Shot My Flintlock for the First Time Today!

[Newbert]

Hello again.

Well despite the weather being freezing cold I decided to go out to the bush and try hunting down a 2x4.

I loaded it up with about 50 grains of 2FG and a .490 ball. In the Flashpan I had some much finer stuff. Not sure what I'd call it. about 1/3 the grain size of the 2F. So I guess 4F. Finer anyways.

Its still tough as hell to get the ball down in there. I have a home made starter tool I made and that helped but still really tough. I almost cant believe the ball is 0.1 inches smaller that the bore. Earlier in another thread I was advised to ditch those Wonderlube patches. Maybe theyre contributing. I wondered about just using cleaning patches with spit. Someone advised me to use spit.

Anyways I had a couple flash in the pans and some hang fire but I eventually got it working out nicely.

 

[bpd303]

You are on your way to being hooked...flintlocks rule when they are right, frustrating when they are not.

 

[Indy Durtdigger]

Experiment with patch materials. If you've an overly tight bore something like 100% cotton bed sheets could end up working out well. Some guys on here use muslin fabric rather than pillow ticking as it's not as thick. You can cut em at the bore, make em squares, or get a punch and make em round. Doesn't matter.
There are a number of household kitchen items that'll work good for lube with your own patches. Lard, olive oil, most tallows. leftover grease but not from salt cured meats and so on.

 

[Banjoman]

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[Spikebuck]

You mentioned the weather being "freezing cold." This can certainly impact how your choice of lube reacts going down the barrel. Being from Minnesota, I've hunted in temps of below zero air temp. I have had liquid lubes, like spit, actually flash freeze to the bore on the way down. A friend of mine that uses Hoppes has punched the ball right through flash frozen patches at the muzzle when whacking a ball starter. Wonderlube will be VERY stiff in below freezing temps.

If you are going to be using your rifle in subfreezing to high temps, get a lube that can handle those extremes. I like Tracks Mink Oil, but as you've already read, there are other options.

Also, if you don't wipe between shots (alcohol works great in any temps) or use a lube that allows bypassing or delaying that process, the ball will be increasingly difficult to fully seat.

 

[Des52]

If you are shooting in cold weather ditch the wonder lube and get some mink oil from TOTW and some of the cotton dry patches. I use my .36 flintlock for winter squirrel and rabbit hunting and never have trouble loading with this combo.