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Hello From Illinois

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Hello all,

Im from central Illinois and grew up shooting muzzleloaders. I built a Lyman Great Plains rifle 15 years ago, then went to college and life got in the way. Wanting to get back into it. In the next year Im hoping to build a Pedersoli Pennsylvania rifle. Ive always been a percussion guy but Im debating on whether to get a flintlock or not. Ive never shot one and have limited knowledge of them, but I love learning new things. Anybody have any advice or tips?

Welcome from northeast Illinois! Just a thought, you really might want to think about going with a kibler kit, you’d be much more likely to end up with a very high quality rifle as long as you follow the easy instructions. if you go with a pedersoli your chances of getting a decent lock are very slim. With my pedersoli, there is much more of a flash/fire delay, and Im lucky to shoot 5-10 times without having a failure to fire, whether it be flash in the pan or a failure to ignite priming charge. Pedersoli may make some decent percussion guns but with flintlocks, it is much more important to have a high quality lock and the production methods they use are not good for turning out High Quality Locks.

With my kibler guns I can easily shoot 50-100 times with one flint and the gun shoots every time, and there is no perceivable delay, Jim’s locks are wicked fast and extremely dependable. His kits are very easy to put together and look beautiful when finished nicely.

If you are just getting into flintlocks, and you get a pedersoli, it might needlessly scare you away from flintlocks for good. Don’t believe the old wives tale that flintlocks are not dependable, a flintlock can be just as dependable as any percussion gun, as long as it is made correctly, and kibler does just that.
 
Depending exactly where in central Illinois you can shoot with like-minded people from Leroy rifle and pistol club west of Wapella, IL they have a monthly blackpowder shoot, or blackpowder only at Prairieland Frontiersmen just south of Sullivan, IL. They have monthly shoots and other events.

Best place for history is a longer drive Fort de Chartres in southern IL home of the oldest building in Illinois and they have a monthly shoot there as well.

Probably others I am unaware of.

I’m from just west of Springfield. So it would be about the same distance to Sullivan or Leroy. We have always been members of a club down around Girard, Il, but sadly there isnt much left of it. So I would definitely be interested in scouting out some other clubs. And I actually have been to the rendezvous at Fort de Chartres, but its been probably 20 years. I may just make the trip down in a couple of weeks
 
Welcome from northeast Illinois! Just a thought, you really might want to think about going with a kibler kit, you’d be much more likely to end up with a very high quality rifle as long as you follow the easy instructions. if you go with a pedersoli your chances of getting a decent lock are very slim. With my pedersoli, there is much more of a flash/fire delay, and Im lucky to shoot 5-10 times without having a failure to fire, whether it be flash in the pan or a failure to ignite priming charge. Pedersoli may make some decent percussion guns but with flintlocks, it is much more important to have a high quality lock and the production methods they use are not good for turning out High Quality Locks.

With my kibler guns I can easily shoot 50-100 times with one flint and the gun shoots every time, and there is no perceivable delay, Jim’s locks are wicked fast and extremely dependable. His kits are very easy to put together and look beautiful when finished nicely.

If you are just getting into flintlocks, and you get a pedersoli, it might needlessly scare you away from flintlocks for good. Don’t believe the old wives tale that flintlocks are not dependable, a flintlock can be just as dependable as any percussion gun, as long as it is made correctly, and kibler does just that.

Thank you for the advice. I think I probably will go with a higher quality kit, whether it be a Kibler, or a Chambers. I guess I need to start amassing some tools, because this looks like a hobby I never knew I needed to get into, but I definitely need in my life
 
I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard of guys going from percussion to flint, and never bothering with the percussion guns again.

Flintlocks are SPECIAL and a heap of fun. Many say they have a soul and fun factor no percussion gun willl ever have.

Percussion caps are virtually impossible to find due to massive shortages right now. You won’t have that problem with the flintlock, and there are no wonky shipping restrictions on a piece of rock.

Me, I like them both!
 

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