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Flintlocks aren't accurate.....

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Clover leafs are what my homemade Pa. Rifle make on the target. Load is 75 grains of 3fg and a cast .490 rb. That's was what I found to be the sweet load for that rifle.
 
4 shot group with a never fired 40 cal SMR Kibler kit.
 

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I was going to say you might remind the British of the accuracy of a flintlock from their experience at Saratoga at the hands of Morgans riflemen. Their tactics and their use of rifled flintlocks took a serious toll on the British.
 
Not to be outdone by my friend, this is a 100 yard offhand target I shot quite a few years ago when I was a tad more on my game. The rifle used was a half stock English style flintlock built by Jack Garner. I was shooting a .535 ball, ticking patch ahead of 70 grains 3fg Goex. I remember calling my last shot high which, as you can see, it was. From the center of the top hole to the center of the bottom was 2 3/4". The lower four measured just a little over 1 1/2". No way I could do that today.
 

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I've shot thousands and thousands of rounds offhand....with M1 Grand, M-14, and NRA Match Rifle in HP Competition over 50 years and 'cleaned' many targets but at 83 nowadays I shoot off a bench. It's the only way in my opinion one can truly give a traditional muzzleloader a test for accuracy and load quality!
 
Offhand rifle is my weakest thing but do not think it is a good representation of the gun. I can gets some fantastic groups at 50 yards. but I have never gotten a 2” group at 100. Follow through is of the utmost importance but I never see anyone do it. With it the lock type leaves the equation. I think the patched round ball can be extremely accurate in a windless situation but that never happens here. It gusts one way or the other within seconds. Terminal Ballistics of a round ball is great for the weight but external ballistics it ranks between a grain of rice and a feather.
 
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