Why do we love Flintlocks so much?

[oldarmy]

They have a simple understated elagance to them.
Long and slim, a joy to the eye, and a pleasure to fire/shoot on a unhurried sunny summer day.
If I might digress.
The only ones I own, are the ones I have made by my own hand.
In an era of mass production and plastic. It's nice to see that handmade one of a kind rifles are still being built by comptemperty gunbuilders in the tradition of the old masters.
I read about the "golden age" of flintlocks and sometimes think we are in another "golden age"
At least if this forum is any example.
How many members here have build their own rifles?.
I would hazzard a guess that there are more great full time and good part time gunbuilders now then at any time in our history.
All building flintlocks :thumbsup:

 

[Puffer]

Like TN, I have owned & shot a "few modern rifles (MI Garands, M14s, SOCOM16s etc)& I loved shooting them ( still do)But A few years ago I was introduced to muzzle stuffers, & got hooked.I started out with "cappers" & found a new "love", But then a buddy handed me a "flinter & said try it :grin: :grin:
I now have a "couple'& they are my "GUNS OF CHOISE" WHY??? SEE above :thumbsup:
Puffer

 

[Ohio Rusty]

Tn. Frank said:
"but for someone just starting out a flintlock can be something of a pain in the butt to get working right so it's a wonder that anyone sticks with it long enough to develop the skills needed to use one......."

Remember ...for the first 300 years, everyone started out with a flintlock, young and old as that is all there was except the matchlock. So they all rapidly developed their skills in the use of the flintlock. I can't say exactly why I like flinters so well ...I'm sure I'm in agreement with everyone elses comments. My wife also prefers a flinter over a caplock also .... so it's not just a gender thing.
Ohio Rusty

 

[whitetrash078]

I think for me it is the continuity with history that draws me to the flinter, or maybe the way they look? :hmm: Someday I will kill a deer with my musket come hell or high water (if I can learn to hit any thing with it :redface: ).

 

[flashpanner]

I am building one as much s possible with historical tools and techniques. It helps me relate back with history. It has caused me to go and research about the people, the period and times when these guns were in there "Golden Age".
It is a sense of pride, "bragging rights" maybe a bit of nostalgia. I also have partaken in giving demos and talks at living HIStory days both here in Nebraska and Colorado.
Wished I got started earlier in my life!

 

[Wes/Tex]

No mystery about it! As a child of the 50's it was Fess Parker, ole Betsy & the coolest coonskin hat we'd ever seen. Those who weren't alive then will never understand the cult that grew almost immediately. The song was everywhere and kids were requesting it in church...no kidding! Sunday evenings were Disney first, church second!! :hatsoff:

 

[MikeChapin]

When I started in this sport back in the 70s, I started with a pecussion pistol and percussion rifle. I then built a kit, a CVA Mountain Rifle, and was completly hooked. A year or so later I picked up a Dixie convertable kit. It was my first intro into flinters. I went up the learning curve of shooting a flinter. By the time I sold it, the flint configuration was a perminant setup.

My next build was a Lancaster flinter which I still use. Every rifle I have built since then, from a .32 to a .58 and some .50s in between, has been a flinter. I have a couple of percussion rifles. They don't gather dust but they don't get near the use the flinters do.

The historical aspect of shooting a flinter is there. It gives a connection back to the past. The challenging aspect is also there. It just takes more skill to shoot a flinter well. For me the major reason I shoot them is that they are fun, complete unadultarated fun.

For me, shooting muzzleloaders is fun. Shooting flinters is the most fun of a fun hobby.

 

The first MLer I shot was a percussion Zouave, when I was 16. Later I owned a couple of percussion rifles and it took me a while to warm up to flintlocks. I still have a couple of percussions, and will continue to shoot them when I really want to put meat on the table or win a shootin' match; but in the last 18 years, I have used flintlocks more than my old percussions. I like the art and lore of the old rifles, whatever sidelock is on them.

 

[Cruzatte]

The first muzzleloader I ever bought was a flintlock. I would have no other. I figured if ol' Dan'l learned to shoot a flint rifle and shot nothing else his whole life, then by golly, so could I.

I guess there's something that I find more challenging about shooting my flintlocks than percussion pieces. I have shot percussion shotguns, and revolvers, and I keep coming back to my flintlocks. Yeah, I could go on about the beautiful lines of a Lancaster rifle, or a French fusil, or English fowler. But that's not all of it. I just think flintlocks are more exciting, a whole lot less like shooting a modern gun.

Cruzatte

 

[musketman]

Why do we love Flintlocks so much?

What about romance?

Most of us call our guns by female names anyway, the flintlock's hay-day came during the romantic era in the gun's history, you can see the love and craftsmanship in every fine flintlock that was produced by the gunsmiths of yesteryears that is still carried on to this very day...

 

[rhwestfall]

The time I have to hunt is less and less as time goes by (society, family, friends, etc.). It is all important stuff. With all that, the limited time should be quality. Since my success isn't measured by the freezer, but the journey each time, the fun of a flint (or even perc.) following "the old style" or just adding to the challenge is what the appeal is all about. I haven't shot my shotgun in 5 years now. :thumbsup:

BobW

 

[Coot]

To me having a flintlock is like having a boat. I would rather spend an afternoon on a sailboat that a jetski. History, appearance, skill to operate. Its about how much fun you have on the way rather than how fast you get there.

 

[Rusty Old Gunns]

Why do we give a double take to a 1955 Chevy when it drives by? Or a 1930 Model A Ford?

Because it offers the flavor of the past. An attraction that we can not put into words.

Now some folks don’t enjoy that. They want ray guns. I say “Gawd bless em, every one”.

When I shoulder one of my smooth bores, it brings a part of me back to another time. It blends the eternal challenges of hunting with the challenges of the past.

A respect for those challenges, and the technology offered by the flinter, I think. After all, it sure doesn’t make it any simpler.

And every damned time I pull the trigger, A little voice in the back of my head says "See? It CAN be done!"

And though it may become easier and more predictable for us as we improve our individual skills, the pride in achieving that one shot warms me.

But hey... that's just me... right?

:hmm:

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Man make fire with rock.

Now find woman, drag back by hair

 

[MikeChapin]

Man make fire with rock.

Now find woman, drag back by hair

Uugghh :grin:

 

[Teleoceras]

Ohio Rusty:

Remember ...for the first 300 years, everyone started out with a flintlock, young and old as that is all there was except the matchlock. So they all rapidly developed their skills in the use of the flintlock.

Just gotta correct ya there. The first early flint arms were built in the mid 1500's. The first Gonnes were made in the early 1300's using hot pokers and slowmatch for ignition. The Wheellock which used pyrite was from the early 1500's.

That being said, it is the sense of history when I shoot my girls that is the thing that get's my blood running. Gotta have that flash from the pan before that boom!

Slowmatch Forever!
Teleoceras

 

[renovato]

Man make fire with rock.

Now find woman, drag back by hair

I knew something didn't seem right when I found my woman and she dragged me back by my hair. :rotf:

 

[Leonredbeard]

Teleoceras,
What flintlock? It takes sparks from a pyrite to get me excited these days. Them flinters are just too reliable anymore. Think I'll go make a matchlock. Hee! Hee!
God bless.
volatpluvia