Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders First Flintlock

Instead of a ball puller, invest in a CO2 discharger. The one I have has hardware for both percussion nipples and flintlock flash holes. I've seen rifling damaged by energetic use of a ball screw.

Second this. Except when you are far-a-field, then you best have a ball puller and patch worm in your bag.

The bad part is, when you do need to pull a load or patch, it’s often when you’ve been shooting, hence there is powder residue in the barrel.

If you look at the pan after firing you can watch that residue (AKA fouling) suck moisture right out of the air within seconds and become damp even on a dry day, it’s a salt and it’s hygroscopic.

This is why you need to clean black powder firearms the same day.

It sure is a bad feeling when you really need to clean the bore but you can’t because of some obstruction, if you don’t have what you need on hand it can take days before you do.

It ain’t like WalMart or even gun stores carry CO2 devices or ball pullers.

I do not know if I was Taught Right but I was Taught to use a wet patch with cleaning solvent on it with every shot.
Dam not Soaked
It helps push all the crap down to the breach and cleans the barrel for the next ball to shoot.

I have never had a lot of Fouling Build Up after a shoot.

I can't highight this enough 1/4 of a pan is plenty and tip your rifle a bit to get some pan powder into the flashole. doing this significantly increased my locktime on my deerstalker

No doubt.
Hotshot liner, good flint, it is disturbing how often mine will go bang with
absolutely no priming powder.


Powder covering the hole acts like a fuse and blocks the fire from the pan until it burns.

A smidge in the bottom creates a small explosion that throws the fire into the flashole.

for a much more enjoyable shooting session, carry a bunch of alcohol swabs with you. (not pc but who cares). i swab my pan and flint, and frizzen every other shot, and sometimes when the humidity is up, every shot. cleans and dries quickly. and if you have a jag with you , one can swab the fouling with them.
some of my flinters require swabbing after each shot. others don't. some require the vent to be picked every shot others don't.
have one that requires the vent pick be full depth of the bore when the charge is dumped in.
flintlocks are like women. no two like.