Flintlock Vs. Caplock Which is More Accurate?

[[email protected]]

We are talking about 50 yd. sandbag rest shooting in a rifle. Which system
produces the better accuracy. Accuracy I mean is the group size from center
to center of the two widest shots in a 5 shot string. I will tell you my experence and then you can commit. Years ago I had a Thompson Center Hawken with a .50 barrel. It was a Flint. I had the cap breach plug and lock and I could change from cap to flint in a couple of min. At 50 yds the flint would shoot 3/4 inch groups. When changed to cap, the group opened up to
2-3 inches. I tried going up and down with the powder charge to no avail. After about a month I changed it back to a flint. Thirty years later I have a
.45 barrel. It is also a flint. It shoots 3/4 inch groups at 50 yds. I got the wild
idea to change it to a cap. I screwed out the touch hole liner and put in a drum. Then I put on a caplock. Again the groups went tp to 2 inches. Well I
thought I would outsmart the gun, so I drilled a .060 vent hole in my clean out screw so the gun would think it still was a flint. That is the size of my touch hole. Well no luck. Still would not shoot. So back to flint again. I guess
I just don't know how to make a cap shoot. The only cap gun that I have
that will shoot is my old Zoli .58 Zouvue. That thing will shoot with anything.
Don't matter patch, or ball dia, .570 or .575 or powder charge. Anything from
40 grs to 90 grs, it will shoot under a inch at 50 yds. So there you have it.
The flint system if far more accurate to me and that is what I will stay with
until I die. I don't think caps will ever catch on anyway. Fire away

 

[mykeal]

I have no idea why your caplocks failed to shoot as well as your flintlocks. I can think of no physical reason why one ignition system would be superior to another with regard to the ballistics of the projectile.

This question was asked on The Muzzleloading Forum and the American Long Rifles forum not too long ago. No conclusions were reached and opinions seemed evenly divided. More importantly, nobody was able to provide a clear explanation based on physics that would explain why one was better than the other.

 

[[email protected]]

Well the only thing that comes to mind is that the priming in the pan is more
consistant than the priming in the cap. I do use a measured amount of powder in the pan. We have measured the veolicy and there is no difference.
I thought sure by drilling the vent hole in the cleanout screw, I would have
it licked. I guess you just can't outsmart a Flint. It knows what it wants.

 

[Macmac]

That doesn't make a whit of sence to me. The prime should be below the vent by 1/128th or so just below the vent, so you don't waste powder and or waste time getting ignition.

All I can think of is that for what ever reasons the cap isn't working correctly for you on that gun, and somehow there is additional delay, but I can't even guess how that can be.

I shoot flinters by choice and the only guns that I have that use caps are 6 guns. Not that I don't have modern brass cat'ridge shootin' irons too. None of om flinters are convertable instantly, so I can't preform any testing. Very odd if you ask me.

 

[Mike OTDP]

You're probably not getting consistent ignition.

Theoretically, ignition should not matter. The barrel and load define accuracy. Percussion guns are usually considered easier to shoot simply due to having less ironmongery waving around shaking the gun.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Ignition is only relevant with respects to lock time. A flintlock can be slow if the lock isn't properly timed or the touch hole fouled (or something else). By the same token, I've also had delayed ignition with percussion guns.

The most important thing is the barrel. To shoot accurately consistently, the most important thing is consistency (aim, breathing, trigger control, powder charge, bullet diameter, bullet weight, ballistic coefficient of the bullet, patch (if relevant), and other factors (wind, temperature, humidity, lighting (because it affects how you see your sights)). I'll jump off the soap box now.

 

[Shultzhaus]

Flint ignition is straight through the touch hole, and may be hotter than the cap. The cap ignition must make a 90° turn. But as someone else said, only the powder charge, the barrel, and the projectile should be the determining factors.

 

[scrat]

No one has mentioned powder charge. You also have to adjust powder charge to get better results. Start low and work your way up until you get the best results. Many people have found that different powder results will also have a great effect on the accuracy of your shooting.

 

[kentucky bucky]

I know one thing......this could very easy turn into a 1911 vs Glock thread that can go one for ever with opinionated "facts" running wild.

 

[Mike OTDP]

Not really. You don't get into complicated arguments until you discuss matchlocks.

 

[[email protected]]

I think I know what I will do. Next time I go to the range I will take some 1/2
long fuses with me and just put a fuse in the touch hole and have the wife
light it and shoot 5 shots with fuses. That will rule out the powder in the pan.
This ought to be a interesing test.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

What are you using to lube the patches?
A liquid or a grease as in Mooses Milk or Bore butter?
Sounds like too much lube either way could wet the powder causin' a hangfire or delayed discharge from liquid or lube build up. Jus' a thought as I remember doing it, this is how i found out about it.

SG

 

[arcticap]

I believe that your test shows that some flint locks can outshoot some percussions locks and conversely, I'll bet that some percussion locks can outshoot some flint locks.
Maybe your were using your best flintlock load when you switched to the percussion lock, but that wasn't the best load for the percussion lock?
Making load adjustments to fine tune the accuracy using the percussion lock might solve some of the problem or maybe not.
But there are more direct ignition percussion locks that may provide better accuracy, including mule ear locks and underhammers. They're not all the same, and neither are percussion caps or nipples.
Maybe using a musket cap would improve accuracy, I don't know.
Without a doubt, some flinters can be very accurate.
But just take a look at some of the international competition cap rifles and their accuracy, or chunk guns and their consistency.
I guess that there's as many reasons for accuracy differences as there are shots that can be fired.

 

[BlackNet]

I think the correct answer here is depending on the lock mechanics and the person using it.

I.e. a well tuned flintlock will out perform an non-tuned percussion. From that a well tuned percussion will out perform a non-tuned flintlock.

Case in point, the lock on my kentucky flintlock requires about 1/3 that of my queen anne and yields better results by far. 1/3 the powder and more reliable, that's quite impressive to say the least.