Agreed, but those things attract attention, both in sourcing the boom stuff and the actual noise at the moment of well... you know. I’m wondering about things that do the business quietly.
Just what I was thinking! A long bow may be in my future for next deer season. I’d love to hear some suggestions and tips and tricks and always
Crossbow. Has power, compact, easy to shoot. Primitive and modern are same design. Compound vs recurve, you can buy either. All arm one of two ways, crank or yank.
Another thought along with all this flintlock talk..... what about flint tools and napping? It interests me and we have been lucky enough between our property in PA and at home to find old arrowheads.
I think flint knapping is a whole nuther black art unto itself. Interesting to watch but I know I don’t have what it takes
Crossbow, compound, or stick bow? Scoped center fire rifle, single shot with open sights, modern muzzle loader, flint lock? It’s all about the level of challenge that you want to enjoy
My friends Dad is highly regarded in the world of flint knapping. Roy Miller...worth a Google search.
Hard to get good flints now days- even 20 years ago when I was active in the sport. Knapping -yep, black art. A lot of times it is moisture or fouling that cause the problem of poor or non spark- pays to keep a bit of denatured alcohol handy. Once you learn to ignor that flash in the pan it's a lot of fun. That is 4f powder in the pan. Basicly the same as the old camera flash stuff. Crossbow there are some new designs that use co2 to cock the bow now, $$$$$$ no cranking, string pulling, just push button and de-cocking just as easy. no need to fire a bolt. not so primitive any more- High Tech.
On the question of priming the pan.... What do you recommend as far as amount (fill it, half full) and trying to favor the side where the powder lays ( close to the vent or away or centered)? I’ve tried it a bunch of ways and seems to be just a small amount of powder will do it spread across the pan.
I was taught 1/3 of pan, close the frizzen, then tip the gun on its side lock down so priming charge falls away from the touch hole
Agreed. No more than half full and the reason for keeping the priming charge away from the touch hole, is the sparks jump into the flash hole faster than a fuse can burn into your main charge which is what you have if the priming powder runs into the main charge.
Hoping to have some flintlock fun this weekend. I’ve got my traditions Kentucky. My brother just picked up a TC renegade and my Dads traditions hawken should be here tomorrow. We might burn some powder Saturday. The two of them are first time flint owners so it should be fun!
After action report from my hunt at Bucks Camp on Savage Mountain from Jan 6 to the 19th. My buddy got a shot on the first evening and connected on a button buck at 45 yards with his TC Firestorm. This was his first flynchlock deer in 9 years. Celebration began! We had some snow left over and determined the deer were feeding and bedding during the day on Bear Wallow Mountain. Spent 2 days still hunting and driving the mountain and got into deer, but they outsmarted us again. 6 days later we put on a drive thru a large patch of laurel on th sun side of Savage and 12 doe came out of the laurel right in front of me. After stopping at the edge and checking out the area, they split up and some went left and the rest went to the right and stopped at 70 to 80 yards. The wind was swirling around in the area and I was well hidden on a rock ledge. They were looking nervous and I knew I had to take a shot. One of the big doe stepped into an opening long enough for me to get lined up and squeeze off a shot. Deer scattered everywhere. I didn't see the one I had shot at running and thought I may have missed. I mentally marked the spot where the doe was standing when I shot, reloaded and and waited for my buddy to finish out the drive. He emerged from the laurel not far from where the doe had been standing and I told him to go about 10 yards to the left and look for blood. He walked about 5 yards and said he couldn't find blood but there was a deer laying in front of him. I hit her a little high just behind the front shoulder and the 338 grain Platinum Powerbelt with 150 grains of blackpowder knocked her down dead. No sign of even kicking. I said a short prayer of thanks and then got about the task of gutting. After a celebratory shot of Crown, I dragged her down to the jeep trail about 1/4 mile away. Then back up to camp to get the deer cart. No motorized vehicles allowed in the Game Lands, so we took turns pulling the cart up the mountain. Other camp members arrived on Wed and Thur. We got into deer every day, but no more shots. On Sunday we did our traditional flynchlock shoot off. 1 shot at the target from 25 yards. I was the last of 7 to shoot and there were no shots close to the bullseye. I had not shot my gun for 5 days and we had some wet snow on a couple of days. I kept a round toothpick in my touch hole when I didn't have powder in the pan and at night kept the gun in woodshed to prevent condensation. My lock performed perfectly and when I squeezed the shot of my sights were just coming back up to the top of the circle. I hit the bullseye much to the dismay of the other guys. Attached is a picture of my doe hoisted up to show the shot location. Now I have to wait until after Christmas to get back on Savage Mountain with the flynchlock.
