Any insight on a flinter for deer hunting?

[mr.flintlock]

This is my 13th year to hunt with flintlocks exclusively. If you are hunting in rainy conditions you just need to keep your lock covered until you are ready to shoot, just as you should with a caplock.

 

[kemart]

have a 58 cal half stock i built. Like the heavier ball and i no others will disagreed with me on that. open sites no prob. have taken several deer hear in ol pa with it. they never go very far

 

[Jblk]

You can harvest a deer with alot of different types of rifles, but the flintlock will give you the most satisfaction.If you really need the meat and still manage that with your flint gun it will mean even more.Practice with it until you know what its quirks are and what your short commings are and you have the battle won.There is alot of experienced flint shooters on the forem and they freely share their knowledge and experiences.Don't be afraid to change your sights to ones you see better and you will be surprised what that rifle will do.

 

[hoochiepapa]

I have built myself two longrifles, both caplocks. I am in the process of converting both of them to flintlock, just because of the talk on this forum. I had the foresight when I built these guns to use a lock that had a sister in flint. Easy conversion. I don't know what you have, the conversion may not be very easy.
SSHHH! And I won't tell your wife! We all need another gun.
I suggest you remove your rear sight, and slide it toward the muzzle in small increments, and see if you can focus on it better. The when you find that spot, dovetail it in.

 

[ihuntsnook]

I had a custom flintlock longrifle built in 1980. The frizzen on the lock wasn't properly hardened, ignition was unreliable and I hung it on the wall. I retired a couple of years ago, and finally got around to making the flinter work. Killed my first deer with it in November of 2010. Sold my centerfire rifle and bought two more flinters. Won't hunt with another gun now.

 

[hanshi]

Welcome to the forum, ihuntsnook.

I got my first flinter in 1969 but it took me until several years ago to go 100% flint for hunting. Caplocks have their place and I've taken oodles of deer with them; but nothing compares to the satisfaction of taking game with flintlocks. :thumbsup:

 

[inthex]

Got me a flint in a kit last winter. Got it put together and punched holes in paper all summer. Was really looking foward to deer season but I think in the back of my mind this was going to be more of a paper punching toy. Finaly got a shot at a big doe and she droped like a rock.(fussy) I'll deal with it. I've got a safe full of guns collecting dust, and I'm thinking about selling some to make room for a smoothbore. :thumbsup:

 

[dbutch]

Not p/c but it keeps my hands and powder dry!

Nothing but and old pant leg of rain gear..glued the last inch at the end and it slips off silent..we had 1.5 inches of rain this past Fri-Sat and my powder stayed dry..just wrap it up to carry....I tuck the narrow end in my hunting coat like a bib and flare the wide end over the lock and hands on stand.

 

[Dphar]

Anyone carry a flintlock deer hunting? When I first got into black powder about 8(?) years ago, I almost bought a flinter because I wanted a traditional muzzleloader. I finally went with a Pedersoli Frontier caplock because I was concerned about the fussiness of a flinter for hunting. I am now considering buying a flintlock after falling in love with black powder.

But my question still remains: is it too fussy for deer hunting in northern Minnesota where the weather can do anything? Our ML season is the end of November and this year we had rain turn to sleet, turn to snow. The rain was a bit unusual, but sleet or snow is very common.

My other problem is that I would still have to take the original sights off and replace them with fiber optic sights; my eyes just aren't what they used to be. That's one thing that looks silly on my caplock and would look even more so on a flinter. But I'm stuck with it.

Any insight you can give me would be very much appreciated.

If its really bad a full length leather cover, I use topgrain split cowhide waterproofed with Sno-Seal, is effective.

I don't trust anything else and if made a little loose slides off surprisingly easily, nothing the untie.
Keeps snow off the barrel and sights etc.

I actually have a shorter on that covers to about the break of the comb on most long rifes and this is generally long enough.
And a tight weave wool cover will work in snow pretty well but its not as good all-around as the leather cover.

Don't worry about the sights, use what works.
Hunting is not a juried competition at some re-enactment.
Dan

 

[tg]

I cannot see how they could work for hunting, they will not fire well in damp weather and without modern fiber optic sights or modern peep sights you cannot get a good sight picture, the PRB is useless and modern conicals are needed to kill Deer sized animals, for any kind of even passable ignition a modern style vent liner must be installed and many guns are just so long that one could not possibly carry one thru the woods for a day, all in all they just would never provide any kind of even moderatly adequate hunting tools this is just based on many posts I have read on many threads on flintlock hunting on several forums, my personal experience is limited to trying to duplicatre as close as possible the way they were used in the past so probably has no place on this thread as it is a bit history biased which is usually not well accepted which I understand and accept :idunno:

 

[aeatwood]

I feel a tugging on my leg....

 

[mr.flintlock]

Flintlock rifles are great for hunting any game in North America. I have successfully hunted in humid weather with my flintlock rifles and have killed tons of deer, wild hogs, and one elk with patched round balls. A well made flintlock rifle will rival any percussion rifle in speed of ignition, even in wet weather.

 

[Snow on the Roof]

I feel a tugging on my leg....

I felt that same tug... :haha:

After more than 40 years of hunting with a cap lock of one form or another I made the comitment to go strickly flintlock this year. I learned alot. I spent a week in Colorado chasing elk in what turned out to be a very wet season. I then returned to Illinois and our convoluted whitetail season which turned out to, so far, be a wet season as well. The result? I never had a misfire and though the elk didn't cooperate I have tagged two whitetail does. When you asked are flinter's fussey I found just the opposite to be true.

Snow

 

[Le Grand]

I cannot see how they could work for hunting, they will not fire well in damp weather and without modern fiber optic sights or modern peep sights you cannot get a good sight picture, the PRB is useless and modern conicals are needed to kill Deer sized animals, for any kind of even passable ignition a modern style vent liner must be installed and many guns are just so long that one could not possibly carry one thru the woods for a day, all in all they just would never provide any kind of even moderatly adequate hunting tools this is just based on many posts I have read on many threads on flintlock hunting on several forums, my personal experience is limited to trying to duplicatre as close as possible the way they were used in the past so probably has no place on this thread as it is a bit history biased which is usually not well accepted which I understand and accept :idunno:

Very well said, Toby, I mean TG.....

 

[RC]

the last day of the season...I watched a deer..actually 5.. for at least 20 minutes..watching to see what the 5th one was...percussion rifle at the ready....turns out was a spike....I aimed,,squeezed the trigger...clunk... :shake: deer heard! tails flyin!..pulled hammer back,dropped the hammer..reclunk... :cursing: 3rd try bang,, course nary a deer in site..I then thought to myself I could do that with a flinter,,,that was last time I hunted without a flinter! :haha:








i

 

[Bruce H]

I cannot see how they could work for hunting, they will not fire well in damp weather and without modern fiber optic sights or modern peep sights you cannot get a good sight picture, the PRB is useless and modern conicals are needed to kill Deer sized animals, for any kind of even passable ignition a modern style vent liner must be installed and many guns are just so long that one could not possibly carry one thru the woods for a day, all in all they just would never provide any kind of even moderatly adequate hunting tools this is just based on many posts I have read on many threads on flintlock hunting on several forums, my personal experience is limited to trying to duplicatre as close as possible the way they were used in the past so probably has no place on this thread as it is a bit history biased which is usually not well accepted which I understand and accept :idunno:

:grin: :grin: Not nice to mess with an old man!! When I first read that, I thought "what the..." and ignored it. You are the master!!

 

[hanshi]

I don't think flinters are fussy; but they do sometimes pout. :wink:

 

TG, you could get in trouble plagiarizing our buddy Toby Bridges. :blah: If you get into flint, and do your homework, such as learning how to make them perform correct, proper flint, hardened frizzen, correct size touch hole. There's no more fun you can have with your clothes on. It's not recommended to shoot flint naked--Sparks! :rotf:

Bill

 

[tg]

OK I may just get me one of them rockin locks or whatever they call them, and see what all the fuss is about.

 

[jerrywh]

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/sc-charleston.html
What eles can you say? All these deer were killed with flintlocks.