Went to the range on Friday and shot my new flintlock for the first time. A friend that shoots them a lot took me to show me the ropes.
It's a .54 caliber that my wife got me for Christmas.
I began by putting a little priming charge in the pan and "shooting" that off to get the hang of things.
So I loaded up 80 grains of fff with a .530 cast round ball and a spit patch. I started at 25 yards with a 6 O'clock hold and it shot right to my point of aim. Loaded up another and it shot to the same place. Fired once more with a center mass hold and just barely cut the X ring.:smiley_bril:
I decide that's enough at 25 and move to 50 yards. I start by swabbing the bore with a couple of spit patches, the bore seems smooth as silk and it cleans very easily. I load up the same again and my first shot at 50 is a misfire. The spark didn't ignite the priming charge. I notice the charge isn't spread out evenly across the pan so I spread it out and try it again. This time it fires but I knew I pulled it to the left. The next 3 shots made a big hole in the 10 and X rings. Then the rifle misfired again, tried it several times and finally changed flints. So after all that on my 5th shot at 50 I get a hang fire and the shot is real low. Can't end on that so fire one more time and get the last in the black at 6 O'clock.
I have a bunch to learn about getting the flint adjusted in the right place and I need to be careful how the priming charge is in the pan. I was tickled though with my first time out with the rifle.:smiley_clap:
Now I need to try it at 100 yards, maybe tomorrow.
It's a .54 caliber that my wife got me for Christmas.
I began by putting a little priming charge in the pan and "shooting" that off to get the hang of things.
So I loaded up 80 grains of fff with a .530 cast round ball and a spit patch. I started at 25 yards with a 6 O'clock hold and it shot right to my point of aim. Loaded up another and it shot to the same place. Fired once more with a center mass hold and just barely cut the X ring.:smiley_bril:
I decide that's enough at 25 and move to 50 yards. I start by swabbing the bore with a couple of spit patches, the bore seems smooth as silk and it cleans very easily. I load up the same again and my first shot at 50 is a misfire. The spark didn't ignite the priming charge. I notice the charge isn't spread out evenly across the pan so I spread it out and try it again. This time it fires but I knew I pulled it to the left. The next 3 shots made a big hole in the 10 and X rings. Then the rifle misfired again, tried it several times and finally changed flints. So after all that on my 5th shot at 50 I get a hang fire and the shot is real low. Can't end on that so fire one more time and get the last in the black at 6 O'clock.
I have a bunch to learn about getting the flint adjusted in the right place and I need to be careful how the priming charge is in the pan. I was tickled though with my first time out with the rifle.:smiley_clap:
Now I need to try it at 100 yards, maybe tomorrow.
