Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Today I decided to play with one of the flintlocks and see if I will ever be able to master the art of flint knapping. I picked the Lyman Trade Rifle in .54 caliber. The load I use in that rifle is 90 grains of Goex 2f (this rifle hates 3f powder) and a moosemilk Pillow Tick patch, with a Buffalo Bullet .530 roundball. I used Goex 4f as the prime powder. All shooting was done at 50 yards, as that's about as far a shot as I would get with where I hunt with this rifle.

I never had to swab the barrel the entire day. The moosemilk patches were really doing well. No burns, or shredding, so I just kept shooting. I did wipe out the pan and frizzen from time to time, and I had to finally clean the frizzen spring and hinge because it got so fowled, that the flint could no longer trip it open towards the end to make a good spark.

I took Roundball's knapping instructions with me. And after following his directions, I actually think I got the hang of it... :D I did make a chipping tool out of a nail and used that to flake off the smallest of amounts while the rifle was on half cock. It must of have worked because the rifle ignition was very sure, and F..A..S..T..! Even though I thought the flint looked dull, it still fired perfect. I had two hangfires or lag fires for better words to call them. I would then knapp when that happened.

I first fired at the center target. It really took a pounding, but it gave me the sight picture I would need to hold which was a true 6 o'clock picture. I finally decided I was ready to adjust the sights. Not too bad, only took me a little over a year to commit to my load. I then shot three shots from a bench rest off a Caldwell bag, (picture C) to check my adjustment. I was more then pleased with this. So I got the shooting sticks out to see how I would do on them (picture D). Again, I was not all that unhappy with those results. The fast ignition really makes the difference with these rifles. Then I needed to knock my self down a little, so I took some free hand shots. As you can see, I kept them on paper, but I do need a lot of work in that department. (although I seldom if ever shoot free hand when hunting.. I almost always have a rest of some sorts.)

So it was a great day. The temperature was in the 70's and it was sunny with minor wind gusts. Maybe tomorrow I will take the Hawkins flintlock out and play with that one...

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Sounds like you've got it goin' on Cayugad!!!!!

I'm getting up at 5:00am so I canget to the range and beat the heat & humidity here in central NC...will run50 ballsthrough a.50cal Flintlock, be back inside the garage cleaning it by 9:00-9:30...life is good!
:D

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

roundball.. have you ever seen a flint that the edge looked not only dull but thick? Yet that thing fired off round after round. I finally had it fail, so I changed flints but when I was looking at it, it was so squared off, there was really nothing left to knap. I would have never guessed it would have sparked and still fired..

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Yes, I've had that happen...seems when the fint edgewears down, shortening the flint's length, it hits lower on thefrizzen and to a point, seems to still work producing a lot of sparks...but then if it wears too short it'll hit so low that the frizzen might not even tip open.

After my range sessions andI'm cleaning everything up, if the flint looks like it's ready to be replaced, I don't throw them away...I just clean and toss them in a jar...the day may come when I'll run out of BEFs and try some used ones repositioned further forward in the jawsto see if I can get some more life out of them...an interesting hobby for sure.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

LOOKING GOOD! I think you have inspired me to take my flinter out tomorrow. It has been sitting in the safe for too long....plus, my finger itches:D

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

You retired old farts have all the fun. I haven't even shot my new Pennsylvania rifle yet[>:]

Oh well, when I do get a chance I should be all smiles:D

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

I want you to know its no fun being retired. You would not believe all the stress it causes each day, sitting and looking at my gun rack trying to decide what rifle I will shoot today, what distance I want to shoot at on my range, and what projectile I want to use... Sometimes I am so worn out, I have to take a nap before I go shoot... :D:D:D

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Would you like a little cheese with that whine Cayugad? Just complain, complain ,complain. You sure have a rough life. lol

I haven't had time to even look at my guns in at least a month. But i now have a good excuse to go to the range. The NM draw results came out this week and both my son and I drew cow elk tags for ML'er. Got to get him out and practice. Also need to find the right load for the optima in case we need it as a backup gun. So much to do and only 3 months to do it.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

dmurphy317 - good luck to you and your son with the elk hunting. That is not only a lot of fun, but I personally think there is no better eating the elk meat.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Cayugad, when are you coming to CO on an elk hunt? You should really come. Us Coloradoins will help you pick a place to hunt. Some day I wan't to get a flinter. Sounds like a lot of fun.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Excellent results! The .54 is a nice bore size...........

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

I shot my Thompson Center .50 caliber Hawkins today which is also a flintlock. All the shooting was done at 50 yards. I shot group #1 and was pleased but made a slight sight adjustment and shot group #2 It was then I realized I was out of Goex 3f powder in my horn. So back in the house for another pound and... I was totally OUT!! My next case is not due until tuesday.



So I got some Goex 2f in my other horn and thought I would try that. While the Goex 2f shot a little different (lower left corner)it was not all that bad.

I knew I had some Swiss 2f and decided to try that (upper left corner). The Swiss powder did not shoot as well as I expected, of course Swiss is amuch stronger black powder, so perhaps if I took the time I could figure out the right powder charge..

I think I will just wait until my Goex 3f gets here to shoot some more....

The lower right corner bull since I ran out of good powder to shoot the Hawkins Flintlock, I got out an old Tradition's Pioneer .50 caliber sidelock with a williams peep sight. I got out some Pyrodex RS and began throwing ball down range with a moosemilk patch as fast as I could without any swabbing. I stopped, when I ran out of ball to shoot.

I now remember why I dislike Pyrodex RS. The Flintlock was a piece of cake to clean out the Goex. That Pioneer kept throwing filthy water patches. I finally scrubbed the barrel with some Birchwood Casey #77 for a few patches and then it started to come clean...

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Nice shooting!!!

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Cayugad - Good shooting. In your experience, have you found cleaning after using Pyro P to be as "difficult" as using Pyro RS?:eek:

Reading this board for months now, I've noticed you mentioning Pyro P quite a few times (especially when the subject of shooting conicals comes up), but never Pyro RS. Why?

Do you use Pyro RS for any particular purpose...other than when you run out of your preferred propellant?

Thanks.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Yesterday shooting Pyrodex RS was fun until I cleaned the rifle. Then I remembered how much I hate Pyrodex RS. Today, I was shooting a different rifle, a CVA Stalker Carbine .50 caliber with a 21 inch barrel and a 1-32 twist. I used 75 grains of Pyrodex P for sending the 370 grain Maxiball down range.



Needless to say cleaning the Pyrodex P was a lot easier then cleaning the Pyrodex RS. Also 75 grains of Pyrodex P is like shooting approximately 85 grains of the RS so you get more bang out of each pound of powder. Also you get faster ignition I still say, although I'd hate to live on the difference.

The reason for the faster powders that I use, like Pyrodex P, Goex 3f, and Triple Se7en 3f when shooting conicals is ... I think I get better accuracy when I can really accelerate that chunk of lead from the begining. The finer grain powder do that for me.

Today I wanted to see how the rifle reacted with one wad between the powder and the maxiball VS two wads or in other words, 1/16th of a wad compared to 1/8th of a wad in thickness. They both shot good groups, but the double wad shot a little higher then the single wad.

All this was done at 50 yards with open sights and using CCI Magnum #11 caps. This little CVA Stalker Carbine is a good shooter.. but it broke today. Looks like it has to go back to the factory for another repair job.[:@]. At least no one was hurt which is the main thing.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

those maxi-balls really make hole, ha.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

yes they do. I was using my homemade castor oil/bees wax lube and the maxiball I get from Black Jack Hill. They really shoot well out of a lot of my rifles.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

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RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

great shooting cayugad...the whole "being retired thing" cracked me up...i cant wait to start my career and get my own house. i can only hope to have a range in my backyard. if i do ill be shootin as much as possible! i havent shot in a LONG time. i havent put a hole in a target in a LONG time with ANY gun. i cant wait to get out and punch some holes with the flinter. probably be a while. my buddys house is where i do most of my shooting. and right now as long as i can see the field to shoot i got groundhogs to clean out of the field. they let me shoot and hunt any time i want so i return the favor by getting rid of the groundhogs. this year they seem to be everywhere. i didnt get to hunt much last year for them so i gota play catch up! they started making holes in the middle of the fields which i REALLY gota clean up..you know i like to use the flinter for them but most are 150-200yds out. i cant do that with a flinter with much success so i gota use the 3006. a couple more hunts and i should have them cleaned up pretty good!

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

Cayugad - Nice shooting with the Stalker Carbine and thanks for your responses to my Pyro P vs Pyro RS questions. Talking detailed notes of what others have experienced.

By the way, I noticed in the Stalker Carbine right target that there is a bit of light showin through some of the conical holes. No fess up, did you blast through another hardened steel plate ?![&:][&:]

Sheez, stop shootin' those lead hunkers:D:D

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

This is what happens when you shoot large conicals into my trap. Now I really thought this contraption would slow it all down. The conical passes through the target hitting a large stump. From there it has to blow through the stump. (which I managed to do of course)


After breaking the plate the last time out with the White Rifles, the conicals were able to push the remaining steel plates apart as you can see. This resulted in a few of them sneaking out of the trap. Well the tree that the whole target trap is tied into, as you can see took a couple direct hits.

This resulted in the cutting of a nice tree.. off. So the next time someone tells you or asks you if these muzzleloaders really have any knock down power. You can ask them, would you feel safe standing behind a tree stump backed up with steel plates and maybe another tree in front of you, all of this to stop the bullets?





This weekend I pick up six more plates. I am going to put a buffer between the double set of plates so that when the bullets hit the first series of plates, they will actually move slightly on the padded buffer (rubber cow mat). This should take most of the energy out of them. From there they will still have a second series of steel plates to make it through, and after that I really do not have any other way to stop them..

I was going to fill the trap with sand to catch the lead but after falling into a large lead supply I really do not feel like messing with dirty lead anymore and the extra weight of the sand up in the trap will be a mess..

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

this is what the stump looks like after being hit by large conical bullets.

RE: Good Day with a Flintlock
 

We have property and relatives in both the Upper Peninsula of Mich. and in Minnesota. One of these days, we'll be traveling through Wisconsin to visit. I figure that once I hit the Wisconsin border, all I'll have to do is open the car window and follow the sound of shooting right to CAYUGAD's back yard! ;)