flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Talk about things other than the Model 8's and 81's
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Adam Lee
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flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Adam Lee »

Hey all, hope you all are doing well as we begin the summer in Virginia with another heat & humidity season!

I've been plugging away bit by bit on my restoration/resurrection of an old flintlock fowler. Took it with me to my parent's place Monday, Mom's birthday and Memorial Day was a big GTG for my family, so I had plenty of young 'uns as well as oldsters to share it with.
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As a newbie (well, 4 years?) into the black powder realm, I have been looking for more like-minded folks to help me with my hobby. My ultimate plan with this particular weapon is to get it back into service as a reenactment weapon for my SAR group as well as make it shoot well. The thing that is really only in my way, is that the lock ( a Birmingham lock vintage 1790-1810) has to be "massaged" back into good functioning health.

With family history deep on both sides of the ACW as well, I've kept my eyes on the traders and auction sites for any reasonably priced 1820-1860 period percussion musket to rebuild, too.

Please chime in if you shoot in BP, with either replica or period firearms of any type, Colonial era up to the Civil War.

When I get away from work in a few weeks (6th grade teacher here until June 19th) I will post new pics.

Thanks guys!
Adam
I am a regular joe, consisting of 78% coffee, 12% hot air, 9% organizational abilities, and 1% luck.
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rem81auto
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by rem81auto »

Here's a nice custom built N. Carolina 36 cal. of mine.

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[imghttp://pic100.picturetrail.com:80/VOL763/4281410/9002586/405617198.jpg][/img]

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Here's another a copy of a Jacob Dickert rifle. I hunt with this 54 cal. a lot.

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Pitchy
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Pitchy »

54 Cal matchlock i made, killed a deer with it.

video
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video
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54 cal Pedersoli BlueRidge.

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A lot of water under the bridge good and bad,
Bad when i did it my way, Good when i did it Gods way.

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Sarge756
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Sarge756 »

Pitchy, you have done it again. I fully expect one day to see you post a video of you shooting a Model 8 or 81 you`ve built from scratch. :o
Great photos of the matchlock and results. Gives new meaning to DIY. When the sky falls I`m headed your way to camp out and learn survival skills.
Joe
".......ain't many troubles that a man cain't fix
With seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Pitchy
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks Joe, here`s the story on the matchlock hunt.

Headed out to a box stand that sits on top of the sawmill roof along my field. It was late afternoon and sunny and calm, i got in the stand and sat on my bar stool and hung my burning match on a nail beside me.
Was only there about 10-15 minutes and five does came out on the field about 100 yards away. I picked out the best one that was standing broadside and brought the rifle up and layed it across the window edge.
I put the match into the serpentine, took aim and slowly lowered the match into the pan.
Smoke filled the air and the does took to the woods, i watched the one i shot at and she piled up about 60 yards from where i shot her.
Complete pass through the ribs and after shooting with a range finder it was 95 yard shot.
The rife is very accurate , main reason being the auto pan cover i designed . When you lower the match it comes up and blocks your view of the burning match so you don`t flinch because you don`t know exactly when it`s going to fire.
It was quite an experiance. :)
A lot of water under the bridge good and bad,
Bad when i did it my way, Good when i did it Gods way.

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Adam Lee
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Adam Lee »

Thanks for chiming in guys! I knew that I could depend on you folks to share your BP firearms experiences!

Very nice guns Dennis. So you collect and shoot some excellent replicas of authentic period makers - do you have links for the builders on your collectibles website too?

Pitchy, thanks for the videos you shared of your matchlock - I'm impressed! Especially for your patience in using it to hunt with - keeping a smoldering rope burning as you wait for your quarry to present themselves!

Both you guys are having some great times with your smoke-poles - I envy you!

If you don't mind, I will surely be asking some "shooter" questions off-forum as I get closer to making this old boom stick functional. Right off the bat, I'd really like to know if there are some thoughts you all might have about my trying to unscrew the breech plug - I don't know how realistic it is but since this is a "mismatch" of antique parts, I don't think I will hurt its value by trying - so long as removing the plug is possible.

OK, that might not make sense, but I'll explain later when I had some more coffee.

Adam
I am a regular joe, consisting of 78% coffee, 12% hot air, 9% organizational abilities, and 1% luck.
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Pitchy
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks Adam, those rifles you guys posted are really nice 8-)

Adam i`m not the person to ask about removing breech plugs and ya have to be very careful about doing so.
I`d go to a couple ML boards and ask there about it, here`s one ya might find some info.

http://traditionalmuzzleloadingassociat ... /index.php

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusio ... _uid/9466/
A lot of water under the bridge good and bad,
Bad when i did it my way, Good when i did it Gods way.

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rem81auto
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by rem81auto »

Adam, at one time and for many years I was very active in shooting flintlocks. The lower rifle is pretty much an exact copy of a Pre Rev war Jacob Dickert, Lancaster County Pa rifle. The rifle was built by a good friend of mine back in the 80's ? by the name of Jerry Kirklin. I would guess if anyone was heavy into muzzleloaders back in the day would know Jerry he was a very popular guy to have a custom built rifle made by.

I at one time worked for Jerry finishing rough castings for his customers gun's.... to Jerry an hour working was an hr working no matter what he was doing. I would finish the parts but store up labor hrs and instead of being paid. I would than trade my time to Jerry for work I was unable to do. The black North Carolina I made for the most part but Jerry routered in the barrel, engraved some stuff, converted a percussion lock to flint, plus afew other things.
DWalt
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by DWalt »

I'm not much of a black powder shooter, but I do have some, rifles, muskets, and revolvers. Some are original, some are replicas. My favorite is a .45 half-stock percussion rifle by William Buchele (sometimes corrupted to Bill Buckley). He was one of the more famous makers of ML rifles in the mid-20th century, he died in 1977. He wrote the book (literally and figuratively) on how to build them. This is mine:

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Sarge756
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Sarge756 »

Dewalt and all,
That`s a beautiful rifle and easy to see why a "favorite". My shooting of the muzzle stuffers is confined to the modern renditions with a T/C Prohunter heading the list.Scoped with a 3x9 and loading premium sabots It shoots right with some of my mauser sporters. I know the traditionalists cuss them and scopes but with my tired eyes and the stand I use on the railroad tracks it is mighty nice to feel comfortable taking 200+ yard shots.
I`ve enjoyed the discussion,photos and videos and can see if I`m not careful I`ll be headed into another facet of collecting. Right now I can do it by proxy and not spend anything. I have a friend in Arizona that is looking for an 1850`s percussion rifle.He restores antique billiard equipment and is looking for a rifle of that era to go with a biiliard table of the same age. The table was salvaged from a brothel in Utah and is a real work of art. Any leads would be appreciated.

Joe
".......ain't many troubles that a man cain't fix
With seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
sighthound
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by sighthound »

Posts concerning these primitive weapons are appreciated here, back to our roots in a way and a chance to reinvent the wheel so to speak. Considering those pioneers that invented and developed the matchlock, snaphaunce, flintlock and percussion built on earlier discoverys and for me when young it was a hands on way to explore and appreciate history. Examining these old firearms is a way to appreciate the skills involved and materials used, artistic and functional design, blacksmith, iron and brass smelting, making sand castings, making springs,screws, taps, files, chisels, heat treating, lumber and woodworking, carving, many skils coming together for completed weapons. These old timers ranged from village blacksmiths to highly skilled artists and served a functional need and makes one appreciate the development behind modern weapons.
Incidently, if you have a trigger jerking flinching problem, which most do, you can break it by learning to shoot a flintlock. The ignition delay is unforgiving and you will learn to relax an squeeze.
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Adam Lee
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Adam Lee »

In my neck of the woods, there is a super outdoors event I try to make each spring that is all about reenacting and shooting - it focuses on the period of the French and Indian War, 1754-1763, in the western border area of what is now Maryland.

Here's the link to some info about this event. It takes place at a state historic site, Fort Frederick, and is really a great time to visit gunsmiths and people truly interested in preserving the traditions of the past.

http://www.friendsoffortfrederick.info/market_fair.htm

I will have to upload some photos of the fair from a year ago.

Adam
I am a regular joe, consisting of 78% coffee, 12% hot air, 9% organizational abilities, and 1% luck.
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81police
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by 81police »

Pitchy,

I just watched the video and read story on your matchlock and that's one of the coolest things I've seen on here. Thanks for taking the time to make those videos, that auto pan device you have is really interesting. Do you still hunt with that matchlock occasionally? What got you interested in them?
Cam Woodall
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Pitchy
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Re: flint and cap & ball shooters - on this board?

Post by Pitchy »

Cam, thanks.
I come and go on muzzleloaders, a few years back i was into them heavy and just seen one on the net so built one.
It has a Green MT. barrel on it the rest i made.
I haven`t hunted with it or archery for a few years now but may again one of these years. :)
A lot of water under the bridge good and bad,
Bad when i did it my way, Good when i did it Gods way.

USAF-72-76
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