What are you shooting in Woods walk / Monthly Club shoots

[gard72977]

I would like to see what people are shooting in club events. I am wanting a rifle to use for low level competition. I want a custom gun. Not sure if I want a flint for percussion. I need something for steel and paper targets. would like to hear about barrel length, twist, weight, caliber and etc. If you were to do it over what would you do different?

Please post some pics

wanting to make a intelligent decision on my next gun. I have a smooth bore flint now I need a rifle.

 

[stinkyfeet]

I would like to see what people are shooting in club events. I am wanting a rifle to use for low level competition. I want a custom gun. Not sure if I want a flint for percussion. I need something for steel and paper targets. would like to hear about barrel length, twist, weight, caliber and etc. If you were to do it over what would you do different?

Please post some pics

wanting to make a intelligent decision on my next gun. I have a smooth bore flint now I need a rifle.

I pretty much just shoot 3 different guns minus the pistols of course. I use a 45 cal TN MT Rifle percussion with a 13/16 42" inch green mountain barrel. I use 45 grains 3f and a .015 patch with a .440 ball. Or if I feel like using the flintlock I use a 45 cal pedersoli frontier rifle that has a 39 inch barrel, same load as above. Or if I am shooting at a Trapper or Mountain Man shoot I will usually use a TC Hawkens with a 54 caliber 32 inch 1-60 twist mowery barrel with 70 Grains of 3f a .535 ball and a .015 lubed patch it will shoot 2 inch groups off the bench at 50 yards all day long. All these loads are for target shooting only of course.

 

[necchi]

Go with a cap lock in 54 with a snail breech or direct drum.
The capper doesn't fail in wind/rain or high humidity like the flint. Although several clubs have separate competitions for cap and flint.
The large cal 54 makes a big hole in paper, hit's hard and drifts less in the wind.
If you can afford a swamped barrel that's the way to go, other wise keep the 54 in 15/16.
45's many times loose a lot in a woods walk, wind, varied distances and gongs or knock over targets need to be hit hard. If you have to cut a rope or sting or chop through a post the 54 takes out a bigger hunk than even the 50.
Bench is different.
But my all around range and woods walk (including Hunting) favored rifle is the Sporterized Cabelas Hawken mounted 15/16 GM slow twist 32" 54. Toss in a Davis deer Slayer trigger and Patridge style sights.
That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

 

[Adui]

Well she aint no custom gun, but my Traditions Hawken in .50 is my only go to for BP long guns. (Dont have any others yet)

 

[rustyh]

I use a Lyman GPR and a Dixie Tennesse Mountain both 50 cal percussion I take both with me and just depends on the mood when I get there. I also have a 45 cal Mowrey that I dust off now and then.

 

[pargent]

Dixie Tenn. Mountain rifle flint lock in .50 cal.
Chiefs gun 20 gauge smoothbore flint lock.
Pedersoli Bess .75 cal smoothbore musket flint lock.
They are my favourites for long arm matches

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I only shoot low level competition since hunting with muzzleloaders is forbidden in Belgium. A woodswalk or such things also are not possible here... We can only shoot regular target ("fun" targets also only on special occassions)... I have a Pedersoli Kentucky and a Frontier rifle, both in .45 ... Both rifles started out as percussion and both were converted to flintlocks. I shoot my Frontier mostly and load it up with a .200 patch and a .445 ball, with a 35 grain load of Swiss powder (3f)... I shoot this for Devillers matches at 50 meters. I also try to compete at Maximilien (flintlock rifle at 100 meters) but am still developping a load for that. That is not so simple since I can only shoot 5 or 6 times per year at that distance, and only at/during the competitions themselves... Since they are timed events (13 shots in 30 minutes)that is not easy to accomplish....

 

[gard72977]

Thanks for all the replies. Let me give a little background for myself. I have just started the ML adventure. I have a North West Star (North West) trade gun in .62 (20ga) in the mail to me right now. I do have some other guns H&A Target uunderhammer 45cal, Mowery 50cal and traditions 32.

Im wanting a traditional gun to shoot competition with. Im leaning flint lock but may consider A cap gun. Im thinking a custom 44cal long rifle. I may need two guns which would be fine with me. Just want to nail down what I really want and get them ordered. At a year to 18 months to get a gun I need to get them ordered soon.


Ideas are
northwest trade gun 62cal smoothbore (already own)
custom Tennessee mountain gun 44cal
custom Hawken caplock 54-62 cal.

thoughts?

 

[biliff]

You might want to check out some of the events you intend to shoot at before buying anything. While paper punching is fairly standard, trail walks can be all over the map.

Around here (PNW) the pure paper punchers stick with small to middle calibers. .40, .45 and .50 are popular for most shooting out to 100 yards. Scores are usually based on center of the ball and there's nothing to knock over so large calibers don't have an advantage except perhaps for bucking the wind a bit better. Percussion wins out over flint unless the course of fire dictates flint only. Mostly because its easier to deal with.

Trail walks can vary significantly as to distance, target type and power requirements. While small bores are used, sometimes they don't knock things over that need knocking. They're also a handicap when cutting something like a card or string. On longer steel they might not get a definitive "ring". Squirrel trails have caliber limits (.40 and under). The regular rifle trail you see mostly .45 and up with .50 probably being the most common. Percussion guns tend to be more common than flint, but flint is still well represented, much more so than with the paper punchers. Yeah, it rains out here, but I've watched flinters keep shooting while percussion guns didn't. More a user knowledge thing than a gun thing.

As for me, I shoot either a .54 or .58 flintlock for pretty much everything (trails and paper) except the squirrel trails. Swamped Colerain barrels, 37-38".

 

Thanks for all the replies. Let me give a little background for myself. I have just started the ML adventure. I have a North West Star (North West) trade gun in .62 (20ga) in the mail to me right now. I do have some other guns H&A Target uunderhammer 45cal, Mowery 50cal and traditions 32.

Im wanting a traditional gun to shoot competition with. Im leaning flint lock but may consider A cap gun. Im thinking a custom 44cal long rifle. I may need two guns which would be fine with me. Just want to nail down what I really want and get them ordered. At a year to 18 months to get a gun I need to get them ordered soon.


Ideas are
northwest trade gun 62cal smoothbore (already own)
custom Tennessee mountain gun 44cal
custom Hawken caplock 54-62 cal.

thoughts?

The only thing I would say is that any gun intended for shooting gong heavy woodswalks needs to be at least fifty caliber.
For example.
There was one target on the woodswalk at Friendship that barely wiggled even when it was hit with some heavy calibers. It didn't "clank" much either, and someone with a smaller caliber might have been charged with a miss when it was actually a hit.
I also think there is a little bit of advantage with bigger calibers when shooting at the edge of a card or ax blade. And darn it, with a .32 you might actually shoot through a link on a chain. :wink:
For what it's worth, my main go-to rifle is a fifty. I think that or a fifty-four is just about perfect.
There are more than a few die hard smoothie shooters who would stop with the Northwest gun.
With a Tennessee or southern mountain rifle, I would lean toward a flintlock in .32 or .36. I didn't see either of those calibers listed among what you already have. You do know you need to have at least one or the other, right?
In place of the Hawken I would go with a Rev war or earlier flintlock in fifty-four. Look at TOW or Jim Chamber's websites and check out what they call Edward Marshall rifles. I had one that was stolen, and it was by far the most comfortable best shooting rifle I ever had.

 

[stinkyfeet]

Yes all this is true. Some clubs theres no class between percussion and flintlock its shoot what ya got best score wins. There are times when a bigger caliber helps in woods walks, like fighting rain, shooting feathers, cards, suckers, golf tees in half. Yes sometimes a bigger target wont move with a smaller caliber hit, and sometimes the smaller ball helps when shooting through items to hit the targets behind them. Shoot what ya love and have fun.

 

[Big John]

Some people bring large cal smoothbore rifles to hit 50yd gongs and under and also have an advantage at the close novelty targets. The way to reduce that advantage to have 30% of the targets from 60-100yds. I shoot 50 & 54cal mainly, both ideal at any yardage. PS Don't rule out 58cal, great at 100yds.