the price of knowledge

[KDubs]

 thinking about using the 20ga flintliock i built last year to shoot in the upcoming postal match.
 started to look up some info on flint placement, lock tuning, loads etc and saw numerous recommendations for this book,
 
Flintlocks - A Practical Guide for their Use and Appreciation . eric bye.

started looking for it and holy cow, brace yourselves, average price if you can find it, 150$ USED!!   
 I see on most of the BP supply stores its originally 29.99 $  of course out of stock.

anyone have this book and wanna share your thougts. not sure my wife would apoprove but i could use some back up for my begging if its worth it. 

thanks kevin

[Bigsmoke]

IIRC, Eric Bye is/was some sort of head kahuna with the NMLRA, probably with Muzzleblasts.
You might give the NMLRA headquarters there in Friendship, IN a call and see if they can be any assistance to you.
Or, on the other hand, maybe convert that trade gun to percussion and solve all your problems.
John (Bigsmoke)

[Ohio Joe]

I think you're right John. I believe Eric Bye was the feller I visited with a couple times when going through Friendship, Indiana (stopped at the NMLRA - during their National Shoot when the family and I were headed to Ohio to visit family) - and he was in charge of Muzzle Blast Magazine. I remember him as a very likeable guy to visit with.

Anyway Kevin, there are plenty of Youtube Videos out there that cover this topic. I believe Mike Bellevue has a few, and I'm sure I've seen others. If you do a search on YouTube "Installing a Flint in a Flintlock" - I'm sure several will pop up. 

Here is a good one from Steve Sells;

[Darren Haverstick]

I see that the Kindle edition is available for $23.95 if you want an ebook.

Darren

[KDubs]

 Thanks all.
 I'm pretty comfortable with this rock lock , I'll be putting a white lightning liner in soon.  Had a few FIP but no bang.
 Anyway I just like to absorb as much of knowledge as I can.
 I enjoy Mike B's videos quite a bit.
 I'll stick to my recent stack of muzzleloader and muzzleblast back issues I purchaced from Rick Evans .
 And big smoke my friend , I have a caplock but they are to predictable, I like the anticipation of the clatch, poof , ??.
 As long as I'm not hunting that is..

Kevin

[Winter Hawk]

Send me an address and I'll mail you my copy (I do want it back, though).

OR, wait until the new, updated edition comes out later this year.  I don't think it will be $150, although the NMLRA puts a fairly hefty price on their books to help out with their expenses.  I expect it'll run close to $40, just off the top of my head.

~Kees~

[KDubs]

 Wow thanks kees, no need to send it to me but I do greatly appreciate the offer.
 I'll be looking for the updated one whenever it may come out.
 Thanks again kevin
 

[RobD]

That Steve Sells video is pretty much all anyone needs to START off with, and then let each gun's uniqueness tell you what IT wants, along with YOUR preferred method or style loading.

"Flint lock tuning" can be different things.  Initially it's about getting a proper sharp flint and positioning it well in the cock jaws with respect to where it addresses the hammer steel and where it winds up facing the pan.  There are two types of lock fints - common (thick and double edged) and fine (thin and single edged).  I vastly prefer fine flints and you can specifically ask for them at TOTW in either english or french versions.

Getting consistent and fast flint ignition is perhaps the prime bugaboo of most flintlock pilgrims, and even for some old timers, and there are a myriad of reasons why, with loading process neglects probably most common.  Humid weather can be a big issue in the world of no flint lock ignition, too.  Last Summer a humid day at the range got me fits for keeping the pan, frizzen face, and flint edge dry and clean until I switched from Swiss 3F to the Swiss 1-1/2F coarser powder that I use for BPCR cartridges, and that helped a heap.  Ignition was still purty fast, too.  Coarser kernals of powder won't sop up humidity as much as the much finer pan powder will.  I might eventually wind up with Swiss 1-1/2F as the only powder I'll need for both muzzy and BPCR guns.  Works for me if it works well!



   

[Winter Hawk]

From Lindsey Brown @ The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association:

Hi Kees,

Eric Bye is doing the proofing on the book as we speak. We are hoping that it will be here the end of next month!!!

So there you have it.

~Kees~