Charles Moore Flintlock Target Pistol

[Rat]

The Charlie Moore is fitted to a high standard...just not the under lug and nose cap. Therein lies the mystery.

 

[Enfield58]

I took the number two pistol out and put about 70 rounds through it. I was able to do that on one flint. That was not possible for me before.

This afternoon I used the agate flints. I got about 40 rounds through before I had to lap an edge back onto it. Then at about the 60th round, I flipped it around and used the other edge.

This afternoon, I also learned a lesson in distractions.

I like to use pre-measured charges. That way I know exactly how much powder that I've poured down the barrel. The likelihood of making a mistake is lessened with pre-measured charges - till today.

I laid out 10 rounds on the shooting bench in front of me. I shot three rounds and had just finished loading the 4th when my smart phone alerted me to a text message.

By now, all of you are beginning to chuckle. Don't lie to me. I know it and I can feel it in my bones.

Since I had not put powder in the pan, I laid the pistol down and answered the text message.

Having forgotten that I had already loaded a round, I picked up another pre-measured round and loaded it on top of the round that was already in the barrel.

By now, you all know that I said something like; "Oh deary me. Goodness gracious and Oh mercy my. Dag nabit and shuckey darn. I've been a silly nini-muggin."

I was just thankful that nobody saw me do it but I know all of you can keep a secret. We won't let this go beyond this thread; will we?

Anyway, I got my stuff altogether, left the range and returned home, which is only ten minutes away.

I got the second ball that was loaded out of the barrel and ensured the first round was still firmly seated. When I returned to the range, I shot the ball out then proceeded to have fun the rest of the day.

The lesson I learned is that no matter how experienced you are, stuff can still happen. To prevent that from ever happening again, I decided to get rid of the distraction by turning the cell phone off. So from now on, if I'm at the range, the cell phone will be off or back in my car.

I would have liked to shared a photo of the groups that I fired today but it was raining outside the pistol house. So the targets got really wet.

I used the same 20 grain load that I used in the first pistol. This one shot about 10 inches high like the first one.

The only difference is that this time, I used the single set feature of the trigger. Wow! What a difference. I got about 3 inch groups with a two handed hold and rested on the shooting window from the pistol house.

I also shot a close in target at about 10 yards and it was right on for elevation. Before I vary the load, I'm going to shoot both pistols a little more to get really comfortable with them. Then I'll play around with the powder charge. That way I hope to mitigate as much human error as possible.

One thing is probably certain, after getting use to the flintlock pistols, it might improve my shooting with other pistols with faster lock times!

 

[Rat]

Oh yes, the flintlock will indeed improve your shooting with all other firearms. Absolutely.

I can really chuckle, don't even own a smart phone....have an old flip-phone that I turn on maybe twice a month. !!! My wife makes me clip on one of those "Spot" satellite thingies that track me when I'm hunting, exploring, or on the snowmobile. My son calls it "my leash".

I'm glad you are now enjoying and shooting the pistols, after the long but interesting discussions that you sparked. For sure, and again, vary your powder charges in five-grain increments, until you find the sweet spot, then do it all over again with different ball and patch combos, and different lubes. Good luck.

 

[Patrick Thomas]

The person receiving the challenge got to choose the weapons. So if you got challenged, and were good with a sword, you'd pick swords. If you were good with pistols, then you'd pick pistols.

A long time ago the ex-wife's attorney kept saying that he could beat me up. He even said it in court. He basically told the jury that I was a coward and accused me of only yelling at little girls and women. None of that was true.

Even though none of his accusations were true it still didn't stop him from saying he could beat me up. He must have thought that would impress the jury.

I don't want to get into the details of the case as it is only of tangential importance to the subject of dueling.

Anyway, I got tired of this big fat slob telling everyone that he could beat me up.

So I wrote him a very LEGAL letter and had my attorney deliver it to him.

I basically said that if he thought that he could beat me up that I was challenging him to a boxing match. I made it perfectly clear that the challenge was not a threat and I wished him a long healthy life.

This was an opportunity for him to teach me a lesson if he can.

I was challenging him to a LEGALLY recognized form of athletic competition and that we must follow all Federal, State and Local laws governing that competition. We also had to follow the rules of whatever governing athletic organization that was recognized in that area.

I said that unless it was prohibited by law or athletic rules that I would like to dispense with mouth guards and gloves. It was to be bare knuckles and no protection unless prohibited.

I told him that we should both sign a hold harmless agreement and be responsible for our own medical bills.

I told him that the challenge was only going to be made one time and was good indefinitely.

After my attorney delivered Mr. Big-Mouth the letter, I made sure that plenty of copies were spread around the court house.

From what I was told, he got a lot of teasing; especially from the Judge who would ask him if he was going to accept my challenge.

So go ahead and ask me if I think dueling should be legalized. I think most people know what my answer would be.

What was the old adage? "Beware the man that owns two dueling pistols; he very likely knows how to use them."

Magnificent!!

 

[Patrick Thomas]

I have never learned so much in one thread as I have from this one. Enfield58, you sir are the biggest enabler I’ve ever run across. Now I have to have dueling pistols and a Howdah!

 

[TFoley]

I have never learned so much in one thread as I have from this one. Enfield58, you sir are the biggest enabler I’ve ever run across. Now I have to have dueling pistols and a Howdah!

You'll be needing a pair of Howdah pistols to go in it then!!

 

[TFoley]

I shot three rounds and had just finished loading the 4th when my smart phone alerted me to a text message.

The lesson there is NOT to have your cell on your person when on the firing line. Here in rule-ridden UK we don't shoot and yak on the phone.

 

[Enfield58]

You'll be needing a pair of Howdah pistols to go in it then!!

Believe it or not, I contemplated the purchase of a 2nd Howdah but looking at a TVM rifle instead.

Besides, I have enough to do with two Charlie Moore pistols.

I have never learned so much in one thread as I have from this one. Enfield58, you sir are the biggest enabler I’ve ever run across. Now I have to have dueling pistols and a Howdah!

I'm here to help. What are friends for?

The lesson there is NOT to have your cell on your person when on the firing line. Here in rule-ridden UK we don't shoot and yak on the phone.

I'm dying to know what transpired to adopt that rule

 

[TFoley]

Believe it or not, I contemplated the purchase of a 2nd Howdah but looking at a TVM rifle instead.

Besides, I have enough to do with two Charlie Moore pistols.


I'm here to help. What are friends for?



I'm dying to know what transpired to adopt that rule

It's not necessarily a written rule, at least in our club, but commonsense instead. Having your cellphone ring and putting down a loaded gun to answer it seems to me to be stupidity of the highest order, not to mention unsafe 'on-the-range' practice in the extreme.

 

[Enfield58]

It's not necessarily a written rule, at least in our club, but commonsense instead. Having your cellphone ring and putting down a loaded gun to answer it seems to me to be stupidity of the highest order, not to mention unsafe 'on-the-range' practice in the extreme.

After learning the hard way, I have to agree with you.

 

[Enfield58]

I realize this is an old thread but will still post anyway. I took the two Charles Moore pistols out last Sunday and put 53 rounds through both of them. Most shooting prior to this was with my shooting wrist resting on sand bags.

I use that technique to sight in all handguns as the pistol needs to recoil to get an accurate idea of how to adjust the sights. If any part of the pistol is resting on the sand bag, that will affect how it recoils and throws the point of impact off. In order to get a true idea of how the sights should be adjusted, the pistol needs to recoil as if you were shooting it off hand.

Whenever I shot the pistols with my wrist on the sand bags, it seemed that the point of impact was really high. So I decided, that for Sunday's excursion, I would simply shoot with one hand, off-handed, not rested. It seemed like I shot better without the benefit of a rest.

I fired half the shots with the set trigger which took some getting used to. And I like a light trigger!

Below are the best targets. I used a six-o-clock hold below the orange spot. The distance was ten paces.

I should have stopped while I was ahead with the first target. One shot fired from each pistol The second photo was the best two targets of the day.

Oh, I almost forgot; ignition was much more reliable after I drilled out the touch hole liner with a #70(?) drill bit. I cannot remember if it was a #70 or not. I just remember looking at the recommendations online about drilling out the touch hole and followed them with most recommended drill bit.

As awkward as these pistols look, I felt that it was really natural to hold and aim them at the target. It is too bad that they don't make a companion rifle for these pistols.

 

[TFoley]

I'm not too sure about your claim that they look 'awkward'. You note that they felt natural, and so they should. They were designed for one purpose only - duelling - and that needs a near-instant snap shot of extreme accuracy. In their day, these pistols were the epitome of accuracy and fitness for purpose and are, AAMOF, ergonomically quite advanced. The direct line of sight along the barrel and up along the arm is something that top-class target handguns these days try and emulate as much as possible, and only Olympic-style air pistols and single-shot Free pistols can actually achieve this, due to the design of their mechanisms.

Top class shooters of this style of pistol regularly shoot in the high 90's at 25m - many have shot perfect scores, too, take a look at the Pedersoli advertisements to see how many Gold medals have been won with their pistols.

 

[Enfield58]

I'm not too sure about your claim that they look 'awkward'. You note that they felt natural, and so they should. They were designed for one purpose only - duelling - and that needs a near-instant snap shot of extreme accuracy. In their day, these pistols were the epitome of accuracy and fitness for purpose and are, AAMOF, ergonomically quite advanced. The direct line of sight along the barrel and up along the arm is something that top-class target handguns these days try and emulate as much as possible, and only Olympic-style air pistols and single-shot Free pistols can actually achieve this, due to the design of their mechanisms.

Top class shooters of this style of pistol regularly shoot in the high 90's at 25m - many have shot perfect scores, too, take a look at the Pedersoli advertisements to see how many Gold medals have been won with their pistols.

There are different types of firearms that may look awkward but feel good once they are held and aimed. That's just my opinion of these pistols.

I agree with everything else that you said and is why I purchased these pistols. I wish I could shoot in the high 90s at 25m!

 

[Rat]

I have found that the most accurate way to shoot my single shot pistol is to hold it like a rifle, pretend it has an imaginary butt-stock. Left hand cradling the fore-end, with a little bit of "back pressure". Tiny bit of light forward pressure with the right hand, or at least having it "well seated" in the right hand. All the while being gripped lightly of course.

I'm sure that would get me kicked out of the duel, but it is more accurate.

 

[smoothshooter]

I bit the debit-card and bought a Charles Moore Flintlock pistol. The big brown truck brought it yesterday.

It possesses all the qualities one would expect from Pedersoli except for two things.

It is not noticeable at first but I don't like that there appears to be too much of gap between the nose cap and the wood stock. In addition, the wood stock was beginning to show a slight split in the wood where the screw goes to retain the nose cap.

I can fix those imperfections later. For now, I dabbled a little glue in the split line.

Here is the photo of the gap between the nose cap and the stock.

View attachment 5605

With that said, here is the next photo showing another imperfection. The first prize goes to the person who can find it first. The first prize is ten atta-boys and a cyber pat on the back.

View attachment 5606

Even though the pistol has a couple of imperfections, I will keep it. The sale price was too good to pass up and Cherry's only had one more in stock. The second imperfection makes it a unique one of a kind (maybe).

The rest of the pistol is really nice. Even though they hadn't coined the term "human factors" in the 18th century, the pistol feels really nice in the hand and points really well.

I like it so much that I ordered another one from DGW. I'd like to put together a nice cased dueling set as they have always fascinated me. Let's see if the second pistol has the same imperfections.

I'm thinking of a load of 25 grains FFFG for a good target load. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Here's some more pistol porn.

View attachment 5607 View attachment 5608 View attachment 5609 View attachment 5610 View attachment 5611

How is the ignition on it?
Does it light up fast?

 

[Enfield58]

How is the ignition on it?
Does it light up fast?

I enlarged the flash hole and that helped it. I also discovered the trick of wiping off the frizzen and flint with rubbing alcohol and that worked as well.

It doesn't ignite as fast a percussion pistol but compared to a few other flint locks that I own, it is fast.

Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I can send you a ten second video of a shot being fired with one of the pistols. I tried to upload the video file and it would not work.

When I watch the video, the lock time seems really fast. As you know, however, shooting the pistol yourself is an entirely different experience. It's definitely slower than a caplock.

I have let a some people shoot it, who have never fired any black powder gun before. Naturally, they miss their target but I don't notice any great amount of flinching considering that they have never fired a flint lock.

The set trigger really helps. The unset trigger feels really heavy.

 

[sgtprovo]

I got mine from the big brown truck too, only mine is in percussion, but after seeing yours up close,
I'm gonna have to sell off a gold coin and get one in flintlock too, she's a real beauty !!!
Thanks for sharing your pics, Paul

 

[Enfield58]

I got mine from the big brown truck too, only mine is in percussion, but after seeing yours up close,
I'm gonna have to sell off a gold coin and get one in flintlock too, she's a real beauty !!!
Thanks for sharing your pics, Paul

I've read that the percussion versions are frighteningly accurate. If they had duels with them instead of the flintlocks; you know that someone was not going home that day.

I let a friend and his teenage son shoot them. They had never shot a flintlock before. To say that they had fun would be an understatement.

Post photos of your groups.

 

[sgtprovo]

Mine (2nd from the right) is still in the safe with the rest of my queens,
ill health has kept me from the gun range for some time now.

 

[Rat]

I think I see Plain's Pistols....talk about "frighteningly" accurate! I plan to give mine a pre-hunting season work out soon. Don't think the percussion versions of the Charlie Moore are more accurate, just more easy to shoot accurately.