You flinch, I flinch...

[George]

That's why I take careful aim and concentrate only on the front sight and the target before, during and after the trigger pull.

I do my best shooting when I "think" the shot into the target. There is just an instant of intense concentration as the shot breaks, and if I do what I want, I see the ball hit the target. That's a good thing, provides you with a lot of good info. It lets you know your follow through was good, and, if you are hunting, it lets you know if and where you hit the game. I have a clear picture of the ball striking the buck I killed with my .40 caliber, there was a puff of dust right where I was concentrating. The buck ran off, but I knew I had killed it.

I don't remember seeing the prime flash or the gun buck, couldn't say if there was any recoil. It's a sort of zen thing, time seems to stand still for a tick.

Spence

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I call BS on all of this (pan flash as a distraction) ... as I shoot right-handed flintlocks albeit being left-handed and I have NEVER seen the pan flash! Never as in never, ever ...

And if you too keep all your focus on the front sight - where it should be - and all the way THROUGH the shot to the follow-through - then you won't see it either.

To cure yourself of flinching, have someone else prime your flintlock and hand it to you safely ... maybe primed, maybe not ... maybe it will go off, maybe it won't. Do that a few times and it will cure your flinch.

 

[Artificer]

Eureka! I have found it!...to quote a man far more brilliant than me. The article that I spoke of is found in the October 2016 issue of Muzzle Blasts magazine in the Back To Basics section by The Bevel Brothers. That article is on pages 37 through 40.

On the top of page 38, Bevel Down says "So if you are target shooting, you will want to shoot a load that keeps the velocity either above or below the speed of sound all the way to the target."

Those Bevel Brothers are pretty sharp so I tend to believe what they say.

Bill,

Though I have never chronographed muzzle loaders, this may be or even probably is the reason that ALL muzzle loaders shoot their best accuracy at a lighter load for short range target shooting and then a heavier charge for hunting medium to large game and/or long distance shooting. It most likely uses the "sweet spots" of barrel harmonics at both subsonic and hypersonic speeds.

This can and does have practical usage both on the target range and in some hunting situations. If one is hunting small game like squirrels or rabbits, the low velocity "target" charge is more than enough to dispatch that game at the ranges involved. IOW, if it isn't deer season or season for large game, one can load the lighter loads for a days hunt on small game.

For medium to large game at longer distances, the heavier accuracy load is preferred. IOW, if one is hunting deer, then charge the gun with the heavier load and IF one doesn't see a deer or other large game and a rabbit or squirrel presents itself when the larger game hunt is over, one can still use the heavier charge for small game.

During the historic period, there also seems to be some documentation that they knew about this and used it at times. There is enough mention of "double charging" the gun for longer range, that they at least some times hunted or shot targets with light loads. There would no reason to double charge the gun if it already was loaded with the heavier hunting/long distance load.

Gus

 

[cadb6942]

I had to over come flintching it wasnt the recoil as i shoot centerfires often.. Was the anticapation of flash in my case.. I primed my pan and shot with no charge.. Did it enough till i didnt flinch seemed to work for me.. Shooting my marlin 336 open sights taught me to hold on target well.. But the flinchlock kicked my rear till i got it figured out.. Now i got the damn more muzzleloaders disease..

 

[Col. Batguano]

The US Army has been teaching people to exhale slightly all the way through the trigger break, rather than to hold your breath. When you are exhaling, it is harder for your muscles to tighten up and flinch. Also, in the off hand position, just as the trigger break is starting, to lean slightly forward in a gentle motion toward the target as the break is occurring. This is sort of like a gyroscopic stabilizer. When you are moving in a direction, it is harder to disrupt the momentum, which is aided or modified by gravity with a lateral force (your side to side wobble), and the east-west component has a slight tendency to tighten up.

This brings up the subject of action speed and barrel dwell time and technique. If you shoot a lot of position rimfire or centerfire, the total elapsed dwell time is going to be in the .010 range. If you shoot flinters, the total elapsed time might be .100 seconds. So lets take an average shooter, with a 7 ring to 7 ring offhand wobble. In faster locked guns they may have learned to time their trigger break to let the shot go just as the sights are crossing the 9 ring to enter the 10 ring. The result is a 10. If the shooter uses the same trigger break timing with a flinter, the longer dwell time won't exit the ball until the wobble is well past the 10, and may result in a shot well outside the 7 on the other side. (Remember, there is the momentum of the direction of the wobble going on here too.) So, a significant difference in trigger break timing is needed to shoot a flinter as well.

One other thing about wobble and position. Unlike being all viced in and slung up tightly in prone position, where your pulse as transmitted through the sling controls the direction of the wobble, in the unsupported standing position it is seldom consistent in one direction. Until the direction is established, you really don't know that it's going to cross the 10 ring. Some times it may move from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock and not cross the 10 ring, or be otherwise random. I personally feel best in making my trigger break when the wobble is moving upwards from 6 o'clock toward the 10 ring in timing my trigger break, but others may feel differently. So, each action type is different, and each gun is different. The trick is to get to know each gun (and your own abilities in position with it) in order to shoot it well consistently.