Advice on Austin & Halleck

[drainpipe1]

I purchased the A&H rifle I posted about on 08/10.Perhaps some of you folks could advise me on a few things. First, this is my first flinter and it's a purdy one. For a non-custom rifle it has beautiful curl and grain, browning is great so is fit and finish. It is the Mtn. rifle, 50 cal, 1/66 . Should I use 2 or 3f? I hear flinters use more bp by volume than cappers so what should be my starting load? Do any of you know who A& H bought thier parts from or did they manufactor thier own ( it's a Utah rifle)? Can't wait to shoot it. Thanks all for your advice

 

60 gr.3F, .490 w/ .018 patch.
good luck with that utah rifle. A/H hard to get parts for anymore.
:v

 

[renovato]

I use 3F in mine. It doesn't seem to be terribly picky on charge weight and most loads from 70 to 90 grains seem to shoot pretty well. I'd start at about 60 grains and work up. I also prime with 3F. It works just fine and eliminates the need to buy a seperate grade just for priming.

As far as I can tell, A&H had the barrels made to their specifications by Ardesa of Spain. The bores on them are absolutely flawless and mirror bright. They're some of the most accurate production guns that I've had the pleasure of shooting. The wood was made by Boyd's Gunstocks. I'm not sure if they were the only wood supplier. Some of the parts were made in the North American Arms plant in Utah, where the gun was also browned and assembled but I'm not sure which ones. I'm tempted to think the locks are Spanish and the triggers come from NAA production, or perhaps both were produced at NAA.

I talked to the Traditions folks at the SHOT Show and they told me that they bought up A&H's parts and are assembling the same gun, albeit with a horrible parkerized looking finish. They might be a parts source for A&H owners in the future.

 

[paulvallandigham]

You can add another 10% of powder by volume when switching a load from percussion to flint, and get pretty close to the same velocities. The only way to know for sure is to use a chronograph, and shoot the gun. It the load you use in the flintlock put the ball at the same POI as the percussion gun did, you can be pretty sure that the velocites are very close. If the group sizes are close, then the powder charge is producing the same velocity, and similar SDV.


If the vent hole is rather large, you may have to add 15% more powder by volume to the flintlock to get the larger caliber guns to shoot to the same POI.