Mistakes will be made.
Lession will be learn.
life will go on.

What did I learn from my first time shooting a sidelock.

My spit is not a good lube (too much dr pepper)
Don't shot a powder with out asking if it will work with what you are shooting.
Always make sure everything is going to work out.
Watch you where your elbow is when at the range.


But over all, you won't know until you try.

I do not care how many times I go to the range. I learn or re-enforce some habit every time I go to the range. There is nothing wrong with trying different powders. As long as you know what the rifle likes and have a load worked up. All of that takes time. Don't beat yourself up over it. I do agree that spit never worked for me, but some people have excellent results with a spit patch. Maybe the soda was a bad thing to have. I personally like moose milk lube for my patches, but that is a preference.

Keep trying that sidelock. They are a lot of fun and can really surprise people with the accuracy they can do.

Heck corey...When I started, there was only one powder....Goex....

I thought I would explan this one. (good laugh)
I was reaching back and knock almost a whole back of tc maxi hunters on to the gravel. I had to remove all the lube that where on them.

wish that was true today hawkeye.

Just wondering, what kind of sidelock were you using: flint or perc?

I remember my first time out with a sidelock,my now trusty flintlock.

I loaded it up with Pyrodex RS. I even used that as a pan charge. 30 strikes on the frizzen and the dang thing still hasn't gone off.

The range where I am shooting this particular dayis in a remote part of South East Arizona. The range master sees about 1 person a week there.So he is there just chatting away asking all sorts of annoying questions and basically not leaving me alone to figure out what is going wrong. It is kind of like that nightmare airplane passenger that won't shut the f**k up and leave you alone.

Eventually I got so frustrated I took a lighter to the pan charge and set the gun off that way.

For a while I didn't even want to look at the gun. But the kind folks here in this forum answered my many questions and now that flintlock shoots like a dream.

Stick with it. We all make mistakes. Remember, by making mistakes you learn and move forward in life not by doing the same thing correctly over-and-over again.

a perc. robert. new englander.

I am going to load up rs next time. don't know when the be. I got a nasty cut on my shooting finger

gibimg me hell tuping. lol