Bears with a Flintlock
 

Any one here ever hunt bear with a flinter? I know Davey Crocket got one when he was only 3 but I'm going on 53 :rolleye0011:

Our season opens on Thurs and I was thinking of taking Ole' Betsy my Lyman GPR .50 Flintlock with me. I was planning on using 100 gr 3F Goex with a .495 ball. My bait is 50 yds from my stand.

What do you think? Good to go? Bear size can vary from 100 lber to 300 or larger.

HA

Well they killed Griz with the 50 cal. If you have them I would use a maxi ball or REAL bullet. They are a little heavier

The roundball can do it. But shot placement is critical. I have a friend that shot one with a .50 caliber percussion New Englander shooting a roundball and he said it did a great job. Although they had a long track from what I gather.

I would take only a broadside shot and then go for the heart. But I am sure you know bear anatomy.

My rifle is 1:60 the conicals don't fly too well out of it unfotuneately. I thought about some Buffalo Ball-etts that weigh in at 270 grains. They're shorter and might fly decently but I really don't have the time to work out a good hunting load for them.

HA

Definately broadside is where it's at. I've had bear run 60 yds with it's lungs hanging outside it's body after being hit with a .270. They're tough animals.

He didn't happen to mention what his load was did he?

Thanks,

HA

feel free to stop by my house and go into my back yard and shoot this lil bastard!

OHHHH How I'd love to take care of that problem for you!!!

HA

From what I remember he used to shoot 80 grains of Pyrodex RS and a roundball. The load was really accurate the few times I shot with him. In fact when he got the rifle I was the one that taught him to shoot it. He'd never had a muzzleloader in his life. Now it is all he uses to hunt with.

Thanks Dave,

My load is plenty accurate (same one I was useing at 100 yds)and should be plenty in the power department @ 50 yds but I have never used the flinter for them so I was just checking. It's the waiting for a good shot that will be the killer. I don't fancy chasing wounded bear's.

HA

When I hunted bear with my .54 caliber Renegade I used REAL bullets, but the twist allowed that. Although one day I just loaded up 90 grains and a roundball. I never found a good bear that year.. well I take that back, there was a sow and two cubs and she was a big sow, but that's a no no. And there was one little bear I could have shot but he was too small for what I wanted. We hunted over baits.

Same here, sows with cubs are off limits,, actually illegal to shoot. Nice to watch though.

HA

Huntaway, flintlock or caplock, no difference in terms of muzzle energy. But I would surely be practicing with it first. The possibility of a hangfire is very real with a flinter compared to even a caplock. Even a slight delay may be enough to throw your sights off if you do not maintain the sight picture until it goes boom!
But that should not pose a problem if you have a good rest at your stand sight.
Good luck to you.

I can't remember the last time I shot my Omega???? I've been shooting my GPR soley because it is just great fun to shoot. I've got pie plate accuracy at 100 yds off the bench and two inch 50 yd groups(using sticks or a rest). I'm ready for him, if he will appear when I'm there!!!:s6:
Season opened today and I was there a'waiting..... but he didn't show today.


HA

I am hunting bear and elk next weekend with my hawkens flintlock and round ball. As long as you are a decsent shot and don't have a bad finch you will be fine. I found that round balls shoot the best for me with that weapon with maxi balls coming in second. I never had any luck with sabots or powerbelts.

What part of CO you huntin? I'll be in unit 84 on the 9th for early set up.

I am hunting 511. Been seeing about 6 differents bears bears and a few bulls. I only have a cow tag though so hopefully a cow will come around. I hunt about 20 miles from my house so I don't need to camp that week.

Well it isn't Ole Betsy that spoke this morning and it isn't really a ML'ing story per se, but I was carrying mine.:happy0001:
My young fella hadn't seen the picture above till last night. Well needless to say he wanted to sit in my stand, so being a great father I let him have it.
We went out at the crack of dawn this morning to try and beat the heat. A very foggy ride out there. We were all settled in by a little after 7. Him in MY stand and I in our wood stand. The chipmunks were having a hay day where I was. Around 9:40 KERBLAM!!!! I here the M77 Ruger .270 Roar!!!

YES!!!! The bugger shot my bear!!! LOL JOKING!!!!

So any who, I'll let THE MOOSEMAN!!!! Tell his story!

So I walked to the metal stand and got settled in a little after 7. It was pretty quiet besides a couple of chipmunks making some noise and some frogs jumping in the pond below me. At around 9:30 I saw the snout of the bear walking in. My safety came off and I started to get the shakes. She came in and got settled down right beside the feed. She sat facing right at me so I didn't have a good shot. The bear started chowing down on the food. I watched it a bit through the scope and a bit without. The bear kept looking around and smelling the air as if it knew something was up. A brave chipmunk decided to walk by the bear, and she didn't take to kindly to that. She gave a quick little pounce and the chipmunk was running off. The bear started to turn broad side to me. I tried to get steady aim by using my leg to rest my arm on but my leg was shaking so much that it actually made it worse. At 9:40 I put the gun up, found the spot and pulled the trigger. My ears were ringing as it stood up and was starting to get away. I tried reloading to get another shot on it but I was shaking so much that by the time I reloaded it was already in the bush. I sat and waited for about 5 minutes before I climbed down. I grabbed my casing and listened. I didn't hear another sound come out of the bear. At about 10 I heard the truck door shut and knew that my Dad was on his way. When he arrived he gave me a celebratory hug and I told him my story. We walked around the pond to where I shot the bear. There wasn’t any blood on the ground but the bear dropped just around 10 feet from where I shot it. We took some videos and pictures before we started gutting it. When we finished gutting it we tied it to the back pack so I could carry it to the truck. We got all of our stuff to the truck and then drove home. We took a few more pictures at home, took the hide off of it and then put into the freezer where it is now.




HA