Getting use to delay?

[vthompson]

Hey guy's, I wondered if any of you had any helpful hints for me on shooting my flintlock. I always used to shoot a percussion but the flintlock bug bit me and my 2 boy's got me a flintlock as a Christmas and birthday present combination since they are so close together.
 I love shooting the flintlock but I am having trouble getting used to the delay and it is affecting my accuracy. Do you guy's know of anything that I can do to correct my problem? Your help and advise will be greatly appreciated.

[Captchee]

there shouldnt be any real noticeable delay . if your set up correctly and your lock  tuned right  it should be very fast .
what rifle are you shooting ?

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Have to agree with Capt. It sounds like you need to tune your lock? What gun do you shoo? You also may be a victim of "flintlock flinch". You may be anticipeying the discharge , and "jumping the gun". If you get the lock working consistantly , it will mgo a long way to help cure it. And the habit of "follow through" will all work towards your accy.

[pathfinder]

What Ive done and what I advise new shooters ofn flinters is to dry fire A LOT. Whilw watching TV or just sitting around,and an obviouse word of warning,MAKE DAMN SURE THE GUN IS UNLOADED!!!!!!!,pick a spot on the wall or out the window,aim at that spot and dry fire the gun. You'll be amazed at how quickly you get rid of the flinch and then you can concentrate on follow through,keeping the gun on target after the shot.

It's not true that practice makes perfect, It's PERFECT practice makes perfect!

[Riley/MN]

Also, how much prime are you putting in the pan? Too much can cause it to act like a fuse.....

[Stormrider51]

The only thing I can add is to concentrate on the sight picture.  The more you concentrate on holding the sight picture the less likely you are to flinch or otherwise move the sights.  It takes practice but once mastered it becomes second nature.  I don't know how many times I've shot a deer or other game animal and never felt the recoil because I was so fixed on the sights and putting the ball exactly where I wanted it.  You can use Pathfinder's advice of dry-firing as a cheap way to work on your concentration.  Focus on the sights and squeeze the trigger until the cock falls.  Continue holding the sight picture for a slow count of three before letting down.  I'm a lefty but I never saw a left handed lock until I was in my 30's.  I used the "concentrate on the sights" technique to overcome having the flash going off in front of my face.

John

[Hank in WV]

If you concentrate on the sight picture and follow through properly, you shouldn't even see the flash.

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah some folks call this follow through where you concentrate on returning the sight back on target during recoil..., seems silly but does tend to tighten groups.  It might be due to some folks having a tendency to want to look at the cock as it falls toward the frizzen, so your eye diverts from the sights for a second, and the gun drifts off the point of aim.  Dry firing can be used to teach you to ignor the movement of the cock.  IF there is a noticeable delay in ignition, then you do have some lock problems too.  

LD

[Hoyt]

I agree with Captchee, if  I have a any delay I change flints and take my lock apart and clean real good. When tuned, clean and with good sharp flint I really don't have time to flinch.

[Captchee]

the thing is though we are assuming  that everything is as it should be with the rifle .
We don’t know that .
So  while it could be just a mater of  getting over the learning curve . It could just as likely be a combination of  poor quality .
 Its real hard to give advise when  we don’t know the specifics

[PJC]

Priming your pan. Less is more or better.
Too much does two things.
The long fuse effect that somebody else has already mentioned
and a brighter longer flash that will cause you to flinch more as it is so close to your eye.
May sure you pick your flash hole to make it clear and ready to accept the ignition from your pan.

PJC

[Sir Michael]

Three things:

First, remove your lock, completely disassemble it, and look for any signs of wear.  The lightly polish all of the internal surfaces that move against other surfaces, lock face (inside), main spring against the lock face, tumbler both sides, and bridle inside just to be on the safe side.  When reassembling make sure everything moves freely and does not bind anywhere.  

Second, measure your touch hole.  If it less than .07" in dia. or the size of a #50 drill bit consider drilling it out to that size.

Third, put it on the bench and shoot at a target 50 yds away focusing solely on the sight picture.  Don't move until you can see the target again after shooting.  About 30 to 40 rounds should be enough for you to learn to completely forget/ignore the flash.  Remember, the key is to keep the sight picture from before pulling the trigger until you can see the target again.  This will also ingrain in your mind the sight picture to hit the target.  

All the best.  It shouldn't be long before the only time you hear the flash-bang delay is when you've loaded damp powder.  And the only time you'll see the flash is when you have a flash in the pan.  Again that damp powder thing.            hopefully latter.  

Keep makin' them sparks.      

[Captchee]

again fellas  we need to know what   gun this is .
  The issues one may have with  a gun that carries an L&R , Davis or  Chambers lock is often completely different then one which carries a CVA , Traditions or Pedersoli lock .
 As I said before . If the gun is of quality then  it should be quick in the ignition . But if its of lower quality  then there are things that need to be addressed to speed that ignition up .
Simply put , we need more information in order to  give this person advise on what may be the problem

[Stormrider51]

Yes, there's a huge difference between "pfft boom" and "pfft.........boom" or, even worse, just "pfft" with no "boom".  The quality of the lock, relationship of the pan to touch hole, amount of powder in the pan, vent picking, sharpness of the flint, hardness of the frizzen, and all the rest of the little things that go into being a flintlock shooter come into play.  We all learned what makes our particular flinter shoot reliably or we sold the demon contraption and went back to something easier.  I remember times when I wanted to go wrap the barrel of my first flinter around a tree.  Like the time I set the rear trigger, settled the sights just behind the shoulder of a nice deer, tripped the front trigger, and got a "KERLUNK" instead of a "BOOM".  Events like that lead to a greater understanding of why firearms technology finally produced the metallic cartridge.  And yet those who master the flintlock often don't want to shoot anything else.  I'm one of them.

It will really help if Vthompson will tell us the details of the flinter he has.  There's a ton of help available.

John

[FThomas]

Just shoot!  Not long ago I started shooting a flint lock.  I have had my share of problems to include a couple of dry balls and am now working seriously on not dropping the barrel slightly after firing.  It is frustrating to have a better group at 5 o'clock 6 inches from the bull!

I am shooting a L&R lock and have no delay to speak of.  I went to the range today and was thinking about how fast ignition is.  I am only using about 3 to 4 grains of 4 fg to prime with and really don't have a delay.  Only fired one today that didn't go bang.  It didn't go flash either.  LOL - gotta prime that pan!

I also did a bunch of bench shooting today and my groups are still in 2 inches at 50 meters.  Off hand I've got some work to do!  I know the gun is capable of far more than I can deliver right now.  So, don't give up!

If you are getting a whoosh bang then something isn't right.  That is what I think of when you say "delay".