Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Scratching an itch

Flintlocks are interesting, but personally, I think that percussion is more reliable. If a flintlock is not legally necessary, I don't see why you would get one, other than just the fun of it. As far as 50 or 54, a 50 will be a lot easier to find projectiles . If you shoot sabots, there isn't a great deal of difference. Full bore or round balls, there IS. I think that is a 26" barrel. I'd shoot 90gr of 777 and a 240-250 XTP and a sabot, if it's percussion, and 100gr black, same bullet, if it's a flintlock. You could certainly use black in the percussion if you can find some! Hard to get in my neck of the woods...295 powerbelts shoot well, and so do Great Plains. The barrels are bored big enough that sabots should not be real hard to load. A peep sight would be a huge improvement over the stock sights. I use a Lyman SML57. You would probably have to drill and tap 1 hole, not a big deal...Have fun!

Couple of things to ponder:

Caplock guns are much easier to shoot accurately, but if so inclined one can become quite deadly with a flinter. For example, the Brits learned this about 250 years ago.

I shoot both, but prefer the flinter for hunting. Mine weighs a few ounces over 7 pounds and has a 42" barrel with a 60" twist. I don't fret over the fact that it won't shoot conicals as the round balls are quite effective. The critical item in shooting a flinter accurately is to understand the slow lock time. If you cannot hold on target after the trigger is pulled, your accuracy will suck. It took me awhile to understand this and accept the requirement, but once I did, good times followed.





Offhand at 50 yards:


I shoot 45 grains of 3FG, .440" diameter ball with a .010" patch. 4FG for the flash pan. Do not have to clean/wipe the barrel for 5 shots. Velocity is in the 1400-1500 fps range.

Like others have opined, .45 round ball is quite sufficient for deer at woods distances. I've killed a bazillion of them with one using 60gr. FFFg and a patched round .45 ball.

Percussion guns; even the cheap ones are easy to make work.

Flint locks; You best have a good quality custom lock and even then it is a long steep learning process. But when you master it a flintlock is every bit as realizable, accurate, and just as fast to ignite as any percussion gun.

If your flint lock ignition is slow, mis-fires, or hang-fires you are doing something wrong or your lock has problems. If you don't have a flintlock mentor to help, you may never figure it out.

Something else to add.

Sooner or later for whatever reason you are going to need to remove a load from an unfired gun, it is not unheard of for people to get distracted and load the ball without the powder first.

If this happens during a range session this can be a big problem as black powder fouling is famously corrosive if you cannot clean it out in a reasonable amount of time.

It happens often enough that you will find ball pullers listed on the TrackoftheWolf website, basically wood screws that attach to the ramrod so that they can be screwed into the stuck ball to pull it. They work. Likewise devices called worms used to snag onto cloth patches left down in the barrel.

Alternatively for caplocks there are CO2 devices that screw into the nipple hole to blow the ball out. I would recommend you have some means of removing a ball and patches this way before you start firing your muzzleloader.

On a related topic, wooden ramrods are cool and traditional but also inherently weak. They are generally ok for ramming loads down the barrel but cleaning involves pushing and pulling cleaning patches up and down the barrel. The metal ramrod tip itself will be pinned in place near the end of the thin wooden ramrod.

If/when they fail during use you are left with a cleaning jag struck down in the barrel which can be problematic to remove. Have a synthetic or purpose built steel cleaning rod on hand before you start shooting.

Well I did it! I have a new to me Lyman Great Plains rifle headed my way next week. It’s a .54 caliber flintlock version with slow twist for launching lead round balls. Can’t wait! Never have owned anything in my life that loads from the muzzle or burns black powder. Going to be a fun adventure! I’m going to bust some whitetails with this one for sure. The seller said it has upgraded triggers and lock on it and all the original parts are coming with it along with original box. I’m like a kid in a candy store right now .. lol. Something to look forward to playing around with.

Tip...stick to watching birds. In the muzzleloading area, I think you are well outside of your area of expertise.

Fair enough. Curious tho what I got wrong.

I said…

1) Frizzen hardness is critical and can be frustrating if ya don’t know about the issue Ive seen it happen a number of times among the reenactor crowd.

2) Flintlocks can have inherently slower lock times (especially true of larger locks with a longer cock arc. Obvious difference between my Bess and the rifle I have with a Small Siler).

3) TrackoftheWolf rocks. I’ve bought a replacement Chambers lock and frizzens from them, in addition to everything else.

4) Ball pullers and worms are essential items newbies commonly overlook before they need them.

5) Black powder is hard to find. Black powder substitutes don’t work in flintlocks.

6) Black powder residue is corrosive.

7) Wooden ramrods can fail in use. Seen it happen, leaving the jag stuck down the barrel.

If you care to take the time, where did I err?

Congrats! 😎

And if it should ever be necessary, TotW has got your back

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/759/1

Imagine for a minute we were discussing roller skating...a newbie asks you for help...your first advice to him, get a good first aid kit, splints, gauze, cryo packs, bangages, and iodine.
The way I interpreted it, the above is an exaggerated parable of what you told Rickybobby. Just about everything you mentioned had to do with fixes for avoidable f...kups. I know these things happen, I don't know who you shoot with, but in a half century years of flinters, I have NEVER had to pull a ball, I have never broken a hickory coal oil soaked ramrod and the only time I dry balled I was staggering drunk. On the other hand, #3 and #5 should be graven in stone and I and the flinter brotherhood thank you.

Ricky Bobby, Congrats, you just opened the door to a world of fun, and with a good choice of rifle...don't let anyone fool you, that Lyman bbl is in the winners circle every time. If you were lucky and got the L&R replacement lock, you're in clover.
Read 'prairie dog shooter's post above, and read it again. Find the most experienced mentor you can, he will save you a river of tears, learning the little tricks and details is the key to happy marriage of you and your new rifle. The little tiny details of flintlock success doctrine will turn this into one of the most satisfying endeavors you will find.
Selection of flints, mounting of flints, tuning the flint edge, patch material, patch/ball fit, load finding and tuning, fired patch 'reading', on and on...a good mentor can flatten your learning curve to an hour or two as opposed to a year or two on your own. Have fun.

Unfortunately I know absolutely no one that shoots traditional muzzleloaders or flintlocks but that doesn’t scare me one bit. I love self learning subjects I’m interested in. Thankfully we have the internet nowadays for doing thorough research on things like this but I do know just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true. Trial and error my friends! Making mistakes has always been the best way for me to learn something.

I am going to need a TON of shooting supplies and accessories though. Not going to rush into it though. Ball, patches, real black powder, ball starter, flints, Ram rod, powder flask, priming flask, pick, etc. I’m sure the list goes on and on.

Our muzzleloader season is coming up in a couple weeks and as much as I’d love to be out there hunting with it there’s just no way possible I can be ready with it by then … especially since I need all these things plus working up a good load. Atleast I’ll have something to look forward to for next year now! I can’t wait to thump a whitetail with an old lead round ball. Lol

Previous owner stated starting with a charge of Swiss FF at 80grs and a .535 round ball with .018 patch and Swiss FFFF in the priming pan would be a great starting point. So I have that to help get me started.

I’ve already been lurking on TOTWs website and sure I’ll be placing an order or two for supplies from them in the near future. Currently searching for local black powder suppliers to avoid HazMat fees and so I can buy a pound or two at a time. Wouldn’t mind finding a nice leather bag and powder horn as well. I’ll be hanging out over on the muzzleloader forums a lot I’m sure while searching for these things and trying to learn as much as I can from folks.

It’s given me a little spark again in my hunting career!

Tks. I forgot to advise the purchase of a vent pick also

I dunno how credible I am but I’ve had 4f fly out of the pan before it could set off the charge in windy conditions. 4f is faster but 3f works for me too.

I suppose it's best to start with the sellers advice, I guess...and you don't know me or my credentials, it's the internet after all...but in the long run, I don't think brand of black powder means much..Swiss is great stuff but GOEX and Graf's house brand are the equal as far as clean burning and chrono velocities IMO...I would say here in the west, in competition, that 4 out 5 winning shooters use 3F in the 50 and 54's....lesser charge for the same velocity, (a tiny bit less recoil) cleaner burn. Another benefit to 3F...it works just fine in the pan, so if you want you can eliminate a priming horn/flask and the expense of another pound of 4F which is suitable for nothing else than priming...
I hate to open the can of worms of patch lube, it is as much preference as doctrine...but in competition, I'd hazard a guess that probably 7 out of ten guys use a concoction that is suitable for bore cleaning as well as patch lube. In the dry areas, and fire danger being what it is out west, traditional grease patches although great for wetter fall hunts, are replaced by wet patches, usually some form of moose milk, with no loss of consistent accuracy.
I could ramble on forever here..my point was, powder apparently is hard to find, don't get hung up on a brand name and always, always, avoid the substitutes...they are total marketing bullschidt to provide an inferior product that is safer and cheaper to manufacture and ship.

Haven't burned any yet but the last bunch of BP I bought was Grafs house brand..Buy as much as you can in 1 shipment as the Hazmat fee is the same for 1# as it is the max you can buy.

I definitely like the idea of 1 powder for both my main charge and my pan!

Another interesting piece of info, if you can find it, is the long articles written by "Dutch" regarding patches, lube, ball selection, etc. I adopted some of his ways, mostly benefited from the 'swab between every shot' requirement, and avoiding too much lube. I still struggle with flints and frizzen on my Great Plains .54 and the Investarms models. I have percussion guns too, but like the challenge of flinters more.

Get all your cleaning tools, ball puller, and patch worm now. If you wait until you need those things to order them you will be out of business until they arrive. As for other gear, keep it simple and basic first. A powder measure, a spout for your powder can, and a short starter will have you loading and shooting.
Before going into shooting bags, powder horns, and other accessories decide whether you want to get into anything historical or only hunting and shooting. Avoid buying gear you will later lay aside and never use again. It's tempting to purchase lots of "cool" stuff before you have learned what you really need and there is no shortage of folks willing to sell you lots of do-dads.