Saturday, February 04, 2023

I need to get the muzzleloader out

and give it some exercise, it's been a long damned time.  And I've got powder and ball, and even know where the range rod is.

A project I'd still like to do: find a flintlock rifle kit that doesn't cost a fortune and put it together.

2 comments:

tsquared said...

Back in the 70's and 80's CVA had flintlock and cap&ball kits. I have the Kentucky longrifle flintlock and a Hawken cap and ball. The flintlock takes too much time from the time you pull the trigger until the powder ignites in the barrel. I was a terrible shot with it. The Hawken had a much faster and reliable firing mechanism. Mine is a 54 caliber and I shoot .308 sabots that are very accurate at 100 yards. The flintlock is attached to the wall in the man-cave with a possibles bag and a powder horn. The Hawken is in the safe. I have an ammo box that contains the sabots, a 1 pound container of Pyrodex, patches, primers, and 5 30-06 cases. It turned out a 30-06 cartridge held the perfect amount of Pyrodex for the sabot charge.

Anonymous said...

Here in PA there has been a flintlock only deer season since 1978, so to hunt with blackpowder you had to master the intricasies of the flintlock. I have a T/C Hawken flintlock in 50 cal. I use a patched .490 round ball and 90 grains of FF blackpowder. Pyrodex doesn't ignite fast enough for a flintlock. I've taken deer out to 150 yards with open sights and that round ball still passes through the animal.