Veteran Arms Lancer Pistol

[tenngun]

Bare or patched?

I use paper cartridges, which have advantages and disadvantages. Advantage of a cartridge is speed and ease of loading. Cartridges are especially good if you shoot with people who are used to modern guns and get bored easily. Another plus side to the cartridge is that new shooters can load the gun without risk of dry balling or excessive powder. Downside to cartridges is that accuracy suffers quite a bit. You aren't going to win any competitions shooting a paper cartridge with a severely undersized ball. But in my opinion, cartridges are just more fun!

Also, if you decide to go with a bare ball. Use a ball that's around 0.04" smaller than your bore. I use a 0.65" ball in my 0.685" guns and can shoot for hours without any fouling issues. (Although I found the guns shoot better if the bore is cleaned every 5 or so shots)

These guns were not made for accuracy. Shot from horse back or in a hand to hand fight, a ten inch group at five yards was deadly

 

[wganz]

I like the look of those, I keep almost buying one

There are seven days in the week and they all end with "day". But none of them are 'someday'. No excuses, just buy it & get it over with.

Your friendly forum enabler..

 

[hlhanna]

If it's actually a .62" then I would use a .58" or smaller ball. Anything bigger will cause problems once some fouling starts to build. Measure your bore with some calipers before you pick a ball size.

Lee makes a double cavity .575" mold that would be a good inexpensive choice. Another option is ballmoulds.com, he makes decent custom ball molds from brass.

My two 69 caliber guns are .685" at the muzzle and I've been using a .65" ball with decent results. Accuracy is "minute of man" at 50 yards with my 1777 musket and the An IX pistol is "minute of man" at 15 yards. I have noticed accuracy does start to drop off after 5-6 shots if you don't swab the bore.

Here is a recent 3 shot "group" I fired at 10 yards with the An IX. (first shot is low left and the other two are right next to each other). I had some trouble getting the first shot off (oil on the frizzen) so I may have pulled the first shot.
View attachment 201896

I am going to look into those molds, a .58 is still a big slug.

 

[Tanglefoot]

A friend of mine picked up a pistol that looked just like that and was Indian made. He got his at the SHOT show one year. Turned out that the breech plug wasn't threaded at all, just
stuffed in the breech end of the barrel and soldered in place. That has made me very leery of them.

 

[Matt85]

A friend of mine picked up a pistol that looked just like that and was Indian made. He got his at the SHOT show one year. Turned out that the breech plug wasn't threaded at all, just
stuffed in the breech end of the barrel and soldered in place. That has made me very leery of them.

Everyone has a crazy story about Indian made guns. India is a big country and there is more than one gun maker there.

I've dealt with Veteran Arms in the past and they are pretty careful on who they get guns from. If there is a problem, they take very good care of you. I purchased a French 1768 from them years ago, mine did end up having a minor issue, but Veteran Arms took good care of me.

 

[Matt85]

I am going to look into those molds, a .58 is still a big slug.

If you want bigger, Veteran Arms does have some 68 caliber flintlock pistols in stock. Dixie Gun Works also has more An IX and An XIII pistols in stock.

If you get a flintlock, you wont have to worry about the cap shortages.

 

[fireman1]

Loyalist and Veteran arms seem to be the top 2 vendors for the Indian guns.

 

[fireman1]

If it's actually a .62" then I would use a .58" or smaller ball. Anything bigger will cause problems once some fouling starts to build. Measure your bore with some calipers before you pick a ball size.

Lee makes a double cavity .575" mold that would be a good inexpensive choice. Another option is ballmoulds.com, he makes decent custom ball molds from brass.

My two 69 caliber guns are .685" at the muzzle and I've been using a .65" ball with decent results. Accuracy is "minute of man" at 50 yards with my 1777 musket and the An IX pistol is "minute of man" at 15 yards. I have noticed accuracy does start to drop off after 5-6 shots if you don't swab the bore.

Here is a recent 3 shot "group" I fired at 10 yards with the An IX. (first shot is low left and the other two are right next to each other). I had some trouble getting the first shot off (oil on the frizzen) so I may have pulled the first shot.
View attachment 201896

Matt85.....how is the quality/reliability of the 1777 and the AN IX?