Flintlock vs Percussion

I thought that was a “Saturday Night Special”! :bow:

I might as well throw my change in the ring while I’m here...

I prefer flintlocks because mastering them is sort of a mystery and an art in its own.

I’ve hunted percussion guns for over 40 years and ventured off into flintland around 10 years ago.

Flint guns were used during the time period I’m intrested in and therefore draw my interest .

I’ve had percussion guns to mis-fire just as I have flints.

When I first started down the black powder road caps weren’t as dependable as they are 40 years later.

I remember getting a can of X brand caps and several (10 or so) didn’t pop .

That kinda’ makes you loose confidence in your weapon.

My flint gun I can easily check the prime and know if it needs changed or not.

I keep a cows knee handy to help protect the lock from bad weather.

Keep ur’ flint dry and touch hole clean it it will go BANG!

When I return to camp cold, wet and hungry I can start a fire with the lock if need be.

Try that with a percussion cap... :slap: :v

By the way I still haven’t mastered a flint gun and I’m not sure I ever will , but they make my clock tick. :hatsoff:

I still own more caplock guns than flint guns.... but they rarely get used. :idunno:

IMHO , Too each his own whatever flops your mop. :thumbsup:

Colorado Clyde said:

Flintlocks aren't for everyone.....Just like some people can't swim or drive a car....Many people learn to swim and drive a car and love it....Some people never learn or can't learn for various reasons....

Growing up, neither of my parents could swim....Yet I was in a canoe while still in diapers, and we always had a motorboat and went fishing and waterskiing....My parents made sure us kids could all swim.....So we could save them if need be......

There's a point in there somewhere.... :haha:

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Nope. Guns in general aren't for everyone. BUT if ya can shoot a 10-22 you can shoot a flintlock. If ya shoot it enough the 10-22 will get more accurate (or maybe not cuz it will likley stay home more often) :rotf:

and I am a self taught swimmer. Nobody would teach me so one summer I learned to float in the "baby pool". Then I jumped in the 3' (over my head at the time) and "swam" to the edge :haha: Swimming and safe weapon handling should be taught at the earliest age IMHO

You come to a creek, your and your family are hungry. You build fishtraps, you eat what comes out of creek. Small big crawfish mussels, if it has a calorie you can digest it goes in the pot.
You and your family are hungry. There is a good dry ravine with steep sides, you see a herd of pronghorn. You soround the herd and set fires. Then you hide near the ravine and kill the animals that are crippled falling in to the ravine. You get more meat then you can butcher before it goes bad.
We don’t fish like that or hunt like that.
Ofcorse percussion’s are better, what’s your point.
I’ve learned to use a flinter to face what the weather throws at me, cold wet rain and snow.

And In response to azmntman ....

I agree with both of you.... :thumbsup:

The percussion lock is superior to the flintlock in every category except aesthetic beauty (which is subjective) and historical significance (again, subjective). Faster, less expensive, more reliable, safer, simpler.

That being said I prefer flintlocks a good bit more. They're cooler I guess? The part I don't understand is why I'm obsessed with both styles but have no interest whatsoever with wheellocks or matchlocks (they're neat, but I have no desire to own one)?

In what way can a caplock be considered safer than a flintlock?

no interest whatsoever with wheellocks or matchlocks (they're neat, but I have no desire to own one)?

:metoo:

Way too old for my interest (Pilgrims to war of northern aggression).

Now I have never seen one or shot one yet, I might change my mind if that were to happen :idunno:

Priming powder can accumulate behind the lock over time and cause an explosion. Usually caused by poor inletting of the lock but can also be caused by a number of other factors and as uncommon as that is is still a hazard that percussions are not subject to.

In what way can a caplock be considered safer than a flintlock?

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I love the flint for many personal reasons. As far as safer..... if one is stupid enough to be smoking a cigarette he would be safer with a caplock. That 4f is not always 100% sealed in in the pan.
Flintlockar :grin:

Ever stand close to a flinter and get blasted in the face from blowback from a touch hole?

Ever stand close to a flinter and get blasted in the face from blowback from a touch hole?

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Not in the face, but in my early years, someone yelled "left"handed flintlock! The "left" did not register in my brain, and my right arm drew blood. Never forgot that lesson.
Flintlocklar :wink:

I have shot flint and percussion, and i find they are both fun to shot, yes the flint is more work but that is part of the enjoyment of the hobby.
If you want a real challenge try a matchlock,they will give you a challenge. i know some one who goes deer hunting with his, and gets a deer every year.

Skychief said:

In what way can a caplock be considered safer than a flintlock?

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Generally, cap guns are safer than flinters, but those percussion caps can and do bust apart most of the time it seems when they are detonated, and the fragments do spit around the lock area (hence the need for eye protection, among other reasons). To provide for the escaping gas, I think that's the reason most cap gun hammers have a notch in the front of them. In about 10 years of shooting flint guns now almost exclusively, I have yet to get blasted in the face by expanding gas, or shatter a rock on a frizzen. Just a matter of time I know, but that's been my experience.

In most other ways though flint guns have more ways to get hurt;

cut yourself on a sharp flint
incorrect loading technique of a rock scraping against a partially closed frizzen,
powder getting behind the pan and in to the lock mortice
the blast from the touch hole--risk to bad support hand placement, or nearby shooters

there are probably others, but that's what immediately springs to mind.

Some here have a thin skin it seems.

Better threads have been made IMHO

Don't like flinters so what? Feel threatened it is the person postings problem. Try to be nice. Thread should die a quick death IMHO as it has been getting very personable. Again just IMHO

Obi-Wan Cannoli said:

Priming powder can accumulate behind the lock over time and cause an explosion. Usually caused by poor inletting of the lock...

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That's one of the features of my Pedersoli flint pistol!


I am completely in over my head on this muzzleloading stuff but here's how I see the attraction or veneration of flintlocks:

This is the 21st century, If you want to make holes in targets, animate or inanimate, you can cheaply obtain a firearm that is absolutely waterproof and rustproof, doesn't particularly need cleaning and can fire any number of shots as quick as the blink of an eye.

But something motivates everyone here to look to the past and shoot the older guns. It might be aesthetics, historicity, the greater challenge or any number of reasons but here we are enjoying muzzleloaders. And flintlocks are further back down that path than caplocks and their original use encompasses a much larger swath of our history than caplocks do.

Muzzleloaders of all eras are interesting, beautiful, historically significant and entertainingly challenging to master. Caplocks are the pinnacle of the evolution of the muzzleloader, but they are not the guns of the colonial frontier, they did not defeat the British to found our country, they were not the guns of the longhunters, of Crocket, Boone, Kenton...

Caplocks are the muzzleloader perfected, flintlocks offer a more challenging puzzle to master and a richer historical context.

The easy cliché would be to say "to each their own". But why pick sides? Have more fun and play with both!

I prefer percussion. Got my first taste of a flintlock shooting a high-dollar Charleville 35 years ago. Can honestly say I had looked forward to finally getting to use one, but did not like shooting it at all. Have nothing against anyone that prefers the flinter, I just don't care for the way they shoot. I probably could get used to one, but why change when I dearly love to shoot percussion. Sparks didn't bother me, but the delay did.

Take your own pick and as the song said by Fleetwood Mac go your own way!!!!

SgtMaj said:

I prefer percussion. Got my first taste of a flintlock shooting a high-dollar Charleville 35 years ago. Can honestly say I had looked forward to finally getting to use one, but did not like shooting it at all. Have nothing against anyone that prefers the flinter, I just don't care for the way they shoot. I probably could get used to one, but why change when I dearly love to shoot percussion. Sparks didn't bother me, but the delay did.

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Not a flintlock expert (yet) but I have heard that with a properly tuned lock there is no delay, or at least not one that would mess with yer head :idunno: I have only a Traditions flinter now and it shoots OK, I will be checking the flint to assure its near a 55 degree angle and checking the touch hole diameter and see if I can improve it. Last time out (or time before?) I was competing with my son at 90 yds busting clays and I never missed and neither did he. He was shooting grandads first .22, a Winchester single shot from the 30's. I imagine with the lock better tuned I can do good on paper at that range as well.