Anyone ever try hunting with a matchlock?

[Sidney Smith]

I've got a matchlock kit on order. I'm hoping to one day take it on a deer or turkey hunt. Just wondering if anyone here has tried hunting with a matchlock? I think it would be a real challenge.

I've gotten deer and squirrels with my flintlocks, and it's very exciting. Always wondered how the pilgrims managed to get game. Guess I'll find out one day.

 

[Sam squanch]

I’ve hunted squirrels, that’s about it

 

[French Colonial]

Shot trap with one,

Follow through, follow through, follow through

 

[Melchi577]

a little bit of small game and a couple of times clays, admittedly a few of the critters did wander off before i got myself organized. you might want to see how you get on with squirrels before moving on to deer.
definitely try it.

 

[Rudyard]

Having hunted with common & snap matchlocks I can say yes you can hunt with Matchlocks . it does add a bit more challenge but your a muzzle loader you LIKE challenge !. I don't say its better or the only way to fly .But I do know its 'doable' even on several day hunts in rough forested mountains ..I confess I have apon occasion resorted to the' pre 1840 High plains Bic' to save and relight constantly burning away match cord or Fungus .The smoke & fumes cant be any worse than your smell from the games angle . If your game are birds ect & your gun of normal fowling piece sort you can shoot flying /running or even' over the belt 'driven clays once familiar & practiced in that style of shooting . Saves you the cost of flints & copper caps anyway. Have at it" Matchlock shooters of the World ignite! " " You have nothing to loose but your brains !" ' Or something like that. ( I one camped a night in Highgate cemetery , Not by design I would add ) Karl Marks is buried in that cemetery ( Not a very lively lot ).But I digress.
Regards Rudyard

 

[Sidney Smith]

I've thought about how to deal with the match while waiting for the game to show up. I've had enough deer move into range of my flintlocks, that I know I'd have time to pull out a lighter and get the match glowing, rather than leaving it to smolder the whole time I'm out there.

 

[Sam squanch]

The hard part is masking the noise of the lighter…. It could be done though.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Nah. I've clicked the cock into position on more than one deer and they didn't budge. Where I hunt, I usually see the deer coming at least 50 to 75 yards out. Plenty of time.

 

[Colonial Boy]

I bought my first matchlock from a gun shop on the Ginza in Tokyo in 1954, hunted pheasant in Korea with it but never got one.
Back home in Australia I hunted rabbits and duck, got a lot more rabbits than duck!!
Also shot a few hares, haven’t used a match lock for many years, got one of those new fangled flintlocks.
But, yes, successful hunting can be done with one and very enjoyable too.
Edit. Forgot to mention that this gun was an antique Japanese gun and the strange stock took a bit of getting used to, but once mastered the lack of a buttstock was not an issue; the lock, including the spring was all brass and it was forward striking and very fast.

 

[Irishmusket]

Yes you can hunt with matchlock musket you will have to care for your musket and match like a new born baby how ever be safe and patient once you learn the skills needed you will find that matchlock muskets if properly tended to in field are more reliable than flintlocks with enough practice and skill you be come confident and successful .making good match is very important reliable match is essential I have been hunting with matchlock muskets only for years shoot turkeys pheasant rabbits and deer for years with success .Being new with it learn about safety match musket loading and very important when hunting keeping match cooked in the right position and ashed constantly to assure safe and reliable ignition at the moment truth safely that an important skill set while managing a 10 + pound musket

 

[good ole boy]

I've got a matchlock kit on order. I'm hoping to one day take it on a deer or turkey hunt. Just wondering if anyone here has tried hunting with a matchlock? I think it would be a real challenge.

I've gotten deer and squirrels with my flintlocks, and it's very exciting. Always wondered how the pilgrims managed to get game. Guess I'll find out one day.

What cal.did you order it in?

 

[good ole boy]

Yes you can hunt with matchlock musket you will have to care for your musket and match like a new born baby how ever be safe and patient once you learn the skills needed you will find that matchlock muskets if properly tended to in field are more reliable than flintlocks with enough practice and skill you be come confident and successful .making good match is very important reliable match is essential I have been hunting with matchlock muskets only for years shoot turkeys pheasant rabbits and deer for years with success .Being new with it learn about safety match musket loading and very important when hunting keeping match cooked in the right position and ashed constantly to assure safe and reliable ignition at the moment truth safely that an important skill set while managing a 10 + pound musket

I read years ago that sentries on guard duty were sittin ducks with their match cords glowin away in the dark.

 

[tenngun]

Never shot one, never seen one in life. So I have zilch experience with them.
Howsomever I understand Leonardo de Vinci was a well know bird hunter, he may have invented both the Wheelock and snaphaunce, but seems to have been bagging them birds with a wic

 

[LongWalker]

Back in '92 or so, Doc Carlson did a product review of a matchlock and mentioned hunting with it. I had to give it a try, so I built one. Finally, around '99 or so I got around to hunting with it. Found out on day one it was not a stalking rifle, so I had to build a stand. The next afternoon a spike buck wondered by, gun went boom, and I was done hunting with a matchlock. I never got comfortable with the match burning, and I don't like stand hunting. But it did work fine.

 

[Rudyard]

Yes you can hunt with matchlock musket you will have to care for your musket and match like a new born baby how ever be safe and patient once you learn the skills needed you will find that matchlock muskets if properly tended to in field are more reliable than flintlocks with enough practice and skill you be come confident and successful .making good match is very important reliable match is essential I have been hunting with matchlock muskets only for years shoot turkeys pheasant rabbits and deer for years with success .Being new with it learn about safety match musket loading and very important when hunting keeping match cooked in the right position and ashed constantly to assure safe and reliable ignition at the moment truth safely that an important skill set while managing a 10 + pound musket

Ten pound anything will be cumbersome I made a common lock 12 bore piece style of 1630 even with its blackened Beech stock it handled like an normal Game or Clay gun ,ran about 6 pounds Thorsden Lenk desccibes just such a gun as' Western Europe c 1630.'Pics attached .The top gun is the 12 bore the lower is my long hunt 54 cal snap matchlock NO pretensions to nice finish just old bodge of Church roof NZ ' Miro' wood . This lower rifle has a 50 cal smooth option for MLAIC type events it bears underneath the barrel "finest selected 5$ Montana barrel reject .' for such it was . .You don't think they had ' got up'' poor boys' ? I've no idea but who's to say such affairs where not made .

 

[Sam squanch]

I’m sure that matchlocks were banged up for poor hunters and for kids who adults didn’t trust with a very expensive newfangled snaphaunce……

 

[Rudyard]

Incidentally that 12 bore is 50 years old wasnt my first one that was c 1966 ' Build a better matchlock & the world will beat a path to your door! " Well no not exactly but I have made a lot in all sorts of designs except Jap styles but made two conjectural Scots style. these being in old text along with wheellocks but non survived very few Scots anything has survived as long arms. The first of these based on an Ancrim Moor pickup Henry the 8th had many Venetion snap matchlocks such are recoverered from the ' Mary Rose ' his ship but I gave it a fluted stock much as the later guns tended to have . I speculate the Harp makers being the principal decorated wood workers had much to influence this , I had that style since being a 'battle ground pick up' it was later restocked (That it started of AS a Venetian is the reality but I Scot ified it ere t'was . finished All you fresh posters are adding to My knowledge we all had different storys & learning curves .All good stuff .
Regards to you all Rudyard

 

[Irishmusket]

have a japan one works good how ever small bore 50 cal. Shoots accurate infact very well however in the musket world 50 cal. Is like 410 small game with shot at 20 25 yard max with well placed shot on deer wth a single ball at 30 yards may more maybe .The are like I said accurate but because of the pistol like stocks shooting it with over 45 to 55 grain s of powder it is difficult to handle and attain The velocity needed to be truly useful for any thing but small game How ever my Son has one he brings home rabbit s and a pheasant with one these guns were made in Japan by Moroku for Dixie gun works they are quite nice and are fun to shoot .I prefer full scale European matchlock musket in the kings gauge 12 shots to pound of lead (75 caliber) 85 to 90 grains 1f black course Musket powder with one once and a quarter of no 4 shot This takes turkey s out 35 yards or 40 strides has for me 3 years in a row

 

[Rudyard]

The 'Poor Boy' musket cum rifled option is 50 c Smooth . I hunted & target shot with the 54 rifled but used the 50 cal smooth for MLAIC type matches' held the NZ champs for a while with the smooth barrel, If the 54 rifled was' in the hunt ' at 110 yards it like the smooth bore matches where mostly suited to 55 yards shooting which is longer range than a typical shot at deer or goats in these parts the bush tending to be thick. No Turkeys locally, a few local Peacocks if quite rare generally . The other 12 bore gun I used on just local farms not on any syndicate or formal shoot. But like any UK' rough' shooter might Wood Pigeon & the odd bunny besides Crows ,Magpies, & Jays pest control .A world away from NZ Native Pigeons they being so tame they are protected . very handsome birds but rightly of limits We have California quail but they like the thick stuff cant recover them few shoot them nothing much on them anyway .
Rudyard

 

[Togo]

A gun maker here in Michigan made one and used it during the 2022 muzzleloader season and shot a nice 5pt. He had it hanging at gunmakers hall in Friendship, In.