Traditional Firearms > Flintlock Long Guns
update on my kibler experience
KDubs:
Sometime back I sighted in the the ol' gal ( ginger) my .54 woodsrunner. using a .530 ball and .018 ticking spit patch, I tried a few different lubes also but i really think spit is the way to go at least for me. anyway shooting from a bench I had her shooting minute of deer out to 50 yds and i was happy.
Using the original french amber flint that came in the lock i got off approx 45 shots without touching that flint. no tightening the jaws, knapping, nothing.
I replaced that flint with another similar french flint 3/4" and i shot the new flint maybe 4-5 shots and after a cleaning put her up .
Fast forward to today, our monthly club shoot, surely ginger would rule the day, oh how i was wrong.
Now don't ask me why but when I packed my stuff for the shoot i packed .535 balls and for whatever reason i grabbed a bag of precut .018 ticking patches soaked in bear grease. dumb dumb dumb. I had to beat on the short starter to get that combo to seat in the muzzle. It rammed OK with no swabbing in between until the last shot #20. that ball went halfway down the tube and locked up. we ( about 3 of us) rammed on the ramrod and got it down, all was well. it went bang.
MY flint troubles were another issue, 3 flints to shoot 20 targets, all french amber 3/4". one broke in the lock, the flint snapped midline across the flint, jammed the frizzen about 1/2" open and dinged up my shiny pan. I fixed that and the next flint, 1st shot took a chunk out of the center of the leading edge, too big to knap back so onto flint #3 .
That lasted the last few shots ,chipped a corner and was loose in the jaws after each shot. ugh grand total 5 outta 20. should have followed the 6 P's , proper planning prevents piss poor performance.
are 3/4" the best size for this lock ?? seems to be too far from the frizzen to me, really hammers these french flints. I can get my finger between the flint edge and the frizzen at half cock.
Oh and lets not forget those bear grease patches. I used a wool haversack style bag today, also another change from my usual small leather pouch. couldn't find anything, and those patches found their way out of the plastic bag and onto and into everything in the bag including my priming horn, short starter, etc. what a mess. everything was slicker than cat S*&$. The little plunger on my priming horn clogged up so I finished priming from the horn. (from now on I might add)
Just a fun, miserable, had a great time anyways kinda day. a lot of hard lessons learned today.
I realize this is all my fault, all of these changes for no reason etc etc.
I don't feel I can blame the gun, I need to look at these flints closer and shoot more to get settled in on my loads and such.
I let the pressure of competition and all the changes I made throw me off my game as far a routine goes.
I am going to my room now to think about what I have done and in the future try to make better decisions !
thanks for sharing in my misery.
Kevin
rollingb:
Thanks for the report Kevin. :bl th up
Those amber flints may have had some fractures that were invisible to the naked eye, which caused them to break as you described.
However, the gap between the edge of your flints and the frizzen seems excessive.
Have you tried flipping them over (bevel down) to see if you get less gap?
What did the flint that came with the rifle measure?
I much prefer spit for shooting matches myself, and only use a bear oil / bee's wax mix lube when hunting where few shots will be taken. Spit cuts heavy bore fowling LOTS better/easier than anything else I've tried as a lube. :bl th up
I hope your next date with Ginger goes a lot smoother. :laffing
KDubs:
Well after yesterday in ready for a divorce from ginger.
Not sure a on the flint measurement that broke but it was a standard 3/4" French amber. I bought a dozen from a well known dealer.
I did the flint flip, not much change, I have to pinch the flint in the lips of the cock to get it close to the frizzen where it should be.
I'll be back on the nipple for a while as I try too figure this out.
Kevin
Ohio Joe:
Maybe try the Black English Flints / Track of the Wolf should have some... They've always had a good reputation. :shake
Winter Hawk:
This all brings up a question I have had for a l-o-n-g time: what is that a measurement of? From the Track of the Wolf catalog, it appears that it refers to the width of the flint, not how long it is. However, other references seem to say it refers to the length. So I can order 5/8" x 5/8" long or 3/8" x 3/4" long English flints, while the French only have 5/8" x 3/4" for the CVA. All are listed as 5/8". Dixie only has the nebulous 5/8", 3/4", 7/8" etc. which seems to be the width. I've been confused on this since I got my first flintlock 30+ years ago, and am still that way! Because of this, I buy from Track only since I can at least get flints of a length I can use. ;banghead;
~Kees~
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