I have discovered flintlocks and bascially I want to sell off all my percussion and some of my modern cartridge rifles. This is way more fun. Traditional Flintlock shooting is a ball.

First, thanks to all here who post info on traditional muzzleloading.

I always check in to see the new posts.

I have been refinishing two guns; a pistol and a rifle lately and that is very rewarding. The Harper's Ferry is terrific looking and when I am done I will try to post pictures or have someone else post them. The rifle is going slower because I keep putting her back together so I can shoot whenever I can... and the shooting is better than I thought it would be. Ka-Boom.

Do other people here have strong interests in flintlocks? Who does? What guns do you shoot?

I wish there were more posts here, especially related to traditional muzzleloaders and most specifically flintlocks although the old percussion are sweet, too.

But...

How many really, really enjoy Flintlocks and use them?

Love em but I think you missed the ML forum one step down. Also, check out

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/fusionbb.php?

Rocklocks are like women---they have little quirks and have to be pampered. Sometimes they are very frustrating in trying to understand them, but altogether they are much fun!

A Flinter keeping company with those new flanged cartridge guns. :eek: My old T/C Flinter is appalled. Moved.

Bye
Jack

Go here and register, you will like it! http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/portal/index.php?

And Yes I love flinters.

I've been into flintlocks for 28 years, started with an el cheapo CVA kit that took me 6 months to get working half decent but I learned a lot doing it. A few years later I found out high quality parts were available and started building my own. As time went on I started making knives, powder horns, tomahawks, matchlocks and handgonnes too. I won three turkey and two beef shoots putting a .62 flintlock I built up against centerfire rifles 100yd offhand with PRB's. (Funny how all the other shooters were laughing before I started shooting but they didn't think it was so funny after the smoke cleared)

Flintlocks are my favorite followed closely by matchlocks but if it loads from the muzzle, I'm into it! I have a cap & ball revolver I'm fixin to overhaul and when that's done I'm starting on a Russian cavalry matched pair musket & pistol flintlocks.

A .62 cal flintlock that you made yourself sounds great. I was afraid I would have to make one of these flintlocks myself, and you are feeding that notion.

I buy them now, kits, and/or buy em whole and then refinish them but I have been studying Track of The Wolf and Dixie "parts" and it looks like I may "need" to make me a flintlock.

Most people assert a round ball cannot be as accurate as sabots and boolits and them new fangled inline muzzleloader boolits. I have been a fan of round balls and have long shot round balls from my smooth bore double barrel slug shotgun. And recently shoot a 54 cal Flintlock using Round Ball only and they are great to shoot. I am impressed with the accuracy. I love to hear others beat the snot out of new fangled shooting hardware using Muzzleloaders, Flintlocks especially. Good shooting!

Guys, Zoar is already registered on the muzzleloadingforum, I welcomed him there this morning. Zoar, I am a flintlock shooter; and a left handed one at that. I have 5 left handed ones: 2- 54 cal. long rifles, 1- 32 cal. mountain rifle, 1- 20 ga. Trade Gun, and a 54 cal. Jaeger. Also have a few right hand flinters yet and probably won't get rid of a couple of them just 'cuz. And have 10-12 pistols, but only 2 have left hand locks, not that it makes that much difference there. Keep makin' smoke!

Heres a pic of my flinters.
#1 My build, Hawken, Steel, 58cal, Sharon barrel.
#2 Virgina, Steel, 32cal Made by Jack Garner at TVM.
#3 Lancaster, Brass, 58cal made by a man in Colorado, Ray Ezinga (sp)
#4 J. P. Beck, Brass, 50cal, Rice Swamped barrel, Made by Dave Motto.
#5 Is in progress, Jim Chambers York, 50cal, sliding wood patchbox
it is being assembled by Matt Avance at TVM. The wood is so
beautiful, I passed on building it, for fear of messing it up.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/starrbow/muzzleloaderspic007.jpg

I haven't decided what I'm going to use this piece of wood for, I've got a few things in mind but I'm open to suggestions too. It's too short for a long rifle, I may could squeeze a .66 Jaeger out of it? I'd hate to waste it on a suppository rifle!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/cocobolo.jpg

Jaeger's are beautiful too. And legendary accuracy, of course make them a must in my opinion. I know a Jaeger is on my wish list for sure.

Jaeger's are beautiful too. And legendary accuracy, of course make them a must in my opinion. I know a Jaeger is on my wish list for sure.
I wonder where you heard of the "legendary accuracy" of the Jaeger? I believe one reason for the development of the longer barrels of later rifles was to obtain better accuracy and a flatter trajectory which also means more accurate shot placement in the field.

I have a number of Lyman Great Plains Rifles, Trade Rifles, T/C Renegades and Hawkens, all are flintlocks. They get shot a lot and cleaned a lot. All the best...
Gil

I wonder where you heard of the "legendary accuracy" of the Jaeger? I believe one reason for the development of the longer barrels of later rifles was to obtain better accuracy and a flatter trajectory which also means more accurate shot placement in the field.


Joe,

It's 50% of the German quality and craftsmanship and 50% because us kraut's know how to shoot! :D

Actually, the barrel length has nothing to do with accuracy, seriously, it's just the kraut bloodline... :D :D (sorry, couldn't resist)

Anyway, the longer the bbl, the longer your sight radius and thus the accuracy improvement via removing more of the operator error. From a solid rest and with the trigger nut tightened up, a high quality short barrel is capable of shooting just as good a group as a high quality 42" barrel.

Yes, the longer the bbl, the more burn time you have to use larger powder granulations and you'll see some velocity advantages too but if the load is tailored to the bbl you're working with, you can run them pretty close. I run 70gr of 3F in my 16" .54 pistol barrel under a PRB and it'll shoot as good as the operator at 50yds - given my eyes and physical issues, I can hold ±2.25" from a good solid rest, other's have consistently printed groups under 1.5" so it's me and not the gun.

Jaeger's won favor with many people simply because they are more user-friendly to most folks than a long rifle. The overall design of the Jaeger gives it near perfect balance combined with the stock shape & configuration that is more user-friendly to the majority of people which is why most people who are not experienced with ML's will generally shoot much better off-hand with a Jaeger than a longrifle.

Inherent accuracy and practical accuracy are often very different things. I agree that a 48" barrel may be no more accurate than a 24" barrel but with open sights most people will shoot more accurately with the longer barrel. For whatever reason, it remains a fact that by the end of the revolution the Jaeger was totally swept aside and never made a comeback until modern times. One can only conclude that those people who lived with the rifle and relied on it every day must have found good reason for the change to longer barrels.

It wasn't swept aside because of accuracy problems, the old Jaeger builders retired/died off reducing their showing in the marketplace which was also being dominated by the Americanized rifles. It still the same today, find one mfg in the US offering anything other than an American style stock...ain't gonna happen because the majority of the market has been spoon-fed one style of stock for more than a century and it doesn't matter if something is better or worse, it's only about what "looks right".

The Dutchies were building the majority of guns in their own style (PA, Lancaster, York, ect) and their high numbers simply dominated the market which lead us to the "American Long Rifle" becoming the accepted standard just as the blending of Dutch, English and French styles became the "American Fowler".

The Hawken, Southern Mountain and Cracker rifles were nothing more than an American half-stock version of the Jaeger. The retained the shorter 30-36 inch bbl length and put it on a diet while each had their own unique styles, the basis for them coming about was to have a shorter rifle that lended itself well to use on horseback, was well balanced and easy to get around in heavy brush....the same reasons why the Jaegers were so popular to begin with.