Well, I have stopped collecting AK, AR, and FN-FAL rifles, and I have gotten into black powder rifles.
Below is a picture link to one of my flintlock rifles.
http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.c...ke-wilson.html
Mike
Well, I have stopped collecting AK, AR, and FN-FAL rifles, and I have gotten into black powder rifles.
Below is a picture link to one of my flintlock rifles.
http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.c...ke-wilson.html
Mike
That is beautiful!!!
Is that the powder horn that slides into the stock?
BISHOP
That's a very fine traditional looking Flintlock rifle. Lancaster county style possibly?
American Rage, it shoots fine. Below are a couple of Youtube links of me loading it and one vid shooting it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQMm...feature=vmdshb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMSxS...feature=vmdshb
You are correct alismith. It is a patchbox, and the wooden piece proped up against the stock is the patchbox cover.
Watching your YTube vids I see you use a precut round patch. Having shot muzzle loaders in competition for 20 years before I stopped I can say that the precut patch is not the best avenue to best accuracy. I would use a short peg starter, which you have in your combo ball starter tool. I would use strips of cloth wide enough to accomodate the caliber ball I was loading instead of a precut. Start the ball in and seat it flush to just below the muzzle with the short peg starter then gather the cloth and use a Patch Knife to cut in one clean slice. If you have to saw your way thorugh and the patch is jagged and frayed the knif is dull, sharpen it. I found the easiest and best patch knife was made from a straight razor's blade. Blade tang ground an modified then inserted and epoxied into a bit of deer antler.
A recovered patch cut from cloth at the muzzle is really a box shape with rounded corners. The cut at the muzzle patch always gave me smaller groups from any round ball rifle I ever shot vs. a precut round. The precuts are faster and for deer hunting good enough accuracy. But when you are shooting at Friendship, IN the home of the NMLRA in a bullseye match that technique, (loading with precut round patches) isn't good enough to win a match.
Oh one other thing, your patches you recover should not have any small holes in them from the rifling, nor should they be a long strip. If you find a jagged strip the patch is desintegrating and tons of powder gas is shooting randomly past the ball. This will always result in a shot that goes wide of aim. Minor holes in the patch from the lands nicking the threads will also produce shots that vary from aim but not as bad as when the patch completely flys apart.
That is a nice looking rifle. It makes me want to watch last of the mohicians again.
Schuetzenman thanks for the shooting informaton I found that interisting. Can one usally find their patches after they have been shoot? Or are they hard to find?
Doobie Doobie Doo..
They're fairly easy to find, usually about 15-25 feet out. If you're shooting across grass, they're even easier to find.
If you can, and are interested, try to find the Blackpowder book written by Sam Fadala (I think it was written in the 70's or 80's). He has a whole section devoted to patches and how to read them. He even has 1 or 2 pages of pics showing what he's talking about. The whole book is well worth the read.
I knew what that storage area was. I was referring specifically to the cover. Its long, has a metallic end, and a cap. Thought mabey they incorporated a powder flask in to the cover.
BISHOP
Schuetzenman, the rifle is loosely based on the Lancaster and Moravian gunsmith school. I have shot Crisco since the mid 70, After getting this flintlock and reading threads on the ALR forum, I started a mixture of Neets Foot oil and wind shield washer fluid. I can easily load 20 or so balls. The patch is almost to the point of dripping wet. With the Crisco, about 8 shots was all I could manage. I carry these patches in a plastic snuff can.
When a flintlock is fires, a high pressure of gas and burning powder comes out of the touchhole. I try to be careful as I can while shooting any firearm, but sometimes things happen. On the second Youtube link, my son got a face full of this gas. Luckily, the camera was in front of his face. This is why the camera was pointed to the ground after I shot.
BISHOP, I do not carry anything in the patchbox. To me, it is just for looks.
Mike
Here are a couple of photos of 50 yard shots using sand bags on a shooting bench.
Off hand at 40 yards. The cast ball was .535 with a Wonder Ticking 1000 plus Ox-York pre lubed .018 patches and 76 grains or 2f Goex.
This is how I cut my patches. I found I could tap on the bearing race with a four pound hammer while holding onto the bearing. It only took a few minutes to cut a pile of patches.
Mike
Very nice piece! I know they don't go cheap but the craftmanship is outstanding. All of my smoke poles are production guns. I'd love to have one of those custom poles but I've prioritized for other things
Like the pics of you and your (wife?) shooting - neet to see the flash in the pan and then just after the ball has left the muzzle. Cool!
~Nemo me impune lacessit~
be careful black powder is addicting..
He has "the disease"... LOL
I have it too, I love BP shooting, it just takes me back... plus I love all the little do-dads you have to have just to fire a round.
"Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws."
-Nietzsche
"Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
-George S. Patton
Wow! She shoots right nice. Looking forward to more pics.
Very cool rifle!!!!
I've always wanted to get into BP shooting/collecting.
Here's to pussy and gunpowder. One to live for, the other to die by.....Goddamn though, I do love the smell of 'em both !!!
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