Took the newly built flintlock 45 cal to the range today

[Gtrubicon]

I don't have a picture on this puter but I made a wood gadget with a large spring inside that I put on the ramrod after the ball is seated. I compress the spring fully to get an even seat on the powder. This has increased accuracy by a tremendous amount.

I would love to see what you made.

 

[45man]

Yes, heavy coil spring. I never throw out springs of any kind. I will go down and see how much pressure it takes to compress it. Seems like 40 to 50# so it is enough to defeat fouling.

 

[D Yager]

There used to be a commercially made ramrod that was the same thing. I think it was called a Kadooty?

 

[45man]

I found one picture. It is 3-1/2" long, 1-3/4" diameter. I bored a 1" hole for the spring, then a metal plate on top of the spring. The wood plug has a ramrod size hole in it and the screw and washer holds it in. The plug is 3/8" thick. The top is rounded to push on.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

Interesting. I was thinking perhaps a spring from a snap-cap may be strong enough.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

Went back to the range to try some different powder charges. Started at 20gr, then down to 15gr, back to 25gr, then 30gr, and finally 40gr. The 40gr load shot the best group. See pic. The lower powder charges would give me two nice and close, but then two others that would be about 9" away.

Now, this barrel is a "leftover" 12" piece of GM barrel with a 1-66 or 1-70 twist. I've read where these rifle barrel builds on pistols need a larger powder charge to be accurate. This one seems to be that way. This was shot off a bench with the pistol in a sandbag. I thought for the 25 yard distance, it was respectable.

Also, I swabbed the barrel after shooting two shots. I didn't want a repeat of another stuck ball like the first time. And I picked up a few of the shot patches. Just a nice ring burn mark. No cutting or burn through,

 

[nick_1]

sandbagged at 25yrds a single shot pistol should be about an inch.. 2" or under @ 50yrds .

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

sandbagged at 25yrds a single shot pistol should be about an inch.. 2" or under @ 50yrds .

I would agree if this pistol had a fast twist rifling such as 1-28. But it doesn't. It's a rifle twist 1-66.

Even with a fast twist 1-28 the RB only gets (1/28X12)=0.429 (roughly half) a spin down the barrel. With the 1-66, it only gets (1/66X12)=0.182 of rotation before exiting the barrel. That's not even 1/4 of a spin.

 

[nick_1]

thats what I am getting at. I see several folks who do that with rifle barrels at our biathlons and the one I see the most had zero hits out of 9 targets at the last biathlon. beautiful pistol but it would be nice if you could find a pistol barrel that fits? My lepage has a 1 in 18" twist. My trapper a 1 in 20" They both stack bullets off the bench.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

thats what I am getting at. I see several folks who do that with rifle barrels at our biathlons and the one I see the most had zero hits out of 9 targets at the last biathlon. beautiful pistol but it would be nice if you could find a pistol barrel that fits? My lepage has a 1 in 18" twist. My trapper a 1 in 20" They both stack bullets off the bench.

I thought of this at the start of the build. The barrel piece I used is 7/8 wide.

Rice barrels has a 12” 7/8” barrel that should drop in. I will have to fit my breech plug (or drill/tap the breech) to it, and drill the flash hole, but neither of those procedures are too difficult.

The barrel twist is 1-20"t. A Rice pistol barrel price is listed at $125-$150, so cost isn’t bad.

I just checked as I thought Rice had this barrel in a 45....but their calibers are .32, .36, .40, and .50. Appears if I go this route the pistol will be a .50 cal. Here in Pa a .50 cal flintlock pistol is legal for deer. Anything smaller cannot be used. (Minimum long gun cal is .45) I already have a 50 cal pistol, but another one won't be difficult to add to the numbers.

I would have a choice of square grove or radius grove. I've never owned a radius grove barrel so I don't know the advantages\disadvantages of that.

 

[nick_1]

12" is a bit unwieldy for a pistol. 10" is perfect...

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

12" is a bit unwieldy for a pistol. 10" is perfect...

Thanks for the response. My existing barrel is actually 11.5” as that’s where this piece ended up when I cut the barrel for my rifle build.

A 10” barrel would require more modification as I’d have to move back the muzzle cap. Then I’d have to consider the looks of the existing RR pipes.

All that IMHO is to much work for another 1.5” of barrel cutoff.

The pistol balances very nicely now. Going to a 50 cal would make it a bit lighter and I’d think not have a significant effect on the balance.

 

[nick_1]

obviously its all about what works for you. It's a beautiful pistol.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

obviously its all about what works for you. It's a beautiful pistol.

Thank you for the comments.

I was thinking since this barrel's rifling is so slow in this short barrel, that it would be more equivalent to a smooth bore barrel. I don't know what accuracy to expect from a smooth bore pistol so perhaps, that's what I'm seeing here. Either that or my "not as steady" 69YO hands and grip are a lot of the cause.

I do notice the grouping is horizontal, which tells me that pressure and velocity must be fairly consistent. I'm not done "testing" at this point. My next range trip I'll do a better job of having the pistol "sit" in a very solid (not relying on my grip) fixed position. I'll report my results.