Thread: Flintlocks anyone

Got her shootn a clover leaf at 50 yards from the bench with a tight fitting 445 ball and 015 patch. I go to a 440 ball and it ain't talking to me. The patches I recover and inspect are not burnt through and I use GOEX black powder. For me,I get the best shootn combo from the bigger ball and the tightest fit for the best grouping and I don't have to hammer it down the barrel..but I do have to clean between shots. Now with my Zuave that shoots a 58 cal 525 Minnie ... I can keep up with ya!!LOL

Originally Posted by bharner

Any of you fellows have a chance to play with a TC Firestorm Flintlock? About as non traditional a piece as I've seen but I've been oggling them a good bit lately.

Don't anything about other than what I just read after you posted your question.

I am not a fan of pyrodex. I guess it has been improved considerably since I gave up on it in the mid 80's. I loaded up some 45-120 ammo for my Shiloh Sharps that I had back then and it was a miserable flop compared to black powder. I was getting 3 good shots and then the rest were going crazy. I finally figured out that the jacketed bullets I was shooting were pushing the fouling ahead of them and skipping the rifling about 2/3 of the way down the barrel. I went back to FF and didn't have any more problems.

From what I can tell folks either LOVE pyrodex or they HATE it. I guess I'm in the latter bunch.

Originally Posted by nessmuck

Got her shootn a clover leaf at 50 yards from the bench with a tight fitting 445 ball and 015 patch. I go to a 440 ball and it ain't talking to me. The patches I recover and inspect are not burnt through and I use GOEX black powder. For me,I get the best shootn combo from the bigger ball and the tightest fit for the best grouping and I don't have to hammer it down the barrel..but I do have to clean between shots. Now with my Zuave that shoots a 58 cal 525 Minnie ... I can keep up with ya!!LOL

WELL, I guess if you're doing rapid fire when you're hunting that MIGHT be a problem.

I lapped the bore on mine and it helped it a LOT.

First black powder rifle I ever shot was an original Zuave.

A guy that lives a few miles north of me builds flinters and he tuned my lock for me a put a new barrel ( Green Mountain) on my gun. If you want to see some FLINTLOCK PORN check out his site David Price Flintlocks... Just google it.

Originally Posted by nessmuck

A guy that lives a few miles north of me builds flinters and he tuned my lock for me a put a new barrel ( Green Mountain) on my gun. If you want to see some FLINTLOCK PORN check out his site David Price Flintlocks... Just google it.

I'm familiar with his work. He is an artist, no doubt about it.

good looking gun willie, wish i lived near u once i get around to having a new hammer spring put on mine id like to take a weekend off work and do some shooting but im going on a wing and prayer noone i know uses a flintlock they all like inlines and i think if you use a inline you might as well break out the -06 i want to kill a deer this year thetriditional way.

same with u nessmuck, sorry, i wish we could trap and hunt together lol you could teach this rookie a thing or 2 about being a mountain man.

You'll get 'er sorted out. Ought to be plenty of folks up in your part of the with knowledge on those things. If ya get stumped, give us a holler, we'll do what we can.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Know little about front stuffers but have cast thousands of wadcutters for for center fire stuff out of wgts and linotype.
Why not good for Black powder stuff?

in a word, obturation.

in more words. yes, many old-timers assure me that millions of wheel-weight balls have caused no loading, leading, or accuracy problems. it's a matter of tuning your loads and being consistent and knowing what little changes can lead to degraded accuracy. (Only accurate rifles are interesting- Townsend Whelen).

IOW the back end of the ball starts moving sooner than the front end and this non-round ball plus the patch is what keeps gases from escaping past it-which would ruin accuracy and cause leading.

SO, try WW, may work fine with your gun, your technique, your pressures; but there is no _need_ to ever add linotype or tin to your lead (or quench) for making a harder alloy when casting for BP. The pressures and velocities simply don't require it.

I have this lovely .40 Lancaster, 44' swamped barrel, and Jim Chambers lock. Hell on roos and rabbits>> 40grns off fffg, and same for priming. Real tack driver. Also have a .44 Jaeger, which is also a tack driver. Hope to get out this Spring, been to busy over Winter for much.