Period flintlock hunt, Freezer, this is you..

Varmintmist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP9BNaCqajE&feature=youtu.be

Make sure to go to the second vid and watch to at least 8min.

Six-Gun

Some of you guys are so hardcore with these old school hunts, I'm waiting to hear that you accidentally ate your 1F powder before a morning stalk thinking it was granola.

Varmintmist

The guys who get hardcore dont eat granola, it would be out of character. They make their own hard tack. That guy knows he isnt period correct and if you watch the second he tells you. There are guys who do the full thing. Mocs, wool and linen and French flop hats. They say it is amazing how comfortable it is.


Seriously. The rondys can get pretty ate up with period correct stuff.

I like the flintlock, and I hunt traditionaly. I traditionaly wear a Mad bomber, camo, and Sorels. Although I did see a longhunters wool coat at the Lewisburg show that actually made a lot of sense.

snake284

I don't own a ROCK LOCK yet and I stress the YET!!! Because if you're gonna play the part you might as well go full tilt and do it right. However, for now, I'm still learning. My rifle is a cap lock. It's a TC Renegade. You see, there's these people on here we call Enablers and... well I was enabled by this guy named Teach. And he knew what he was doing. He knew the smoke that comes out the end of that barrel is Highly adictive to most people and when I got my first breath of it, it hooked me like Crack Cocaine. So you know it's only a matter of time until I go all the way and get me a rock lock front stuffer.

:roll:................................;:tooth:

woodsrunner

I'll ask you this. If this supposedly "Longhunter" just woke up and walked out of the rock cave stretching, indicating that he had "just" woke up, why didn't he TAKE A LEAK? Why did he run back in to get his rifle like he was going to shoot a doe then LOAD hi rifle later?

Gene L

Obviously, the video was staged. I thought the guy was kinda noisy, but that could have been the enhanced sound. Going period doesn't interest me remotely. You can pick out a time period in history and dress and live like that period, more or less. Have a buddy who was in Civil War re-enactment, dress and weapons and very strict rules. Had to stay in character the whole time.

Varmintmist

The guy did the video this year for fun, yep it was staged, he says so. He said he made the edit because he went to the rocks for footage and he hadn't seen deer there, and the doe came up on him. It isnt a paid production, a guy took his camera hunting. There are guys up here who go full garb to go HUNTING, not reenacting, hunting.

I thought the airplane engine noise added a lot too. Its noisy because it was noisy in the woods this year the first week. It was frozen under the dry leaves, still hunting would have been a bear. If you noticed, he didnt get a shot until the snow fell.

Second vid explains the nuts and bolts. I thought it was interesting for a one guy production and he seemed to have a good time doing it.

Six-Gun

I enjoyed it thoroughly. I think it took a lot of skill and patience (on several levels) to put together a clip of himself hunting - by himself - and leave the deer undisturbed enough to make a clean kill. I commented accordingly on the video page.

Teach

Luis, your mailbox is full. My last PM to you kicked back.
Jerry

Six-Gun

Thanks for the notice. Just cleared it out.

woodsrunner

The video DOES point out something that all flintlock shooters-those presently using a flintlock and those wanting to-need to see and understand how to correct!

Notice when he pulls the trigger on the deer there is a very audible KLACK then about half a second later a BOOM! Almost everyone accepts this as the norm when pulling the trigger, but it is totally WRONG! There should be NO AUDITABLE DIFFERENCE as there is in this video. If the frizzen is properly tempered and if the flint is properly knapped and set in the hammer jaws at the proper angle striking the frizzen correctly, the charge in the chamber will have ignited and have the ball at or beyond the muzzle BEFORE the flint has totally fallen to the bottom of the frizzen. Thousandts of a second....not the CLACK..POOF..BOOM seen/heard here! Recent high speed photography proves this....this isn't just me running my mouth!

Teach

Good point, Rich- - - - -hang around the firing line at any target shoot and watch what happens when a good quality flinter goes off. The quality and timing of the lock is the determining factor here- - - -you definitely get what you pay for! BTW, last year at the York shoot a flintlock took second place- - - -the closest to an overall win ever for flint in the history of the shoot!
Jerry

Varmintmist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Y-hu36PpA

Some really bad hang time....

snake284

woodsrunner wrote: »

The video DOES point out something that all flintlock shooters-those presently using a flintlock and those wanting to-need to see and understand how to correct!

Notice when he pulls the trigger on the deer there is a very audible KLACK then about half a second later a BOOM! Almost everyone accepts this as the norm when pulling the trigger, but it is totally WRONG! There should be NO AUDITABLE DIFFERENCE as there is in this video. If the frizzen is properly tempered and if the flint is properly knapped and set in the hammer jaws at the proper angle striking the frizzen correctly, the charge in the chamber will have ignited and have the ball at or beyond the muzzle BEFORE the flint has totally fallen to the bottom of the frizzen. Thousandts of a second....not the CLACK..POOF..BOOM seen/heard here! Recent high speed photography proves this....this isn't just me running my mouth!

Hey, nothing wrong with running one's mouth when he knows what he's talking about as you do. I get a lot from some of you front stuffers on here. So keep that mouth a runnin' !!!

gunwalker

Good video, in spite of some nit picking. There is also a video with the same guy sighting in his rifle ,doing some off hand shooting, and showing some nice flinters.

Gene L

I've heard about the flintlock instantaneous ignition, and did notice the clack-boom on the video. I found a few videos of flintlocks and will say the good ones have EXCELLENT ignition. No delay. Of the ones I saw, the TC Hawken had the best production rifle, but by no means nearly as good, as the well made custom rifles.

Reference was made to a tuned flintlock. Question: How does one tune a flintlock?

I've never seen a flintlock fire in person. My hunting/shooting bud had one, a cheaper one that couldn't be improved by much. He used to work with a gunsmith who did work on them. He's the one who told me a flint gun was as fast as a caplock gun, and after viewing the videos, I couldn't argue with that. My experience and family heritage is with caplock guns.

Teach

"Tuning" involves knapping and adjusting the position of the flint so it strikes the frizzen in the proper place to deliver the most effective shower of sparks to the priming powder in the pan at the correct time. The hardness of the frizzen is also very important- - - -the harder the better, but only on the surface. A frizzen that's hard all the way through would be in danger of shattering when the flint strikes it. I use Kasenit to surface-harden the frizzen to spark well, but still be tough and flexible on the inside.

The cheap lock on my old Traditions flinter took a lot of work to be even partly reliable. The fizzen was way too soft, and it was hard to keep the flint in the proper position to strike reliable sparks. I'm considering fitting a high-quality Siler lock to it that I had set aside for another project, but the lock would just about double the value of the rifle!
Jerry

woodsrunner

One other little trick for instant ignition that is a proven thing: Don't put very much priming powder in the pan. Less than 1/4th full...just a little bit...and just before you pull the piece up to your shoulder to fire snap/twist your wrist to throw the powder over to the extreme right side in the pan. Don't ask me why because I don't know why, but with the priming powder all the way over to the right away from the vent, it will fire quicker. Also, it's a good idea to prick the vent with your thin wire vent prick that you should have hanging on your shooting bag. Do this just before dropping the powder charge down the bore to load.

Teach

I place a round wooden toothpick into the flash hole, clamped into place with the frizzen, while loading the chamber. This assures that the flash hole is clear all the way to the main powder charge. Then the partial pan fill to the side away from the flash hole seems to work even better. Of course, the toothpick is removed during the pan priming step.
Jerry

snake284

Teach wrote: »

"Tuning" involves knapping and adjusting the position of the flint so it strikes the frizzen in the proper place to deliver the most effective shower of sparks to the priming powder in the pan at the correct time. The hardness of the frizzen is also very important- - - -the harder the better, but only on the surface. A frizzen that's hard all the way through would be in danger of shattering when the flint strikes it. I use Kasenit to surface-harden the frizzen to spark well, but still be tough and flexible on the inside.

The cheap lock on my old Traditions flinter took a lot of work to be even partly reliable. The fizzen was way too soft, and it was hard to keep the flint in the proper position to strike reliable sparks. I'm considering fitting a high-quality Siler lock to it that I had set aside for another project, but the lock would just about double the value of the rifle!
Jerry

Man, you all are breakin my heart. I was just starting to get confident at this, though mine isn't a flintlock, and thought I could finally kill a nice buck with it this weekend. But I took it to the range today and it fizzeled on me not once but about 5 times before it finally fired. However I think I know what the problem was. I had almost poured Vegetable oil down the barrel and swabbed it around last time i cleaned it up. I still haven't gotten my act together and bought some Ballistol. This time I will.

Anyway I pulled the nipple out and cleaned it and made sure the port from the nipple into the barrel was clear. Then I dribbled a few grains of powder into the hole and screwed the nipple in behind it. Then i Pulled the trigger. Fizz again. Damn! I pulled the nipple again and cleaned everything out as well as I could and did the same thing. Pulled the trigger and again FIZZ. Pissed me off. Finally after about three more tries, BOOM!!! Finally ignition. What a relief! Then I loaded it again to make sure that wasn't a fluke. BOOM!!! Again.

Then I started sighting it in with the Pyrodex. I started at 50 yards and after i was satisfied it would fire, I moved out to the 100 yard berm. I Had to make about three adjustments before i got it on.

Anyway I brought it home and went to Wally World to get me a 20 gauge swab thang, I can't remember what you call those cloth swabs. But teach told me to get one and pump water up through the barrel with it. But there being none in this one horse town I did it the dumb way again, pouring about two gallons of boiling water down the barrel through a funnel with the nipple out swabbing the barrel with a 50 caliber bronze bore brush in between water pouring. I kept pouring until the water was clean and poured some more, a lot more.

Since nobody around here knows what Ballistol is I got something at the rip off joint in Victoria, called Wonderlube. When the barrel gets cooled down where I can handle it I'll swab the barrel with that to keep it from rusting. Then at some point, probably tomorrow I'll go out and see if I can find me a deer stupid enough to show his face long enough to take his picture with my cannon (Not the camera).

snake284

One more thing, as you guys were talking about ignition should be instantaneous, today even after I got my rifle firing with Pyrodex, It seemed to have delayed ignition. It was more like poof bang or poobang than just Boom!!! Maybe it was because it was cold, I mean the ambient temp was cold, like 43 and windy when I got to the range. It got better as I shot and things got warmer. But what yall are saying sounds like it shouldn't be doing this. And this is a caplock. What can cause a caplock to fizz fire?

Six-Gun

You should not be getting that hang fire issue with a caplock. Teach will attest that with a sharp flint and properly set up pan charge, my flinter will discharge the instant you can decipher the first millisecond of the flint hitting the frizzen. The issue could be a number of things, not the least of which is using anything other than real black powder as your propellant. Even Pyrodex has a significantly higher flash point than real BP. Also, a little tip teach taught me with the caplock is to carefully lower the hammer - slowly - onto the cap after you seat it and press the hammer down firmly to max out the seating. Obviously, you need to be careful and keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and completely control the hammer to avoid an accidental discharge, but it can help your ignition.

Varmintmist

Something like this.

http://vid657.photobucket.com/albums/uu295/Varmintmist/flinter_zpsfu6uis6b.mp4

One day I will learn to knap flint.

Fizz in a caplock?? Don't know for sure, but it sure sounds like the flame channel is plugged or the pyrodex is migrating into it. Unless you never wiped the oil out. Then you are trying to burn vegetable oil and powder. Just for kicks, swab your barrel with a alcohol soaked patch before you load. Get the oil out.

How about a nipple pick??

Don't get all excited turning the hose on that thing. All you have to do, is get the powder residue WET. Just wet. 3-5 wet patches are more than enough. Then you have to get it dry - dry patches. Water Displacement 40 is your friend. A couple patches wet with wd40, the ndry patch. Store with a decent lube. Ballistol is great, Rem oil, 3 in 1.... whatever. Take the lock off and pour boiling water over it. Thats so the hidden areas will dry (heat) then hit it with wd40, then lube.

The guy who built my barrel was the son of the guy who built the rifle. They are the guys who told me how to clean it. It isnt a real project, just common sense.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

You should not be getting that hang fire issue with a caplock. Teach will attest that with a sharp flint and properly set up pan charge, my flinter will discharge the instant you can decipher the first millisecond of the flint hitting the frizzen. The issue could be a number of things, not the least of which is using anything other than real black powder as your propellant. Even Pyrodex has a significantly higher flash point than real BP. Also, a little tip teach taught me with the caplock is to carefully lower the hammer - slowly - onto the cap after you seat it and press the hammer down firmly to max out the seating. Obviously, you need to be careful and keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and completely control the hammer to avoid an accidental discharge, but it can help your ignition.

Thank you Mr. Six! I think you are right on there. Thinking back it was either Teach or someone that told me that same thing and I wasn't doing it.

Also, Tennmike told me about Musket Caps that are a hotter or higher volume ( I'm not sure which or if it's a little of both) Caps that will ignite 777 powder more reliably. It sounds like to me they're in between No. 11 caps and the shot gun primers they use in the inlines.

I really like 777 because when it went off it seemed like it was a hotter load. And the 777 didn't hesitate at all. If it went off it was like right now. Also, it doesn't contain sulphur so the cleanup is not so anal. I've left mine for a week (Yeah I forgot) and no damage after shooting 777 multiple times. So after this hunting season, like Monday, I'm going to look into converting my Renegade to the Musket Caps if it's possible. That way I can use whatever powder I want, or whatever works the best without worries of fizzled ignition.

Teach

Snake- - - -Midway sells Ballistol! Leave those other moose juice products alone, and RUN- - -DO NOT WALK away from the WD-40! Never, ever, put a petroleum-based product into a smokepole! I swab the bore with a patch soaked in 90% rubbing alcohol between shots, and pop a cap on the empty barrel before pouring the powder in for the next load. That assures that the cap is clear for the next shot. I'll see if the local Wally World has a few of those 20 gauge wool bore mops and send you a few. They're probably going to go on sale as the hunting seasons close, anyway.

If you insist on using synthetic powder, Pyrodex P is about the easiest to light off. FFFg Goex black powder is the right way to go as far as I'm concerned. Try to find a "hot shot" nipple with a bigger flash hole, but stay far away from the musket caps- - - -they're just not necessary. Shooting a smokepole with synthetic powder is as messed up as dating a chick with plastic boobs, IMHO!
:roll2:
Jerry

HvyMax

Teach wrote: »

"Tuning" involves knapping and adjusting the position of the flint so it strikes the frizzen in the proper place to deliver the most effective shower of sparks to the priming powder in the pan at the correct time. The hardness of the frizzen is also very important- - - -the harder the better, but only on the surface. A frizzen that's hard all the way through would be in danger of shattering when the flint strikes it. I use Kasenit to surface-harden the frizzen to spark well, but still be tough and flexible on the inside.

The cheap lock on my old Traditions flinter took a lot of work to be even partly reliable. The fizzen was way too soft, and it was hard to keep the flint in the proper position to strike reliable sparks. I'm considering fitting a high-quality Siler lock to it that I had set aside for another project, but the lock would just about double the value of the rifle!
Jerry

You got that right. I have to adjust the flint every few shots. +1 on the Kasenit as well. I almost need an extra frizzen for real range days. I have been considering trying hardface on an extra frizzen but the carbide might not spark as well. Also +1 on the smaller priming charge and tooth/pick. It takes a lot to keep these things working well.

Varmintmist

Teach wrote: »

Snake- - - -Midway sells Ballistol! Leave those other moose juice products alone, and RUN- - -DO NOT WALK away from the WD-40! Never, ever, put a petroleum-based product into a smokepole!

I always thought that to. But like I said, they guy who built my rifle and his son who made the barrel were the ones who suggested wd40 for cleaning it and they had a few years doing it to get a good idea of what works. So far it seems to work for me. I do know that I didnt get the GPR any cleaner when using the "scrub in a bucket" method.

They did not say to use it as a lube, but for water displacement after wet patching.

Shooting a smokepole with synthetic powder is as messed up as dating a chick with plastic boobs, IMHO!
:roll2:
Jerry

bwahahahahaha

snake284

Varmintmist wrote: »

Something like this.

http://vid657.photobucket.com/albums/uu295/Varmintmist/flinter_zpsfu6uis6b.mp4

One day I will learn to knap flint.

Fizz in a caplock?? Don't know for sure, but it sure sounds like the flame channel is plugged or the pyrodex is migrating into it. Unless you never wiped the oil out. Then you are trying to burn vegetable oil and powder. Just for kicks, swab your barrel with a alcohol soaked patch before you load. Get the oil out.

How about a nipple pick??

Don't get all excited turning the hose on that thing. All you have to do, is get the powder residue WET. Just wet. 3-5 wet patches are more than enough. Then you have to get it dry - dry patches. Water Displacement 40 is your friend. A couple patches wet with wd40, the ndry patch. Store with a decent lube. Ballistol is great, Rem oil, 3 in 1.... whatever. Take the lock off and pour boiling water over it. Thats so the hidden areas will dry (heat) then hit it with wd40, then lube.

The guy who built my barrel was the son of the guy who built the rifle. They are the guys who told me how to clean it. It isnt a real project, just common sense.

I throw the nipple in the pot to boil the water. I left it there about 5 minutes after the water was boiling. Also, I cleaned it out pretty good first with the tool that's inside the nipple wrench.

No, I think you hit on it. I think I put a little too much vegetable oil in the barrel and didn't swab it out properly. And then stood the rifle on its butt in the safe and all the residual oil in the barrel ran down to the end. I learned something there. I'll stand it on its muzzle next time plus I will be careful and not over lube it. AND, I'll swab out the barrel again before shooting.

HvyMax

Ballistol is the **** for muzzleloaders. Cleans, Lubricates and protects. I still boil the cleaning solution then wipe it down with it straight. Eezox and cosmoline are the only things better at protecting metal.

Teach

WD-40 is hygroscopic- - - -so is alcohol. Even if a tiny residue is left over, it burns clean. Given a choice, I'll take the alcohol every time. It burns clean. I do not need to deal with the crud ring that petroleum plus BP creates.
Jerry

DoctorWho

I want to get a traditional authentic flintlock.