I'm officially a member of the flintlock smokepole club. :)

[wittzo]

My steel Blunderbuss from MVCT came in more than a week ago, my flints came in the mail today. Specifics: 14" steel barrel, .678" bore, my .68" lead balls won't fit. I plan on using a patched .60" ball, birdshot, and buckshot.

I've barely touched a flintlock before. Via Pete's advice I bought a few different styles of flints from Track of the Wolf and figured out how to make sparks, then I filled the depression of the pan with Goex Pinnacle 3F and pulled the trigger and it went whoosh! and filled my kitchen with smoke. It ignited instantaneously and I heard the whoosh go through the flashhole and smoke came out of the barrel, so I know it will shoot quick. I was so excited and it was so fun, I called my girlfriend to tell her.

Now I need to see if the Shockey's Gold 2F will work in the pan.

I have some Goex 2F and 3F BP, I was just seeing it it would be possible to use the substitutes so I can use them up faster to get to the good stuff.

Any advice you want to give me will be appreciated.

 

[WALKERs210]

By no means am I any where close to being an expert and barely knowledgeable to keep from shooting my toe off at times, but what I have found with my flinter is 4F BP will touch off much quicker and more dependable than Triple 7 or Pryodex PS. APP that looks like cat litter take longer to ignite than it take for my monthly paycheck to arrive. I let my 10yr old grandson shoot my flintlock pistol and he is hooked, when he fired the gun there was a smile that went from ear to ear and all he said was PAPA can I shoot it again.

 

[bellyup039]

You said "I filled my kitchen with smoke."

At first I giggled, then I thought to myself. Boy, I hope he was outside and the smoke drifted into his kitchen.

I am sure that's it.

The funniest thing I ever did was rebuild a transmission in the livingroom of my rental. Oil on carpet. funny.

Now. CONGRATS! I am sure if you use 4 F you will get faster ign.

I cant wait to get a blunder. The wife knows..... Hint hunny.. hint...

 

[moose owner]

Shockey's Gold 2F will probably not work as a priming powder in the pan. I have used Goex Pinnacle a fair amount and I believe the Goex Pinnacle is very close to Shockey's Gold. Pinnacle is much harder to ignite than good old black powder.

What I would do is put 10 grains of Goex FFg or FFFg down the barrel first and then use the Shockey's for the rest of the powder charge. The Goex will ignite much easier and will get the Shockey' Gold burning.

There is no reason you can not prime the pan with Goex FFFg. I have used Goex FFFG in the priming pan with good success. Some flinters believe that FFg and FFFg make better priming powders than FFFFg.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Al LaVodka]

Congrats and welcome to the club!
Al

 

[wittzo]

Yes, I flashed the pan in the kitchen. Didn't even set off the smoke detector.

I think I'm going to go ahead and crack open my KIK 3Fg for the pan and Goex FFg for the main charge.

Shockey's Gold is weird looking, like mini gray slag.

 

[Rock Island]

I was thinking on getting that one myself from MVTC, I was a little iffy about the Indian muskets before I bought a Bess long land musket used and had so much fun with it I had to buy three more from Pete. He is a good man and backs up what he sells. I would not feel confident buying Indian guns from other places as quality can vary widely with these, but I will buy them from Pete. Use FFFFG in the pan only, FFG, or FG for the main charge, use as little prime as possible, just enough to fill the pan to the level of the touch hole, to much prime can cause ignition delay as it has to burn down to the level of the hole before it can ignite the main charge. Pete hardens the frizzens on his guns before sending them out, there should be no trouble getting good spark with a properly mounted and knapped Tom Fuller English gun flint from track of the Wolf. Start casting balls as shooting these can be addictive as hell.

 

[4v50 Gary]

2F should work. Soldiers didn't have priming horns until about 1797 when they were issued to the Germans who served as riflemen in the British army. Up to then, everyone primed from their cartridges or from their horn.

 

[wittzo]

There are a lot of variables even under good weather conditions. I didn't think about condensation when I took a 75 degree gun outside into a 100 degree, 50% humidity environment. It was sweating all over. I used 3F Goex Pinnacle as the ignition charge, just filling up the depression on the pan. I used 50 grains of Shockey's Gold as the main charge with wadded TP over the powder and fired it as a blank to see if it ignited. It was slow, probably from the sweating and the Pinnacle. I then loaded it with the same charge of powder, 50 grains of #7 birdshot, and wadded up TP as the overpowder wad and overshot wad. It went off again, but it was slow. I showed my kids the sparks when they got home from school and it greatly amused them when I flashed the pan in my bedroom. No worries, I have a ceiling fan.

I'm going to use Goex 2F and 3F as the ignition charges today and 60 grains of Goex 2F as the main charge. I'm going to let the gun acclimate to the heat and humidity after I load the main charge. I'm going to use a greased felt wad over the powder like I do with my rifles. When it cools down, I'll try it on the range with a patched roundball. The flint is looking pretty ragged, but it's a soft French amber and I didn't have it set up right the first few times I made sparks, I'll try a Tom Fuller next.

 

[wittzo]

Oh yeah!

I put the blunderbus out on the porch for an hour so it would acclimate and the sweat would evaporate.
I used the ragged French amber flint I've been using all this time and loaded it with 60 grains of Goex FFg Blackpowder and primed it with KIK 3F. I made some packets out of a page of an old phone book sort of like how I make paper cartridges for my rifles. I wrapped it around a half inch dowel rod and glued the edge with a glue stick and slid it to the concave end and folded it like a roll of coins. Poured 60 grains of shot in it and folded and glued the end to make a shot packet. I also used my 3/4" greased felt wads over the powder and tamped it home. The paper packet collapsed and acted as an over shot wad. I think I'm going to bump it up to 80 grains of shot like I load my Howdah, but I only use 45 grains of powder in it..More shot gives a tighter pattern with high density, more powder and the pattern opens up with less density. The flare at the end of the barrel just acts like a funnel for loading. It also acts like a muzzle brake, like a post-Renaissance Noveske Iron Pig.

It's also neat that the flare at the end of the barrel is spotless, the soot ends right where the barrel starts to bloom out.

 

[Chasing Crow]

Most of the fun of using a flinter is usin real black powder. Just the smell of the stuff is "primitive". Get some 3f or 4f to prime and go to it. Check your prime and flint often and take care of her like the early ignition weapon she is and you will never look back. I bought a flinter around 15 years ago and have hunted flint only, (other than my new found love for the wood long bow) ever since. Keep your powder dry and aim small.

 

[Gator Weiss]

Could he carefully crush or carefully grind some of his powder down a pinch at a time for safety sake to use in his flash pan? Use an old bowl and a piece of wood dowel or something? Maybe a bit of antler? Probably not the best thing to do, but I am wondering about it. Any opinions?