Can you see what I'm doing wrong?

[hawkeye2]

Focus on the muzzle in your last video. I see it wavering quite a bit before and after hammer fall. Align it with the venetian blind slats to see it.

 

[deerstalkert]

Hell hath no fury like a wife who gets a shard of flint in her foot from one of those "stinky old guns you like to shoot".

take up flint knapping! wife stepped on a shard of Obsidian and you would have thought i was killing baby seals! never marry a Scot.

 

[hawkeye2]

I'll bet it's altogether different if she steps on one of the kid's Legos.

 

[Grenadier1758]

As I suggested, get a wooden "flint" and you won't be scattering flint shards all over the house.

 

[Kmcmichael]

I would say that if you can shoot a modern gun well offhand but not a flintlock you are not following through. Be sure and get a second sight picture after the gun fires. This will ensure that you stay on your sights during and after the shot.

 

[Travis186]

Focus on the muzzle in your last video. I see it wavering quite a bit before and after hammer fall. Align it with the venetian blind slats to see it.

I had just knocked down half of pot #2 of coffee when I took that video... I was a jittery for sure. Maybe that's the issue?

As I suggested, get a wooden "flint" and you won't be scattering flint shards all over the house.

I got a piece I'm chiseling down right now to make one.

I would say that if you can shoot a modern gun well offhand but not a flintlock you are not following through. Be sure and get a second sight picture after the gun fires. This will ensure that you stay on your sights during and after the shot.

Just fine. All shots on an 8" plate at 100 yards, except for the last shot which I put on the IPSC target. Unmentionable, but for all intents and purposes, let's consider it a P53 Enfield, since that's how it started life. I agree, as you and others have said, if it's not a flinch, it's gotta be a follow thru issue. I'm going to try a different shooting stance as well.

 

[DuncNZ]

I hold my firearms with my right elbow slightly high above my shoulder and my left arm almost level with my shoulder and the elbow at right angles . my left hand is at or almost at the entry pipe on my rifles , depending on stock build . I turn in lightly in with both hands , one works against the other to lock everything up . I pull the trigger with my finger joint on the trigger , It is not as spongey as the finger tip .
I made a practice gun with some 1" pipe and an old stock , put a scope on it ,it weighed just over 10 pounds , you can see movement better with a scope and spent at least 15 mins or more each night lifting it to my shoulder and aiming at a insulator on a power pole 150 yards down the road , Just holding it steady for as long as possible , I also lifted 2x10.2 lb weights each night for 10 lifts , lifting them with my arms as if I was lifting a firearm . All my shooting whether it was practice , plinking or competition was and still is aimed at making me a better game shot . You have to train if you want to be good .
You are shooting that snider without problems , the difference is there is absolutely no flash from a pan or bang from a cap . You are also holding the Snider a little further out with your fingers wrapped around the stock , not close in with your fingers splayed as you do with the flinter . I am sure it is technique not load which is the problem

 

[Gkarp429]

In first two videos with flintock, your left hand fingers are open under the gun. In video with the enfield, your left hand fingers grip the gun?

 

[Gkarp429]

Oops, what cutfinger just said. So sorry.

 

[R Ellis]

I don't think you can tell what is wrong by dry firing , when dry firing there is no anticipated flash to upset you .
I suspect you are flinching and pulling the trigger hard , which moves the barrel to the right .
I personally don't like the way you hold the forend , or in fact don't hold the forend .
I think balancing the rifle on your palm is not a secure way to hold your rifle ,same with resting your arm on your gut It can and will move .
It may work for indoor target shooting with a glove and sling but , in my experience not for long firearms , the relatively slow lock time , compared with what you are used to, may also be a factor , you must learn to follow through .
That long barrel sticking out unsupported is a wind vane and also develops momentum , if it starts to move it has to be stopped and brought back on target , without going back through the target .

I do think you nailed it

 

[hawkeye2]

I had just knocked down half of pot #2 of coffee when I took that video... I was a jittery for sure. Maybe that's the issue?

It sure would be an issue with me!

I got a piece I'm chiseling down right now to make one.

Just fine. All shots on an 8" plate at 100 yards, except for the last shot which I put on the IPSC target. Unmentionable, but for all intents and purposes, let's consider it a P53 Enfield, since that's how it started life. I agree, as you and others have said, if it's not a flinch, it's gotta be a follow thru issue. I'm going to try a different shooting stance as well.

[/QUOT

That's good shooting and we could hear each hit on the plate. We'll forgive you for shooting an unmentionable since it started life as a muzzleloader and you are showing us you can shoot. Now let's see the same results with the flint gun.

 

[Artificer]

I had just knocked down half of pot #2 of coffee when I took that video... I was a jittery for sure. Maybe that's the issue?

It sure would be an issue with me!

Summer 1975 and I'm the Junior Armorer on THE Marine Corps Rifle Team, which meant an important part of my job was to ensure the 55 cup coffee maker was ready with fresh coffee when the first shooter showed up each morning and keep making coffee all day long. About three weeks later, our Team Captain had been reading caffeine was no good for shooting, so he ordered us not to make coffee and have it available at all times on the side of the Ordnance Van. So what happened?

The shooters' scores went right into the waste bucket and did not come back until the Team Captain gave up and went back to having coffee all day long !!!

The big thing is not to go well over or well under one's normal consumption of caffeine.

Gus

 

[Ponderosaman]

This is a journey. Some members her know that I like to enjoy a beer or two. In fact, if I could never drink the same beer twice, I might take that option. I like to have that adventure and the bad beer is just as much part of the adventure as the good one. So, what are you doing wrong? Nothing. You are on the adventure and blackpowder people are not everything’s perfect people. That said, nothing wrong with throwing down and breaking open the books. I’d say, your load is critical to your result. We take for granted the loads developed by our unmentionable benefactors. Take your time work up your load. Enjoy your failures as well as your successes. You got this.

 

[GREENSWLDE]

May be Flint guns are simply not for You. Stick with the Pattern 58 or the (unmetionable Sn---r).. There's always some as can and some as can't.. O.D..

 

[SamTex1949]

Im going to go in a entirely different direction. What everyone else has said is sound advice. BUT
I say , STOP OVER THINKING THIS ! Relax, dont "think about shooting, or flash or sights" just do it !
"turn off the mechanism" . Lets get a little meditative with the rifle. Honestly , when I have shot my Flintlock
a full stock Hawken .50 cal rifle (custom built) I focus on the sight/target and am nt aware or see the flash from
the lock at all. Im not an exceptional shooter but I enjoy it, am fascinated by it , marvel at the simple complexity of it !
You have proven the "rifle" can hit the target, now its your turn !

 

[pmccoywss]

Technique looks fine. I'd bet you don't have your sandbags as far back as you support hand is when shooting offhand. Try benching it with bags back where you support the rifle when offhand shooting, and see where the group lands.

 

[Versanaut]

I'm not sure the the recent video demonstrates you are not flinching. I am of the opinion you still cannot rule out a flinch as your 'caplock' is nothing like a flintlock with regards to the effect the lock's action has on our natural instinct to shield our eyes against the flash/heat/and particulate generated by the flint.

When I switched from caps to flints, it was like I was learning to shoot all over again. And if I put her in the closet too long, I have to reacclimatize to the action.

Others have already mentioned the difference between the holds in the videos.

When you do video yourself shooting the flinter, position the camera so that you can see your eyes clearly. This is a video from a couple years ago when my son got his very first flintlock. Keep in mind, he was already competitive with his caplock. - He didn't believe me that he was flinching that bad. Video didn't lie.

 

[DuncNZ]

Summer 1975 and I'm the Junior Armorer on THE Marine Corps Rifle Team, which meant an important part of my job was to ensure the 55 cup coffee maker was ready with fresh coffee when the first shooter showed up each morning and keep making coffee all day long. About three weeks later, our Team Captain had been reading caffeine was no good for shooting, so he ordered us not to make coffee and have it available at all times on the side of the Ordnance Van. So what happened?

The shooters' scores went right into the waste bucket and did not come back until the Team Captain gave up and went back to having coffee all day long !!!

The big thing is not to go well over or well under one's normal consumption of caffeine.

Gus

Caffeine withdrawal is a real thing and can give one headaches and shakes for several days until all the body adjusts , it also has a diuretic effect and causes one to dehydrate faster .
The first thing that goes as one becomes increasingly dehydrated is vision , I was taught to keep drinking water regularly during a shoot even if I didn't feel thirsty , one should be so hydrated that ones pee runs clear . At one shoot I got the shakes , I couldn't figure it out , until someone pointed put the Mountain Dew I was drinking was higher in caffeine than coffee

 

[DuncNZ]

Technique looks fine. I'd bet you don't have your sandbags as far back as you support hand is when shooting offhand. Try benching it with bags back where you support the rifle when offhand shooting, and see where the group lands.

Firearms shoot away from hard surfaces . If I shoot off a bag I put my left hand on the bag and my right on the grip , the butt never touches anything other than my shoulder , so the rifle is only touching me , That way the effect on recoil /muzzle jump is almost the same as when shooting off hand , just steadier .

 

[M. De Land]

I made this video hoping to show you guys what I'm doing, and see if anyone can help me out here... I'm at the point of losing sleep over this now. Any, and all help, is greatly appreciated. Help me shoot better!

I didn't read all the posts but I'd get someone else you know can shoot a flint gun well ,to shoot your gun and see if the condition persists.