in the wooded glen or at the range, with an unloaded flintlock in hand, whence i have found a mark that sorely needs direct lead ball attention, the long gun is clasped and angled forward twixt my legs, my strapped powder horn is uncorked and the correct amount of 2f or 3f is poured into a precise measure that's been hanging off the forward possibles bag strap.
the horn is recorked and the charge is deposited down the tube. the measure drops free to dangle as the barrel gets a few thumps to settle in the powder at the chamber.
a ball is finger extracted from a small leather pouch that's within my possibles bag, along with a strip of dutch pre-lubed (feels dry to the touch) ball patch material.
the patch strip lays over the muzzle, and the ball is pressed in just below the muzzle's mouth - depending on the long gun, the patching thickness and the ball diameter, a short ball starter may be required and it resides within the possibles bag.
the excess patching is removed with a patch knife taken from a sheath on the forward possibles bag strap. knife is replaced to its holder, the ramrod is removed and reversed, and sends home the patch swaddled lead to kiss the black dust. the ramrod is flipped and sent back down the pipes (got to remember to do that!).
the frizzen is pushed open and the cock is set to half mast. the touch hole gets tickled with a cya hardened toothpick (stuck into the shaft end of a small feather for aesthetic pleasure), that had been hanging off the forward strap of the possibles bag.
depending on the long gun, the pan is primed from either a 3f powder horn or 4f from a small priming horn with an auto spring brass nozzle that also dangles off the possibles bag strap. the frizzen is closed, the cock is pulled to full, and the actual aiming/firing sequence takes place.
after the flash, noise and smoke abates, the barrel gets a cleaning wipe with a damp moose milk patch.
the possibles bag also contains a flint wallet, a cock screwdriver, a small file to keep the patch knife sharp, several different touch hole picks, a stiff pan brush, a flip tube of moose milk, pre cut dry cleaning patches, ball puller, a cotton cleaning cloth and a few sets of foam ear silencers. other goodies will be in an optional small fanny pack. hmm, what'd i forget?
ok - what's your setup and flintlock shooting process?
Topic: your setup and process for shooting a flintlock long gun ... (Read 4571 times)