Flint lock

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Always wear big safety glasses. I fired a flint lock once, and it was similar to having a spoon full of red hot sand tossed in the eye. Powder in the pan goes right in the face.

That is when I decided the percussion system was a desirable up grade.
 
Back in the VCR days, a friend had a good video camera and a flintlock. We set it up aimed at the lock and ran at maximum speed, then slow playback.
One frame had a good image of bright fire looking through the flash hole through the cloud of fire and smoke from the pan.
 
4v50 Gary said:
If I was a starter, I'd just get a Lyman Great Plains flintlock. It's not super expensive like a custom built rifle and it's good to learn on.

If you really are in Kentucky, you might want to take the NMLRA Kibler Assembly Class at WKU, Bowling Green, KY. You show up with the kit and tools and the teacher shows the class how to build it. Kit will cost $1k though and the class is about $900. That's why I suggest the Great Plains. It's affordable and you don't want to plunge a lot of money into something you may lose interest in after a few shots.
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1+ to max on GPR Flinter if your heart is set on a rock-lock You could not build one for price of new - if you can find one. Still think a cap lock GPR is best for newbies. BP is a love - hate relationship. Some dote on the mess, smell and difficulties of MLs others try it once, come home smelling like rotten eggs and wife/girlfriend runs away!!!
 
I'm partially with Gary. If I were starting right now, I'd probably pick a Lyman. It's a factory built rifle, so the fit and finish will not approach a custom piece. It IS however, a fine rifle. It's great for hunting and target shooting. I actually competed (poorly} at Friendship in June with mine. My poor scores were 100 % shooter related. The rifle ran great.
What I DID do, however, was start with the cheapest new rifle I could find. A CVA Bobcat .50 in caplock. And you know what? For under 100 bucks, it, too, was a fine rifle. My first buck fell to it at 90 yards, and I do recommend them.
 
Most definitely need good safety glasses or shooting glasses.
image2-1.JPG
Shooting at my annual CABIN FEVER rifle frolic in March.
My club is predominantly flintlock shooters. I am confident that the flint guns are every bit as reliable as the percussion guns. Glasses need to be worn with percussion also, of course.

Percussion is a step into history. Flintlock is a leap, with both feet.
 
Armored farmer said:
My club is predominantly flintlock shooters.
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Since I'm pretty new to black powder I attended a muzzleloader shoot hosted by my club as an observer and was surprised to see that out of 30 or so men and women entered every single one was shooting a flintlock.

I've noticed that at least in my price range, many of the guns and kits that are available in percussion are sold out in the flintlock versions.

Have flintlocks always been more in demand or is this tied to the shortage of caps?
 
vintovka said:
Some rambling thoughts:

Seems Most experienced Flint enthusiasts lean toward custom guns with high quality locks like Chambers or L&R and barrels by GRRW, Colerain and others. Nice custom rifles run from 1500 up and are going higher daily. Factory rifles start at 500 and go from there. Right now the Lyman Great Plains (GPR) Flinter in .50 or .54 are hot. Many consider them the best for $ and have a good rep for , style, performance and ultimately price out at 700 new. Early GPRS and the newest signature GPR by pedersoli seem in big demand.

Both CVA and TC stopped making ML Hawkens long ago ect and prices are up there, Beware that the TC "lifetime warranty" has passed and many locks are starting to fail. Small parts are very pricey plus many feel the style was never right. CVA and Traditions are ok for average rifles.

There's a host of ML flinters made during the previous BP "boom" . Italian made are considered higher quality than Spanish. I avoid Spanish stuff since an unfortunate incident with some early stuff made there

We seem to be in a BP revival right now due primarily to gun control issues so study the field and choose wisely!
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I've got a 20 yr old T/C flinter and it's working fine, never had a problem with it and parts are often sold on Ebay...
 
vintovka said:
1+ to max on GPR Flinter if your heart is set on a rock-lock You could not build one for price of new - if you can find one. Still think a cap lock GPR is best for newbies. BP is a love - hate relationship. Some dote on the mess, smell and difficulties of MLs others try it once, come home smelling like rotten eggs and wife/girlfriend runs away!!!
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I'll take the sulphur "rotten egg" smell of holy black over Pyrodex "dirty socks" smell anyway.

Any acquisition OP?
 
I just got an old Cabela's kit complete enough for function testing. The kit is a really old one by Investarms and it's a dead ringer for a Lyman GPR. Mine is a flint and I put a little over a dozen shots through it today. Other than the bead front post and buckhorn rear, it's a solid rifle and initial groups show lots of potential. I had one misfire when I forgot to wipe the pan, but no misfires when I followed standard flint procedure.
 
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