I have a 25 shot woods walk coming up tomorrow and felt I should get in a little practice. Thing is, I was in the dual grasp of sloth and lethargy, and as a result was too lazy to clean the gun. I resorted to a method I frequently use in such cases. I replaced the flint with a piece of hardwood and just practiced breathing, trigger squeeze, and sight alignment. As you all know, probably from bitter experience, a flintlock takes some work to be able to shoot with any degree of skill. Dry firing is one inexpensive method of helping acquire more skill. Does anyone else out there do it besides me? This would be especially helpful to beginners, then graduate to a flint and a charged pan but an unloaded gun. If you happen to be lazier than I and don't want to fuss around making a wood flint, do not dry fire by snapping off while the hammer is in the half cock position. This is a good way to snap off the half cock notch. Either use the wood flint or do it with the hammer all the way down. I recommend the wood flint. Any other good practice tips out there?