Saturday I met friends at the gun club for a little shooting fun. They were all shooting modern guns but I brought one of my flintlock rifles. One of them asked me to let him know when I was going to shoot because he wanted to watch me. I had reloaded and I invited him to try it himself. He had never fired a flintlock. I primed it and handed it to him. He shot and hit pretty close to the 10 ring. He commented that he was surprised that there was no hesitation in firing. I then let another shoot it. This fellow had shot one before and had experienced a hang fire. He too was surprised at the ignition speed of my rifle.

I've had that sort of thing happen often Mr. Flintlock. Guys whose only "knowledge" of a flintlock was watching the WHOOOSSSSHHHH-BANG of flintlocks in movies are surprised when mine fires as fast as a caplock.

It used to be that most folks I let try a Flinter for the first time FLINCHED quite bad. The flash in front of their face would make most first timers close their eyes and/or jerk their head because they didn't know what to expect which throws their shot WAY off! I usually just prime the pan a time or two and let them touch that off prior to loading the gun and letting them shoot it. That usually settles them in for when they actually fire the gun...BPS

That's a good idea BPS. I've never thought of doing it that way.

I agree BPS - that is a good idea. When used correctly (not overfilling the pan and having the flint adjusted properly) the flintlock is remarkably fast considering all that is going on.
But I find it amazing, even with at good,fast ignition, how fast the human body reacts to the 'flash in the pan' and how far the shot can be off target.

I have been trying to get better with my flintlock for a while now. I remember when I shot small bore competition we would dry fire thousands of times. this is the same idea. Thanks. I have no problem with recoil as I can put a dozen slugs out of my old ithaca across a bench with no flinch, but that flash in the pan has given me fits. The gun is plenty fast enough but not faster than I can react.

What??? You're not supposed to close your eye's???
What about turning your head away?

HA

Anytime you introuduce someone into BP Shooting is a good one, there always going to be Surprised and WANT TO, they dont know what they have been Missing and when they realize what they've been Missing there going to BUY ONE....Another One HOOKED on BP
(BP)