The Problem with Flintlocks

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Cosmoline

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I started shooting flintlocks last year with a 12 ga trade gun. The problem I've been having since then is everything else is boring. Even caplocks seem mundane. The flintlock is primal alchemy. A rock in a vise is swung forward on a "V" spring to clip a piece of hardened steel, sending off sparks that ignite an ancient blend of minerals. This explodes and then ignites a main charge that sends a lead ball flying. It's like I'm really shooting for the first time. Not to mention getting covered with soot and the smell of sulfur. I find I have less and less interest in the smokeless guns.

So fair warning if you start down this old trail!
 
Yep, they are addicting!

The Uberti 1860 I recently bought is the most modern style of gun I own. The rest are all flintlocks.
 
would be slightly ironic........that this country was founded on the revolts of the masses..using rocklocks........and that in the end.........rocklocks may be all we have left..........considering that with a rocklock........you can pretty much be independant of supplies.......can make your own powder.......cast your own ball.......hard to regulate.....
 
Not to mention getting covered with soot and the smell of sulfur
Click to expand...
After a day shooting and you climb back in the truck to go home. And you smell like rotten eggs and beer farts. It makes you kinda wonder about living the way they did back then.
My wife of 22 years just got to experience this just last weekend. We got in the truck after a nice morning of making smoke, and about 5 minutes later or so she looked at me with her nose all wrinkled like she just smelled rotten eggs and beer farts. And asked me what was that smell. And when I explained it to her she said oh really thats nice and then sat there and smiled all the way home. She is really getting into shooting to the point that I am worried about my collection.LOL 22 years and just got her to go shooting.
 
I am looking at getting my first FlintLock hopfully this year and I can not wait. Fired one for the first time 2 years ago and then again last week and am in total lust. Want to build an 1792 contract rifle with an 1803 lock or an 1803 Harpers Ferry. But am thinking about starting with a first build of a Kentucky Long rifle with a percusion lock, just to cut my teeth. Any advice on an inexpensive Flint kit would be greatly apperciated.
 
Reb Cav -

Welcome to the forum.

A bit of advice: you'll get a lot more response if you start your own message thread than tacking on the back end of somebody else's. Many members won't reopen a thread they've already read and won't see your question.

It would be easier to answer your question if we knew what it is you mean by 'inexpensive'.
 
Track of the wolf kits are easy to order and reasonably priced. I got mine from Sitting Fox, which is also very inexpensive with good customer service. There are higher and higher quality kits you can order from other outfits, but the cost also goes up.

As far as building, the easiest ones are probably the trade guns. The leaner stocked rifles can present difficulties because you're working with thinner pieces of wood and can split things. I did quite a bit of damage to my first build for that reason. The military rifles use thicker stocks are are also probably a good choice.

If anything, a flintlock is *easier* to assemble than the caplock. With the caplock you have to be exactly on the mark lining up barrel and lock. With a flinter you get the lock pan squared up just past the plug, finalize everything, THEN drill your hole.

There's also the factory kits from the big manufacturers. These are more a question of assembly than actually building. For a true build you'll need to be able to file your own dovetails, solder parts together, chisel wood, drill & tap metal, etc. That makes it a whole lot more fun, but also more of a challenge.
 
I swapped for a brown bess replica,and had more enjoyment with that musket than about any other.Could'nt hit squat with it but sure enjoyed playing with it.Don't ever clean one in a 2 gallon bucket on a new beige carpet.You can imagine the results,the wife still gets pissed when she thinks about it.
 
SixShooter.......I made that comment right after watching "Fienstien" make the comment on the news that gun control is going to happen....she is just waiting for the time or event to give her the backing of her stand. the irony I see......our founding fathers.....knew what gun control meant.....and I believe the 2nd amendement was for the publics protection against its own runaway goverment. How many of our founding fathers would beleive that our own goverment is trying so hard to defeat the 2nd amendment........
 
ROA: Feinstein AIN'T our Government.............WE are our Government.........WE just need to get rid of those aberrant elements that infect OUR Government!
 
Midsouth Shooter's Supply has the Lyman GPR kit for $350 - $400 depending on whether you want flint or caplock.

IMO, the GPR is one of the best production guns available.
 
MyKeal,

Thank you for the advice and I will get a more discript post on the site shortly. I should have known better since this is not the first community I have belonged to. Just got very excited about getting into Muzzleloader shooting.

As for inexpensive that number has changed since I first posted due to some things breaking here on the home front so I guess my dreams of getting a muzzleloader before the end of the summer might have to wait until the end of the year.

Thank you for the help already and I will continue to read what you guys have to say on the sport and construction of these firearms.
 
dog........the sheeple have spoken.....hince the mess we are in now........I got up at the crack of dawn to vote.......sure didnt vote for what we got
 
Man I'm jelouse, you got to play with a flinter & I'm still not able to get my hands on a kit one yet, moma's put me on restriction since I bought my custom T/D Recurve Bow.

I'll get one soon though for a winters project, till then I'll just drool over wanting to smell the sulfer that you are a burnin..
 
Reb Cav, one option I'm doing myself right now is buying one component at a time. The barrel and stock are the big dollar items. If you know ahead of time what you want you can shop around. If you go with a Southern Mountain poor boy, you can get a good stock for about $150 and a Colerain barrel for about the same. The parts on those are minimal and made of iron, so they don't cost much. The big cost for me was outfitting my little shop with the proper tools.

Another option is gunbroker sales of Middlesex Indian-made flintlocks. These aren't "historically correct," but they do work.
 
+1 on the Middlesex Village guns. The historically correct crowd tends to dislike them and pick them apart, but they are reliable guns. And with a little work they can be made more HC. Between my dad and I we have 4 of their guns.
 
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