from a newbie's perspective

C

chemist308

New member
Well I was out shooting my flintlock today and notice why I'm not anywhere near on target even at 15 - 20 yards: I flinch either the instant the hammer hits the frizzen or the flashpan goes. Bothers me to no end that I'm afraid of that... :o

Anyway, I tried the hold thing with replacing the flint with a stick for some dry firing--didn't work. I thought of something that did work, though. Without loading, I only primed the flashpan then sited the target and pulled the trigger. I had to do this about a half dozen times before I could stay on target. The I loaded, sited the target and fired. That put me in what would be the vital region--within a couple inches of bullseye. I'm nowhere near ready to take 50 or 100 yard shots with it, but on paper with that thing is a big step in the right direction.
How prevalent is this problem among newbies? Anyone else tried this?
 
The most common problem newbies have with a flinter is the lag between trigger break, flash and BOOM. I've even seen a rifle removed from his shoulder before the thing went off. Can you say "recoil pain," boys and girls? :D Another very common trait is for the shooter to raise his head to look over the flash.

You are on the right path. Keep up the work. Have a buddy load for you and ocassionally slip you a bare pan or empty bbl.

Pops
 
I shot a flintlock for the first time this last weekend. I had just converted it from percussion to flint. It worked! :D

The delay was just like I remembered from the old Dan'l Boone TV show with Fess Parker and Ed Ames. The key is follow-through. Keep your front sight on the target awhile after pulling the trigger.

This rifle has a set trigger and it takes essentially no movement to make it fire after setting. (I told my father it had a hair trigger. Glad he followed the four rules.) This made holding the rifle still a lot easier.
 
Thanks. Another question though. Is it possible to 'over prime' the pan? I ask this because people talk about this long delay, and I truly have just enough time (less than half a second) to jerk before boom happens. Also, I've had a fuzzy warm feeling from it on a couple of occassions. :confused:
 
That "warm, fuzzy feeling" could mean you're using a bit too much priming powder, but I don't think it would effect the time between spark and boom.
 
the usual prescription for filling the pan is to make sure it's not so full as to bank up against or cover the vent. This makes for a fuze effect rather than a clean jet of flame through the vent. Some say to fill the pan half full-others say 3/4 full and I bet the optimum varies from one gun to another. I try to use as much priming powder as I can without covering the vent and tilt the gun to the right to put the powder toward the outside of the pan.

My LePage gets faster ignition if I use the same 3f as the main charge for priming. A JUKAR I've been shooting, has a small pan and seems to be equally fast or faster wtih 4f as the primer.

These being pistols, I really do count on fast ignition time for good hits. My follow-through could be better.
 
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