grain pan powder? Since I still have half a can of rifle powder I was thinking of using a mortar and pestle to grind it finer ... very small lots, gloves, safety glasses, outside. The alternative is one of those small gem polishers with lead balls and distance via an extension cord, run for an hour or so.

What did original flintlock owners do for pan powder?

So far, it sounds like after ordering flints and sacrificing an old shoe and cleaning, I should be ready to head to the range.

One thing missing is a table of powder vs shot like I had with the Thompson. But it occurred to me it might be very difficult to over-charge it. The short barrel might let the ball out fast enough dangerous pressures might not build up ... in theory. Are there handy tables for powder and ball weights?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

ps. This thread has been helpful to me already.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Original flintlock users used the same powder as was used for the charge. 3fg (fine rifle powder) works just fine as the prime charge. Fine 4f powder as a pan charge gained a lot of favor in the modern (1930s and later) muzzle loading era.

You should have satisfactory performance with 25 to 35 grains of powder. Use the 0.490 ball and a lubricated 0.015 or slightly thicker patch. If you have the old prelubricated patches, I suggest you get new patching material as the old lubricant will cause the patches to deteriorate.

 

[M. De Land]

My birthday present was a Traditions, trapper pistol (1090) that came with nothing else:

Most of my questions have been answered and I still have my Thompson 50 cal, cap-and-ball, supplies: black powder, round and conical, cleaning rod, e.t.c.

My one problem is I've yet to find anyone selling black powder in the North Alabama, Southern Tenn, or anywhere within 100 miles. I see Buffalo Arms sells it in 5 lb lots, +$125 ... I'm 68 and that would be a life-time and then some supply. Any thoughts?

Is it really necessary to have fine-grain pan powder? Since I still have half a can of rifle powder I was thinking of using a mortar and pestle to grind it finer ... very small lots, gloves, safety glasses, outside. The alternative is one of those small gem polishers with lead balls and distance via an extension cord, run for an hour or so.

What did original flintlock owners do for pan powder?

So far, it sounds like after ordering flints and sacrificing an old shoe and cleaning, I should be ready to head to the range.

One thing missing is a table of powder vs shot like I had with the Thompson. But it occurred to me it might be very difficult to over-charge it. The short barrel might let the ball out fast enough dangerous pressures might not build up ... in theory. Are there handy tables for powder and ball weights?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

ps. This thread has been helpful to me already.

 

[M. De Land]

When you finally get some real black powder find yourself a bit of screen from the local hardware or even used screen with no holes and sieve your fresh can of powder. My guess is that either regular or gnat screen will be small enough to sieve out plenty of fine powder that falls through to use as your charging powder. Every can of what ever granulation of black powder has some fines in it.

 

[Flintlock_bob]

I primed my first flintlock pistol with 2F, worked fine.