Shooting my first flintlock/ lessons learned

[Ben Meyer]

The big, thick brass T handled cleaning/range rod i paid a pretty penny for has been one of the best BP purchases ive made. Get yourself one!

We've had a ball stuck like yours before. I wouldnt even try to hammer a wooden rod OR try to use a ball puller with one. Brass/metal only. Ive never had great luck with ball pullers. My son had a ball so stuck that we pulled the lead the ball puller was screwed into out of the ball! It was dry balled, and we would up jamming enough 4f thru the flashhole(no liner) and shooting it out.

 

[chessiehokie]

Yikes! I just picked up my first flintlock yesterday at Cabela's... a Pedersoli Blue Ridge (Frontier) in .50 caliber and now waiting for an order of Goex FFG, FFFG, and FFFFG from MidwayUSA, which UPS says is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. So hoping to send my first rounds downrange by Wednesday at the latest. I'm excited, but found your experience sobering, cautionary, and instructive... so you can at least feel some satisfaction that someone else learned from your experience. I appreciated your detailed write-up and will be sure to swab every couple of rounds... also shopping online for a sturdy metal range rod that's long enough for these aptly named longrifles! Hope everything works out well for you shortly so you can soon be back on the firing line.

 

[Bob McBride]

Yikes! I just picked up my first flintlock yesterday at Cabela's... a Pedersoli Blue Ridge (Frontier) in .50 caliber and now waiting for an order of Goex FFG, FFFG, and FFFFG from MidwayUSA, which UPS says is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. So hoping to send my first rounds downrange by Wednesday at the latest. I'm excited, but found your experience sobering, cautionary, and instructive... so you can at least feel some satisfaction that someone else learned from your experience. I appreciated your detailed write-up and will be sure to swab every couple of rounds... also shopping online for a sturdy metal range rod that's long enough for these aptly named longrifles! Hope everything works out well for you shortly so you can soon be back on the firing line.

trackofthewolf.com has great steel range rods. Hey list them as cleaning rods I think.

 

[chessiehokie]

trackofthewolf.com has great steel range rods. Hey list them as cleaning rods I think.

It has now been ordered... thanks Bob!

 

[Fly103]

Looks like i will get my new grease fittings thursday and will try to pump the ball out then. Failing that, my next option will be to try and get a loop of safety wire around the top of the ball puller, twist it tight, and try to pull it that way.

I did check on the bore yesterday and add a few more drops of oil at the muzzle end, no sign of rust/corrosion in the dry winter air yet.

Thanks for the input everyone, i have certainly learned alot about how not to do it from this adventure, and i share my experience in the hope that other newbies will avoid following the same path. I will keep everyone posted on how the removal goes.

Chris

 

[Livbucks]

Try lubed conicals.

 

[hanshi]

By all means carry a metal range rod with you to the range without fail. I never try to pull or push a tight ball with a wood rod; if it is stuck I use the range rod. Flintlocks do have a fairly steep learning curve but familiarity does develope pretty quickly.

 

[Fly103]

Made a bit of progress this evening, using a piece of .040" piano wire with a hook I managed to snag and unscrew the ball puller and broken ramrod from the stuck ball. I then threaded the ball puller onto my heavy steel cleaning rod and screwed her tightly into the ball. I Sprayed a judicious ammount of penetrating oil down the bore, clamped the rod into my bench vice, and gave her a solid tug. I promptly pulled the ball puller right out along with the lead the puller was threaded into.........

On the plus side i no longer have a broken rod and puller stuck in the gun and my grease fitting should be here thursday.

Chris

 

[Eutycus]

I was going to make myself a range rod of sorts from a fiberglasss fishing rod. But after reading this I think I had better go with the metal ones.

 

[Fly103]

I am definitely in the market for a nice brass rod so i dont have to go through this again! My previous range rod was a 7/16 oak dowell with a nice turned handle. It quite obviously didnt have the heft to drive this ball home.

Chris

 

[Sparkitoff]

CO2 discharger....

 

[Livbucks]

CO2 discharger....

With all that oil in there it would probably spit it right out now.

 

[Grenadier1758]

The CO2 discharger works best when the ball is at the breech. If the ball is stuck part way down the barrel, there is often too much volume and the CO2 pressure drops off too much to blow the ball out.

The threads on threaded ball puller need to be deep, much like a drywall screw or exterior wood screw.

 

[Livbucks]

The CO2 discharger works best when the ball is at the breech. If the ball is stuck part way down the barrel, there is often too much volume and the CO2 pressure drops off too much to blow the ball out.

The threads on threaded ball puller need to be deep, much like a drywall screw or exterior wood screw.

You will certainly need a new cartridge to have any hope.

 

[Fly103]

Good news guys, got my grease fittings yesterday afternoon and tried out the idea this morning. Stuck ball pumped right out! Now i just have to scrub out a 41" barrel full of grease. I am a happy man this morning and will avoid walking down this path in the future!

Chris

 

[Percy]

Glad it worked out. For me, experience has always been the best teacher.
Percy

 

[Livbucks]

Good news guys, got my grease fittings yesterday afternoon and tried out the idea this morning. Stuck ball pumped right out! Now i just vave to scrub out a 41" barrel full of grease. I am a happy man this morning and will avoid walking down this path in the future!

Chris

I bet all that oil you put in there to soak helped as well. Great to hear!

 

[user 49399]

Good news guys, got my grease fittings yesterday afternoon and tried out the idea this morning. Stuck ball pumped right out! Now i just have to scrub out a 41" barrel full of grease. I am a happy man this morning and will avoid walking down this path in the future!

Chris

One good thing is your barrel will be nice and clean when your done.
Another thing is hopefully you might not make this mistake again. (It took me two times to learn ).

 

[Danny Ross]

Well with all that grease in the barrel your gun should load easier . At least you got every thing out. DANNY

 

[chessiehokie]

Glad it worked out for you. I am also a newbie who is going down a not dissimilar path. I suppose I should do a write up on that. I can't help thinking of that old adage, “Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.”