period correct flint advice needed

WhiteMountainCarbine said:

Hi all...I'm wondering what the correct rifle would be to use in and around the leatherstocking region of NY (circa 1740). I have a hunting camp near cooperstown, NY and am looking for advice on rifle and outfit to use during the late muzzleloading season. Thanks in advance.

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A 1740s-50s English rifle would be as good as any. But a 1750 English rifle looks like a 1775 English rifle.
There simply are no surviving 1740 American rifles that we know of.
I would also point out that some early rifles we see might easily date to the 1750s and we would not know it.

Someone mentoned the Schreit rifle. Who can say that rifles just like this or even with straight lock plates were not being made in 1750??? We simply lack the rifles with documentation to make any real pronouncement on American rifles prior the the 1760s. I know that rifles are documented as early as 1688 in New York. But who made them??
Make a wide butt, wood patchbox rifle of 50 caliber or 54 max with a round faced English lock.

Dan

I was talking to a pretty knowledgeable flinter the other night, and he mentioned the Tulle as well in .62 smoothbore. Is that the same as the french fusil (don't know the proper spelling)

Pretty much. Tulle is an city in France where their main production & armory was based.

Smoothbore muskets and trade fusils.

I am afraid rifles are atypical to your stated era as well as your stated region. When I am hunting up north, even in blackpowder/primitive season, I wear a blaze orange touque and caped frock. One other very important point wear NOTHING white, not a hanky, not a tshirt not skivvies. Too many kooks will shoot at a flash of white as a white tail flag.

Assuming you are looking at ranges less then 150yards for most of your shooting a smoothbore with patched ball will be more then adequate. If you are dieing for a rifle, you can make up a rifled carbine similar to an Elliot dragoon carbine for an arm similar to that taken to the Louiborg by the English in 1757. You could also look at a French 1753 pattern dragoon carbine, basically a short Charleville looking piece but a rifled bore all but the last 4-6 inches at the muzzle that were left smooth for ease of loading.

Hope that info is of use to you


Bryan K. Brown
Hesse Kassel Jaeger Korps[url] www.jaegerkorps.org[/url][url] www.gunsmithy.com[/url]

Alle künst ist umsunst wenn ein Engle auf dem Zundlocke brünst.

Hi Gentlemen, for what it's worth I own over 20 acres in WNY and have used a muzzleloader for the last 25 years to hunt whitetails during the regular season. About 6 years ago I switched to the roundball, flinter and period garb. Seeing as I own the property and I'm real good friends with the neighbors ( they know that I'm huntin in period garb)only on my property. If and when I have to wander, I don an orange vest and replace the touque with an orange hat. With the liberal whitetail tags for our area,I'll use my 1770 Dickert to take a whittail for the freezer and from then on it's huntin with the 16 ga. fusil de chasse. I haven't taken a whitetail with it yet but I passed on a dozen Does and button bucks this year. Maybe next year I'll not be so picky! I say that if you are walking to and from the stand wear lots of orange while walking. When you get to the stand take off the orange and sit there by yourself in period clothing and try to just imagine it's 1750. Oh ya, let everyone around your hunting camp (neighbors)know that you'll be in period garb. Just my 2 cents worth. Safety first!!!
Trapper near the Big Falls