Anybody try & give up on flinters???

Have any of you shot flintlocks and "reverted" back to caplocks for any reason? I ask out of curiosity mainly. Also, I ask here instead of the flintlock section (I imagine I would be tarred and feathered if asking this question there :haha: ). It seems that I read and read that once a flintlock is tried, it is an earth-shattering event and all who try them will NEVER revert back to using the "lowly" percussion ignition system! I have a flintlock now, and while I like it, I still like my caplocks as much or more.

Have any of you laid down your rocklocks in favor of your percussions?

Thanks for thoughts, responses, musings, etc, etc....... :bow:

What the hells a caplock?? Sounds like something that helps hold your hat on your head :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

welll lets see was happy forf year with my 45 cal cap and ball rifle and thought flinters was lots of hassel now i like flinter more ok folks give it to me here
but i still have my cappers and enjoy both
although my flints are well more earth shaking and unique weapons to shoot draws lots of attention on the range then my cap and ball
oh yeah isnt a capslock that keyy thatWE HIT AT THE WRONG TIME hehehehehehehhe

:hmm: goose or chicken? :wink:


:haha: longs yer shootin! :thumbsup:

Over the years I have seen it happen quite a bit. Some people just don't like a flintlock and after trying it for a while just sell it off and stay with percussion.

I shoot both. Most of my rifles are flintlock but I still have two percussions that I also shoot regularly. I do prefer the flinters but some matches require a percussion rifle. Other times the mood will strike me to shoot the percussions.

yes i tried them when i first started. i got into match shooting and went cap been using cap ever since 25 years. got a flint some years ago just to have one mite try it hunting.

I started with a Dixie Overcoat Pistol kit (still have it), went to a Well Fargo (traded it), and was out of B-P for a few years until I started getting pistols. Stayed that way for many years and then got a flintlock as a weight loss incentive (didn't work - I could not use it until I lost 100 pounds - made it half the way) Decided that I should at least shoot it before I die (whenever that will be) and was frustrated by it at the second shooting (first went very well). Learned how to do it right on this forum, and now I am happy. Yes, I would like to try a percussion rifle one of these days, but until then, it's a flintlock for me.

The Doc is out now. :v

I, like about half the members of my club, shoot both. I like flinters better, but the convenience of the percussion gun, and finding one in a pawn shop that I really like has caused me to shoot a perc. about half the time...Hank

I'm having a real hard time getting past the flash-flame while shooting flintlock rifles, while shooting flintlock shotguns-( gun moving) it's not as big a factor.I think it's a concentration factor on the target -sight picture..I'm leaning more towards the cap locks for rifle,the flintlocks for shot.I'll keep working on the flintlock rifles to try and get past the issue I'm having, with my Lyman Flint I notice the hammer fall (weight of hammer)during ignition. I'm not throwing in the towel- (Just need to work on my follow through). How do the rest of you flint shooters get past the flash and stay on hold?

makeumsmoke said:

... How do the rest of you flint shooters get past the flash and stay on hold?

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I have been shooting flinters for over thirty years and don't even notice the flash unless shooting at dusk. I just concentrate on the front sight holding it on target until recoil moves it.

The front sight should not move with just a flash in the pan. Something that will help is dry firing at home. Use a piece of wood in place of the flint and practice holding on target with the lock going through its full cycle. Too many people relax after the trigger is pulled. Not a good practice with any rifle but doubly bad when shooting a flinter and expecting to hit anything.

I built a rifle from scratch back in the early 70s, made it percussion as I was just getting started and hardly anyone in the club I belonged to at that time shot flintlocks. Shortly after that, I got a left hand Dixie Mountain Rifle and now I shoot primarily flinters. Oh yes, I do have several percussion guns, revolvers and 3 pistols, a couple of shotguns, but all the rest are flintlock. To answer your question (sort of), while I do shoot the cap guns, my favorites are the rock locks.

I have met people who stay away from flintlocks, and claim they couldn't get theirs to shoot, but once I teach them and show them how to tune and shoot a flintlock- its always a case of ignorance about how flintlocks work, and have to be loaded that causes the problems, it seems-- they are looking for their flintlocks, and then asking me to show them with their own gun what to do.

Sometimes, the locks are terribly out of tune, and that is how I got into tuning locks for others. Once done, they love shooting flintlocks.

I don't know many people who sell off all their caplocks, but Many flintlock shooters prefer to use their flintlocks for most of their shooting and hunting, reserving the percussion guns to use when there are separate shooting matches at clubs for the two different guns.

don't feel compelled to shoot one or the other (especially to the exclusion of something else, and especially as a result of some sort of peer pressure thing).

yes, it's true that some of are flintsnobs (i'm probably guilty to some degree) but that doesn't mean that flint is the be- all- and- end- all, and that if rockbanging doesn't flat your boat you're somehow morally bankrupt of somesuch.

try flint, and if they don't hold the same allure for you that they do for me, then go with whatever does make you happy.

It's not the ignition system that drives me crazy. I find Flintlocks are every bit as reliable as Cap locks.
It's the muzzle loading aspect of it.
There are just so many variables to deal with.
I worked for GM for a few short weeks and saw how muzzle loading barrels are made
They make GOOD STUFF.. yet it all seemed to be a few .000's one way or the other.. no big deal.
So you can buy a .50 cal barrel and not have it take a .490 ball and .018 patch or may be it does :surrender: I am sure that they are not the only barrel maker that does this. I have used plenty of other brands and find the same issues.. AS LONG AS THEY ARE STRAIGHT.
Fast twist,, slow twist.. humidity.. powder type.. how much given the weather conditions..
Then add in the primitive sights :surrender:
Sounds negative, however It's actually why I love shooting them.
Trying to control all those variables, getting a consistent stance,and shooting pattern.
Make you a better shot

Ancient One said:

What the hells a caplock?? Sounds like something that helps hold your hat on your head :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

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:rotf: Oldy...you a funny man! :rotf:
I shoot both.....but when I want to bet serious about hitting the Target I bring out my Caplock longrifle.....That being said if it was a Flintlock longrifle I'd probably be able to shoot just as good with it.

I never shot my cappers much after I got into flintlocks and after getting the smoothbore bug I don't have any rifles or caplock anymore, I really enjoy the challenge of the older ignition style and limitations that a smoothbore has, just my choice I would not consider that one type is better or it takes superior skills to use the older tech. I think a lot of folks kid around about cap vs flint but don't really see any real signs of what I would call flintsnoberitis.

MSW said:

don't feel compelled to shoot one or the other (especially to the exclusion of something else, and especially as a result of some sort of peer pressure thing).

yes, it's true that some of are flintsnobs (i'm probably guilty to some degree) but that doesn't mean that flint is the be- all- and- end- all, and that if rockbanging doesn't flat your boat you're somehow morally bankrupt of somesuch.

try flint, and if they don't hold the same allure for you that they do for me, then go with whatever does make you happy.

Click to expand...

As long as it loads from the muzzle and isn't an in-line, it is remotely posible to be almost as happy with a cap gun as with a proper flintlock gun. :wink:

It's not that flintlock shooters are snobs--it's just that we know we are doing it right!
:rotf:

For all the grief I have heard percussion shooters give flintlocks, and flintlock shooters, at my club, and at all the other clubs I have visited, you might think PAY BACK was in order, and there would be more flintlock SNOBS out there. But, I don't see it. Just some friendly banter, especially when you out shoot the cap gun folks in their shooting matches. The flintlock shooters in my gun club asked the Officers to end the different match classifications, so they had a better chance at winning the better money, or prizes given to the formerly Percussion rifle only, match.

Gee I shoot women's guns ( those with nipples on them ) but I own four flinters that I still haven't fired because I have trouble knapping flints, when I get the knapping down better I hope to shoot flinters since the price of caps keeps going up.Also I hope to get time this winter to build a wheel lock.

Paul,
I've tried tuning my lock but I have had no luck.

No matter how hard I try, all it does is click. No tune, no melody, no Middle 'C' or any other note. I've tried it against my piano and a tuning fork, but still no luck.

What am I doing wrong?

The Doc is out now. :v

:rotf: :blah: :youcrazy: