Just how primitive do you guys get.

OldBuckstalker1187 · 12-04-2010, 10:36 AM

I was just wondering how primitive you guys get when it comes to muzzleloading. Do most of you shoot the inlines? Do some of you do a mix of inlines, percusion, and flintlocks? Have any of you built any of your own percusion or flintlocks? Have you used the kits or do some of you build them right from scratch. I just thought it would be interesting finding out. I have only bought my muzzleloaders outright. 3 inlines and 2 percusion. Now that I am reading more and more about black powder, the more I find extremely interesting about it. I have talked to a few people that have built their own from kits and have seen a couple guys at shows and on tv that do it from scratch and it fascinates me as to how much detail these guys put into building their rifles. I also am intrigued as to all the original black powder rifles that have survived and the amount of work and detail the old black powder rifle builders put into it using only primitive tools. I have heard of one guy that has taken old rusty bars or beams and machines them into beautiful barrels and makes his own blackpowder pistols that way. Some of his work is amazing also. just wondering how far you guys have gone in your black powder ventures, I know some of you guys have been on here for a loooooong time and have alot of knowledge about black powder firearms.

cayugad · 12-04-2010, 11:12 AM

I have built two black powder rifles from kits. They turned out excellent considering who put them together. And I have taken a lot of deer with the .54 caliber Renegade I built back in 1980.

How primitive I can get... I shot a nice deer a few years back with a Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock. I shot homemade roundball, cut patch from the muzzle with pillow tick, and of course used black powder. That is getting very primitive.

I have hunted with inline rifles also. I am one of these people that when the mood hits me, I take what I like and hunt what I like.

Someday I want to build an expensive kit rifle, but I find I lack the skills for fine detail work that I want done on the rifle. So I may send it out for that. If and when I ever get the rifle.

lonewolf5348 · 12-04-2010, 11:14 AM

I like my flinters and do hunt with them on clear days 54 cal. depends on the place were I am going to hunt.I have a few ridge tops on top of the mountain in thick sapling no shots father then 75 yards so the 54 flinter is my choice.I have a few spot looking down from a ridge top and the shooting distance can reach 175 yards, then my inline it my go to rifle.

Chasam60 · 12-04-2010, 06:42 PM

I drink my coffee black.Thats primitive enough for me.

Charlie

Whoa the Boa · 12-04-2010, 08:42 PM

Thanks for the question - I was wondering the same thing.

Since 2005 I have put together two percussion kits (Lyman Great Plains Rifle and a Lyman Great Plains Pistol) along with putting together two "component" sets consisting of a Early Lancaster 54 cal Flintlock Rifle and a Early Pennsylvania 20 gauge Flintlock smoothbore.

I have killed deer with the Great Plains Rifle and the Early Lancaster. I am working on getting a deer this year with the 20 gauge using a .600" cal patched round ball. The flintlocks long 42" and 44" barrels can be a little tricky moving them around in a deer blind without banging them into something and making noise but are very accurate.

Its lots of work building the component sets but very gratifying. Its even more gratifying getting a deer with a muzzleloader you built and using lead round balls you cast yourself.

nchawkeye · 12-05-2010, 10:15 AM

Very few, made from scratch rifles exist, either from the 1700s or from today...Most custom rifle makers today at least buy the barrel and lock already made...This was also true back before the American Revolution...American longrifles made prior to 1780 or so almost always had locks and barrels imported from England, France and Germany...

I bought my first flintlock back in 1977 and from then until the early 80s I seldom used a modern centerfire rifle...I made a .54 flintlock back in 1988...The barrel was inlet into the stock and the ramrod hole was drilled...I did the rest with hand tools...It took me 2 years and about 200 hours to complete...

Currently I own one inline and 2 flintlocks, a .40 and a .54...Until this year, I had not loaded my inline in over 3 years...I'm 55 and my eyesight just isn't as good as it used to be...I've recently found out that I have a cateract in my shooting eye, so a scope is just about essential for the time being...

Here is a picture of "Daisy"...This is my version of a 1770 era rifle that could have been made in Piedmont North Carolina...What I wanted was a rifle that Daniel Boone could have carried into Kentucky in 1769 or could have been carried at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March of 1780...I call her Daisy because she has a Lancaster Daisy patchbox...Many of the gunsmiths that moved to North Carolina in the mid-1700s came from Pennsylvania and for several years their guns would look similiar to the guns they made in Pennsylvania...

And here I am demonstrating her to a group of Boy Scouts at an event last year...

OldBuckstalker1187 · 12-05-2010, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nchawkeye

Very few, made from scratch rifles exist, either from the 1700s or from today...Most custom rifle makers today at least buy the barrel and lock already made...This was also true back before the American Revolution...American longrifles made prior to 1780 or so almost always had locks and barrels imported from England, France and Germany...

I bought my first flintlock back in 1977 and from then until the early 80s I seldom used a modern centerfire rifle...I made a .54 flintlock back in 1988...The barrel was inlet into the stock and the ramrod hole was drilled...I did the rest with hand tools...It took me 2 years and about 200 hours to complete...

Currently I own one inline and 2 flintlocks, a .40 and a .54...Until this year, I had not loaded my inline in over 3 years...I'm 55 and my eyesight just isn't as good as it used to be...I've recently found out that I have a cateract in my shooting eye, so a scope is just about essential for the time being...

Here is a picture of "Daisy"...This is my version of a 1770 era rifle that could have been made in Piedmont North Carolina...What I wanted was a rifle that Daniel Boone could have carried into Kentucky in 1769 or could have been carried at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March of 1780...I call her Daisy because she has a Lancaster Daisy patchbox...Many of the gunsmiths that moved to North Carolina in the mid-1700s came from Pennsylvania and for several years their guns would look similiar to the guns they made in Pennsylvania...

And here I am demonstrating her to a group of Boy Scouts at an event last year...

Very nice, thank you for posting, its a beautiful rifle. I did not know that old time gun makers imported the locks and barrels of their guns, very interesting, thank you. The more things I find out, the more it makes me want to learn.