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Are flintlocks reliable?

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ebiggs1

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“I like to have a flintlock I know is 100% reliable to fire, and fire fast every time I pull the trigger.”
This was posted on a different thread but it is interesting.
The answer is yes they are but with qualifiers and addendum if you please.
There is only one thing in the cosmos that is 100% and it isn’t man. Anything made by the hand of man can and will fail. Well how can you say flintlocks are 100% reliable?
If I take my favorite Thompson Center flintlock out right now, I would wager a large sum that it will fire 10 times out of ten. That is 100%.
If you change the scenario to 100 times, I would not wager as much but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it did fire 100 out of 100.
I have shot this gun over a thousand times now and I can’t remember very many misfires, maybe ten. (Since my initial start up woes.)
I have to agree with PaulV on this one, when you walk out and shoot it, it will go boom and if not 100% surely 99.9%.
What say you?
 
well, this rifle of mine is the most reliable! the one time it didnt go off, i looked in the pan, and i had forgotten to prime!

castlerock015copy.jpg
 
I started hunting with flintlocks in 2003 and if they were not reliable I would not have put the money I have into this hobby and continued to use them. I almost assuredly would have gone back to my sinline but I have not. I am very serious when it comes to hunting so I won't stand for anything less than 100% in a hunting situation.. I've had 14 shots in the time I've used Flintlocks, hung up 12 deer and missed twice, not the guns fault, my fault I missed, the gun performed perfectly.

I have gotten a clack or two at the range but that was because the flint needed changing or knapping. Give me a good sharp flint and I'm good to go anywhere anytime.
 
I've shot flintlocks for 20+ years. I would say the good ones are 99% reliable with a sharp flint and a dry 4f prime.
 
I've shot at and RO'd at a lot of shoots over the years. I would have to say that I've seen MORE failures to fire and hang fires from percussion guns than flintlocks.
Also used to be that when a flinter walked up to the line some of the cap shooters would comment that here's a guy who is not threatening our scores. I'm proud to say that mostly they didn't say that next time they saw me coming. Some of my buds named my GPR "Ronson" (always lights the first time) If she don't go boom, it's my fault. ALSO, mine HAS fired quit nicely without any priming in the pan.
Jon D
 
In the very beginning at the sunrise of time itself, when I first started shooting flintlocks (and percussion) I had a few issues, a few time sI did not get full kaBOOM (who doesn't) and I found out (as everyone does who is not a loghead) that all of my problems were actually operator error. And once I got educated and experienced I removed those few problems.

But even when I was clueless I did not have many problems.

However now I would say my flintlock shooting is 99%+ reliable.

geeee, even my modern guns occasional have issues too.

But bottom line Flintlock shooting I would contend is very reliable.
 
I would have to say that I've seen MORE failures to fire and hang fires from percussion guns than flintlocks.
DITTO for me. I think that is due in part to the fact that there is a litle more preparation to fire a flintlock. Practiced flintlock shooters have their routine down based on what they have learned it takes to make their weapon fire. Percussion guns you just kinda expect them to go off if you load them and put a cap on the nipple. I have never had a misfire on my percussion guns (if you take dry balling out of the equation) and that is because I know what not to do with them.
 
Truth be told...with the right person ~ you just don't need to own a centerfire gun. A good Flintlock is a extremely capable gun in the hands of someone that has learned the artform.
 
gizamo said:
Truth be told...with the right person ~ you just don't need to own a centerfire gun. A good Flintlock is a extremely capable gun in the hands of someone that has learned the artform.

thats it in a nutshell,could'nt have said it better.
 
In all my [strike]years[/strike] decades of hunting my only two equipment failures were with centerfire rifles. I NEVER have a concern about my flinter when I take to the field after game. After many rounds at the range a flint will often dull and need a bit of tap-tapping; but other than that, nada.

I've also only come across one flint that was "dead" and wouldn't spark. When I first got my custom rifle and using the flint that came in the jaws, I didn't get a FTF till up around shot 80 or there about. Sharpened, the flint continued on it's way to around 100 when it was just too short. That's reliability.
 
Without question, yes.

If a shooter has an operational failure while using a Flintlock, look to the shooter for the root cause, not the Flintlock.

So another question might be: Are Flintlock shooters 100% reliable ?

IE: I've never had a "Flintlock failure"...but I've had a few Flintlock "failures to fire", and personally caused every one of them.
 
Pretty much in line with what others have said here, the more you shoot a flintlock, the more reliable it becomes. Outside of a lock problem, the failures to fire have been my mistake. Shoot smart, build a good routine and follow it, and the rocklock will be reliable. Not perfect, though. :wink: But neither is a modern cartridge rifle. graybeard
 
i first started shooting flinters in 1990 and have since discovered that as long as you take care of it, it will take care of you. the rifle is only 100% reliable as long as you are.
 
Exactly, when it comes to consistency, it really means a lot when using Flintlocks. Do everything the same, every time and you'll make smoke. :thumbsup:
 
This past year I had a f-f-flash in the pan and no "boom" for the first time on a deer. I gotta say that had never happened before with a centerfire . . . or recurve bow.

It was a snowy day, though I did have a waxed cow's knee on. I had that charge in from pre-dawn to just before sunset. And the main charge had been in the rifle two weeks or so.

See what happens whan you get lazy. Maybe I do need one of those CO2 dischargers?
 
I have NEVER had a misfire with my Flintlock while hunting. I have had one with a caplock (traced it back to a bad cap), and can say without hesitation that when I look down the sights of my flintlock at an animal I have EVERY expectation of the gun going bang!
 

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