I have a flint lock away to a boy that wanted to hunt so bad I didn't use it so I made a 13 year old happy that was 18 odd years ago and he still has it still hunts with it and ever year he drops off deer sausage to me so I think I made a good investment that's still paying off
The woodsmen often wore hats with wide, flat brims, which I'm thinking were probably pretty useful for keeping rain off your lock if you carried your gun just right.
I'm over in the central city area. I hunted last weekend and missed a decent buck due to a possible hang fire and human error. This is my first year deer hunting with a flint lock, so I am still learning. Just the video I needed!
Thanks for the good tips. Ive got a new english lock with a supposedly warerproof pan. Think it'll make any difference? With flintlocks im a green horn though ive cobbled together a couple good caplocks and never had any trouble with them firing. This flinter im putting together is a real plain rifle. Even thinking of leaving off the buttplate.
Great video, I really appreciate the tips and real-world knowledge. I have been looking at getting into an affordable flintlock. Does anyone have suggestions?
Friend of mine had a old flintlock and we were out shooting at the range with it. It kept failing to get the spark in the pan due to a bad adjustment. He got fed up took his cigarette lighter and lit the pan with it not thinking about the fact we were on the range and his hand was going to be right next to 90 grains of powder with a little open hole going to it. He was fine other than the scare of the flash next to his hand but the range master wasn’t having any of it. We were told not to come back
Every time I put any of my body parts my hand or whatever over the action of my Flintlock seems to make the condensation worse. A machinist who worked at the antique rifle works show me a trick one day. He would charge the pan and completely seal around the pan with toilet bowl ring wax. I did this for a few years. You can literally walk around in the rain all day and you don't have to worry about changing out your powder . Of course I never brought it in the house that way I would leave it out in the barn one year I forgot about it for an entire season pulled it out and pull the trigger and it fired immediately. You do have to be careful how you carry it though you don't want the powder running into the touch hole. And just be prepared for a hangfire as long as you're ready for a hangfire it's not much of a problem
One tip I heard (I have yet to try it; just getting into flinters myself) was to coat the contact edges of you pan and frizzen with vaseline to create a moisture barrier.
I have primed with 2f and do not notice any difference in speed of ignition. I understand that 2 f being more course, does not absorb moisture as quickly. Just what I experienced, how about others.
Interesting video. Usable suggestions. I will say, though, that I think you are being wasteful of your powder by dumping the pan every 15 minutes. Not arguing about the need. You are probably a better judge of that than I would be. I am commenting on just dumping the powder. Even powder that has been thoroughly soaked in water is still good to use after getting it thoroughly dry again. Dump that pan into a separate small pouch and take it back home at the end of the day. Once it's dry again, it's as good as it ever was (unless it got so wet the graphite washed off. Then it's still "good" but it's more sensitive).
