THANKS FELLAS
01-14-2008, 07:41 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 296
THANKS FELLAS
Just wanted to say thanks to the guys that answered my ?'s on my white mountain carbine flintlock. I took your advice and ditched the roundballs (only because they won't shoot out of the barrel in my gun) and switched to fff goex in the barrel. The gun shoots a lot better now out past 50 yards. Anyway, on Saturday I was fortunate enough to harvest 2 doe in the last 1/2 hour of the PA season. These are the first deer I have ever taken with my flintock, and it has taken me about 15 years. Thanks again guys.
01-14-2008, 09:14 AM
#4
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
RE: THANKS FELLAS
Way to go!!! We're not letting you off that easy though. We like hunting stories and fact of rifles, loads, distances, how far they ran, tracking, all the goodies.. So get typing on that computer.. if you like.
Congratulation. Getting them with a flintlock is a real trip. In all my years of hunting I have scored one deer with a flintlock. Of course I have not been at them too many years. Most of my hunts were percussion rifles. Still with a carbine and a flintlock to boot.. that must have been a real thrill. I just purchased a 21 inch barrel for my T/C Hawkins Flintlock. Perhaps I can have a similar experience in the future..
Congratulation. Getting them with a flintlock is a real trip. In all my years of hunting I have scored one deer with a flintlock. Of course I have not been at them too many years. Most of my hunts were percussion rifles. Still with a carbine and a flintlock to boot.. that must have been a real thrill. I just purchased a 21 inch barrel for my T/C Hawkins Flintlock. Perhaps I can have a similar experience in the future..
01-14-2008, 10:41 AM
#5
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 296
RE: THANKS FELLAS
10-4, here goes.
Since I have had my flintlock I have always shot 50cal roundballs with 90 grains of FF Goex. I have always been able to keep decent groups within 50yards or so, but to be honest I never really shot the gun enough. Over the past few years I began shooting more and more because I was frustrated over my lack of success with the smokepole. Now on three different occasions I have knocked deer over, but all three ended up getting up and taking off without me getting a second shot. I was never able to recover the deer (which still makes me sick to my stomach).
After asking some questions on here I found out that my barrel wasn't made to shoot roundballs and the FF Goex probably wasn't the best for the short barrel either. I went out last week and bought a few boxes of the Hornady 385 grain Great Plains bullets and some FFF Goex. When I got out and started shooting different loads I saw an improvement right away. I settled on 90 grains of FFF and got back out in the woods this past Friday. I saw one deer late in the evening; however it was too far for a shot.
Saturday moring (the last day in PA produced no deer either). I helped my dad with some chores and headed back out for the final eveing about 2:00. I circled a thicket to put myself between it and some cut corn and bean fields hoping to catch something traveling out to the fields to feed at night. As soon as I got to the far end of the thicket I jumped 3 or 4 deer. I thought about moving but figured that the thicket might still hold some bedded deer. I picked a tree right on the edge of the thicket and took my stand off of my back to begin to set up and about 4 or 5 more deer got up from about 20 yards inside the thicket and took off running.
Once this happened I made my mind up to mover over the the other side of our hill and set up in some hemlocks between a steep ridge and a few other hay fields. I was finally set up about 3:00. About 4:00 a bunch of turkeys came through and stopped behind me scratching around for food. I checked back a few times but couldn't really see anything becuase I had a big hemlock directly behind me. The turkeys hung out for a while and about a half hour later I turned to see a few deer making their way toward me.They must have been bedded somewhere in the hemlocks and were going to move across the side of the ridge and out into the cut corn and beanfields on the other side of the hill. I prepared for the shot figuring they would make their way through ona trail bringing them broadside at about 18 yards. At this point I made my mind up that I would take a shot at the first mature doe because if i waited to see if a buck was in the bunch one of the other deer might pick up my scent trail and spook them all, leaving me without a shot during the last hour of the season. The first one to step out was a yearling. The second a bigger doe. She held up for a few seconds in my shooting lane and I squeezed off the shot. When the smoke cleared I could see and hear deer and turkeys running everywhere. The doe I shot at showed no signs of being hit and took off the way she came in. A few seconds later I thought I heard her drop but then a turkey took off and I figured it might have been a turkey. About 30 yards out I still had two small doefroze up not wanting to move because they didn't know what was going on. I still had a doe tag along with my regular muzzleloader tag so I figured I would attempt to reload and take one of the other doe (I thought I must have somehow missed the first one because I thought with the size of that 385 grain bullet she would have dropped right in front of me).
Now comes the hard part. I'm shaking like someone who just shot a booner and I'm trying to reload. I had one quick load so I fished it out of my bag and dumped the powder down the barrel. Then I flipped it over and almost started the bullet backwards. I flipped the bullet over and tried to start it in the barrel. For some reason those things really give me a hard time to get started. I usually give them a few pounds with the palm of my hand, but I couldn't because the two deer that were still hanging around were on high alert. It probably took me 15mins to get that thing started. I was shaking like a leaf like it was the first deer I had ever seen. I finally got it loaded and primed the pan just as the two doebegan walking toward the ridge. She stopped for a few seconds while still out at about 30 yards I squeezed off the shot. At the shot both deer took off toward the ridge, but the one I fired at circled back toward me, dropped about 20 yards away and took it's last breath.I got down to the deer and gave thanks to god for blessing me with my first deer with the flintlock.ThenI walked over to where the first deer was standing to look for signs of a hit. Ifound blood and hair everywhere right away. She made it about 70 or 80 yards before dying.That was a perfect double loung shot.
So I guess that's about it. The Great Plains bullets worked great.Again,I would like to thank everyone for their help.
I think I may look into getting anotherbarrel for the white mountain carbine because I really want tomake a kill with the patch and ball. If I can't get a barrelI may look in to getting a new flintlock.
Hope everyone else had a great season...
Since I have had my flintlock I have always shot 50cal roundballs with 90 grains of FF Goex. I have always been able to keep decent groups within 50yards or so, but to be honest I never really shot the gun enough. Over the past few years I began shooting more and more because I was frustrated over my lack of success with the smokepole. Now on three different occasions I have knocked deer over, but all three ended up getting up and taking off without me getting a second shot. I was never able to recover the deer (which still makes me sick to my stomach).
After asking some questions on here I found out that my barrel wasn't made to shoot roundballs and the FF Goex probably wasn't the best for the short barrel either. I went out last week and bought a few boxes of the Hornady 385 grain Great Plains bullets and some FFF Goex. When I got out and started shooting different loads I saw an improvement right away. I settled on 90 grains of FFF and got back out in the woods this past Friday. I saw one deer late in the evening; however it was too far for a shot.
Saturday moring (the last day in PA produced no deer either). I helped my dad with some chores and headed back out for the final eveing about 2:00. I circled a thicket to put myself between it and some cut corn and bean fields hoping to catch something traveling out to the fields to feed at night. As soon as I got to the far end of the thicket I jumped 3 or 4 deer. I thought about moving but figured that the thicket might still hold some bedded deer. I picked a tree right on the edge of the thicket and took my stand off of my back to begin to set up and about 4 or 5 more deer got up from about 20 yards inside the thicket and took off running.
Once this happened I made my mind up to mover over the the other side of our hill and set up in some hemlocks between a steep ridge and a few other hay fields. I was finally set up about 3:00. About 4:00 a bunch of turkeys came through and stopped behind me scratching around for food. I checked back a few times but couldn't really see anything becuase I had a big hemlock directly behind me. The turkeys hung out for a while and about a half hour later I turned to see a few deer making their way toward me.They must have been bedded somewhere in the hemlocks and were going to move across the side of the ridge and out into the cut corn and beanfields on the other side of the hill. I prepared for the shot figuring they would make their way through ona trail bringing them broadside at about 18 yards. At this point I made my mind up that I would take a shot at the first mature doe because if i waited to see if a buck was in the bunch one of the other deer might pick up my scent trail and spook them all, leaving me without a shot during the last hour of the season. The first one to step out was a yearling. The second a bigger doe. She held up for a few seconds in my shooting lane and I squeezed off the shot. When the smoke cleared I could see and hear deer and turkeys running everywhere. The doe I shot at showed no signs of being hit and took off the way she came in. A few seconds later I thought I heard her drop but then a turkey took off and I figured it might have been a turkey. About 30 yards out I still had two small doefroze up not wanting to move because they didn't know what was going on. I still had a doe tag along with my regular muzzleloader tag so I figured I would attempt to reload and take one of the other doe (I thought I must have somehow missed the first one because I thought with the size of that 385 grain bullet she would have dropped right in front of me).
Now comes the hard part. I'm shaking like someone who just shot a booner and I'm trying to reload. I had one quick load so I fished it out of my bag and dumped the powder down the barrel. Then I flipped it over and almost started the bullet backwards. I flipped the bullet over and tried to start it in the barrel. For some reason those things really give me a hard time to get started. I usually give them a few pounds with the palm of my hand, but I couldn't because the two deer that were still hanging around were on high alert. It probably took me 15mins to get that thing started. I was shaking like a leaf like it was the first deer I had ever seen. I finally got it loaded and primed the pan just as the two doebegan walking toward the ridge. She stopped for a few seconds while still out at about 30 yards I squeezed off the shot. At the shot both deer took off toward the ridge, but the one I fired at circled back toward me, dropped about 20 yards away and took it's last breath.I got down to the deer and gave thanks to god for blessing me with my first deer with the flintlock.ThenI walked over to where the first deer was standing to look for signs of a hit. Ifound blood and hair everywhere right away. She made it about 70 or 80 yards before dying.That was a perfect double loung shot.
So I guess that's about it. The Great Plains bullets worked great.Again,I would like to thank everyone for their help.
I think I may look into getting anotherbarrel for the white mountain carbine because I really want tomake a kill with the patch and ball. If I can't get a barrelI may look in to getting a new flintlock.
Hope everyone else had a great season...
01-14-2008, 11:17 AM
#6
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
RE: THANKS FELLAS
This flintlock barrel from Green Mountain Barrel Company was made for the T/C White Moutain Carbine. It is 21 inches long, 1-28 twist with fiber optic sights. I have it on a T/C Hawkins. They were on sale for $95.00 plus shipping. I think these will shoot conicals and sabots real well. You have to call GMB on the phone. Whether they have any flintlock barrels left, I could not say.
That was a great account of your hunt. I really enjoyed reading it. I have had those shakes myself. Congratulations again on the deer.
