My new obsession

I picked up a Lancaster style flintlock from Tip Curtis when I was at the NMLRA shoot. It is 54 cal and has a 38" Green Mountain swamped barrel and a large Siler lock.
When I first started shooting it, I was kind of disappointed because I couldn't hardly hit anything with it off hand. I was used to cap locks and this is my first flintlock and I wasn't used to the slightly longer delay. The more I shot it though the better I got and finely learned to follow through all the way. Now I can't seem to put it down. I have gotten 6 squirrels in a row now with 40 gr of 3f.
Here is a picture of the first squirrel I got with it. This thing is a hoot to shoot!

Nice :wink:

:hatsoff:

This thing is a hoot to shoot!

Click to expand...

:applause: Welcome to the whacky world of flintlocks.

In response to Boomerang

Shhh! next thing you know everyone will be wanting to shoot a flintlock :grin:

Beautiful Rifle!! I might add though. I noticed you posted that it’s a .54 and also noticed in your pic that only the front half of the squirrel is present in your picture. Is the back half blown to oblivion?? 😂

Anyway, it’s a beautiful rifle my friend.

Respectfully, Cowboy

Let's see the lower half of that squirrel were the .54 ball did it's work...

Nice rifle, you'll never touch a fake front stuffer, aka percussion again! :grin:

I am guessing he ”˜barked’ that squirrel..... and didn’t think to take additional photographs.

Crewdawg445 said:

Let's see the lower half of that squirrel were the .54 ball did it's work...

Nice rifle, you'll never touch a fake front stuffer, aka percussion again! :grin:

Click to expand...

Fake??? Do you mean my ancestors fought the Civil War with fake guns?

Or do you shoot a matchlock? Newfangled flints don't qualify as traditional.

Here we go......again :dead: op:

Gene L said:

Crewdawg445 said:

Let's see the lower half of that squirrel were the .54 ball did it's work...

Nice rifle, you'll never touch a fake front stuffer, aka percussion again! :grin:

Click to expand...

Fake??? Do you mean my ancestors fought the Civil War with fake guns?

Or do you shoot a matchlock? Newfangled flints don't qualify as traditional.

Click to expand...

Technically percussion guns are just adolescent breechloaders.... The percussion cap was the impetus that created the modern cartridge gun. The civil war also gave birth to hundreds of breech loading designs...Ok, maybe not "hundreds" but dozens and dozens. Just saying..... :haha:

Ok guys, ....Let's go easy on the guy.....He's new to shooting squirrels with a flintlock....A .54 is a tiny bit big, but still doable....Let's give him a little time to master his head shots....

Once you start hunting squirrels with a muzzleloader and get proficient at head shots, there's no going back to regular guns.....You're hooked for life now. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

Good on ye! :thumbsup:

Looks to me like that squirrel was just dyin' to get a closer look at that pretty rifle. :grin:

You're getting good practice with your rifle and enjoying it, while getting some tasty eats in the bargain.

Pretty soon, like Clyde says, you'll be making those headshots.

Richard/Grumpa

great looking rifle. but you're going after tree rats with an elk rifle ”¦ what you need is a .36 or .40 in flint (my personal favorite is a southern mountain rifle in .40). Then, of course, you need a .45 or .50 for deer...

or perhaps a .58 smooth for turning Bambi into little white packages...

then of course a .62 smooth for turkey...

to paraphrase the little green StarWars fellow:
once rocks banged have you, forever will they dominate your range time

welcome to the magic of flint, and
Make Good Smoke!

Ok for all of you doubters. :grin:
Here is a picture of the whole squirrel. I shot several squirrels with my .54 GPR and as long as you load them down, the ball won't expand and blow them up. You can either shoot them in the head or the guts and it just pokes a hole through them with no damage to the meat. I covered the hole with a leaf. This time of year the squirrels are way up in the tree tops in the leaves so you can't always get a good head shot.

I stand corrected my friend and want to thank you for the education. I also want to apologize for making the comment of only seeing half the squirrel in your original pic. I did and do believe everything that you stated in your post. I was just making a joke and after rereading my comment, maybe I came across as being a little rude. For that, I just want to say I’m sorry.

There are definitely two things that I had taken from your post.

1. Hunting squirrels with a .54 is doable.

2. You own a beautiful rifle that any one of us would definitely be proud to carry!

Again, thank you for your topic and education my friend.

Respectfully, Cowboy

No problem Cowboy. We are all a black powder family here and we wouldn't be a family if we didn't poke fun at each other. :blah: For some reason, my first picture disappeared?

:thumbsup:

Excellent!

I've used my .54 with 40gr.

Most people do a full load and don't know any better, you obviously do! Good stuff!

Gene L said:

Crewdawg445 said:

Let's see the lower half of that squirrel were the .54 ball did it's work...

Nice rifle, you'll never touch a fake front stuffer, aka percussion again! :grin:

Click to expand...

Fake??? Do you mean my ancestors fought the Civil War with fake guns?

Or do you shoot a matchlock? Newfangled flints don't qualify as traditional.

Click to expand...

You apparently did not get the joke I was implying... Throttle back, no harm meant!

I wish we had those big fox squirrels here in the east. All we have are scrawny greys and even smaller reds.