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The Romance of Flintlocks

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We know that Flint locks belong to a different time., what game there was was not as head shy, people were not driving vehicles, making a lot of noise, no trains and only a handful of people. Game could be shot at a pretty decent range without a bunch of technical knowledge. I like the idea of the muzzleloader season that has to be flintlock only, or at the very least flintlock and side lock percussions. It has become far too easy with the equipment that's available to shoot giant sized animals with little effort and yet the effort to use a muzzleloader is not that harder, it's just more time consuming and requires a different style of hunting. I have nothing against inlines, 3006 and 270's, but I don't believe they should complete in the same field. There's nothing wrong with those that want to use these guns in that field, but it's nice that sometimes we can move back to a gentler times when you could hunt was a flintlock and get games successfully with round balls only.
Yep , and by the time you were 35 you were all used up and croaked soon after. Very romantic times.
 
You know you are hooked when you start selling cartridge guns for flint and got it bad when you sell TC and Lyman for customs .
Wow, then I might have it bad... LOL. Won't get rid of them all, have a .50 TC PA hunter flintlock that shoots lights out, a .58 investarm flinter that is just cool (and a good shooter) and a .54 Lyman percussion just to have. The rest have/will be sold to feed the customs I've found myself buying/ looking at.
 
I'm seriously thinking about getting an L&R Flintlock Assembly and a Flashhole and converting my factory build Dixie G.W. Tennessee .50cal Mountain Rifle into a "flinter"! Has anyone on here had any experience doing that "lock change over" and were there any problems or tips I might need to know about before attempting the switch? Any info or support would be very appreciated! Thanks from NC!
 
I'm seriously thinking about getting an L&R Flintlock Assembly and a Flashhole and converting my factory build Dixie G.W. Tennessee .50cal Mountain Rifle into a "flinter"! Has anyone on here had any experience doing that "lock change over" and were there any problems or tips I might need to know about before attempting the switch? Any info or support would be very appreciated! Thanks from NC!
Yes, I did this many moons ago to the exact same rifle, at that time I used Dixie's conversion and the Frizzen was a very poor sparker and I ended up selling it to my brother for a wall hanger.

I would think the L&R will give you very good service.
 
Yes, I did this many moons ago to the exact same rifle, at that time I used Dixie's conversion and the Frizzen was a very poor sparker and I ended up selling it to my brother for a wall hanger.

I would think the L&R will give you very good service.
Thanks for the info! L&R have them in stock on their website! Was glad to see they're still available for the Dixie Tennessee!
 
The allure of the flintlock can't be doubted. We took our niece and her husband, both Army vets and skilled with modern guns, to the range. They fell in love with my traditional muzzleloaders, especially the flintlocks. After the range session we talked for hours about muzzleloader history and use. Their questions just kept coming. As my niece said, they felt more involved with, and appreciated, each shot.

Jeff
 
Yep , and by the time you were 35 you were all used up and croaked soon after. Very romantic times.
Admittedly, every period of time had it's good points and it's bad points. My mother said for years the best thing about the early times is that they are gone, but yet they all had something that we've lost through this so-called progression of things getting easier. I too enjoy the comforts that come from a thermostat in my house, my car that's dependable, a grocery store two blocks away, but there's a lot of things gone that weren't all that bad.
 
I'm seriously thinking about getting an L&R Flintlock Assembly and a Flashhole and converting my factory build Dixie G.W. Tennessee .50cal Mountain Rifle into a "flinter"! Has anyone on here had any experience doing that "lock change over" and were there any problems or tips I might need to know about before attempting the switch? Any info or support would be very appreciated! Thanks from NC!
I started with a .50 percussion DP Frontier that had a bent hammer. I bought it for the stock, very flamey Maple. I removed the drum and screwed in a liner. For the K&R Ketland lock I had to inlet the stock a little bit. I'll be replacing the barrel with a custom in Jan-Feb when my turn in line comes up.

Most factory guns are easily converted with a liner and a lock. When you decide to use custom parts or parts from a different manufacturer you might have to fit them.

Edit: That's supposed to be L&R lock.
 
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It's true , that all things go in a circle. Man comes from Above , and returns to the Above. I was blessed with a father that put a BB rifle in my hands when around five yrs. old. From there , I took a poor man's journey into shooting , involving , eventual competition , rifle , and shotgun trap. Hunting went hand in hand with all that. And since we had little money for expensive modern guns , Dad made what we needed. He was a dedicated amature gun builder , and had a friend that did modern rifle gun barrel work. Once the caliber was selected , and gunbarrel was properly head spaced , Dad did the stock work , checkering finishing bluing etc. , etc. , . We reloaded all out ammo , thousands of rounds. As a kid , I did most of the reloading under Dad's direction. This occurred up untill my 18th birthday , when I left home to get an education. The seeds of muzzleloading were planted by the Dixie Gun Works catalog , frequently found in the stack of magazines by Dad's easy chair . My circle of modern gun experience was complete , when a cousin brought his Dixie Belgian , 16 ga. import single barrel M/L shotgun for me to try . I fired it into a mud puddle , lotsa smoke , fire , noise , and water flew everywhere. That's where a 50 + year love affair with muzzleloading started. All my modern guns that I kept , have turned into "safe queens". I have no regrets , except that I wish I would have started muzzleloading earlier in my life. The circle of my muzzleloading experience , is almost complete. ..........oldwood
 
Some great words of wisdom and beauty above.
I'll add that I get a big kick out of the looks of astonishment I get at my range (pretty much only me and my buddy shoot flintlocks) and even more when they come over to admire it and then I get to ask, "Do you want to shoot it"? Those big eyes and smiles followed by "Hell yeah!" makes my day every time.
That is priceless and so true! I actually asked a stranger at the range if I could shoot his FLINTLOCK rifle one time years ago! I have never forgotten the chance or the experience! It felt like "time-travel!
 
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