heavy charges are very rarely the most accurate ,you can try a tighter patch , measure your powder as consistently as possible,try another brand of balls ,swaged are often more accurate than cast ,if you are not shooting from a rest try one and go for groups as opposed to bullseyes and i dont know how much experience you have with flintlocks but it is very common to flinch ,there is a lot going on and the locktime and flash is a distraction right in your face ,swab the bore between shots and remember to follow through after the shot ,good luck and have fun.
Haven't shot black powder since the early 2000's. At that time the rule of thumb, for a target load, was 1 grain/cal as a starting point. If I remember correctly for my .45 it ended up being 43 gains .445 ball and .010 patch. My son has an old Italian made cap gun and that thing doesn't care what you put down. We were in Alaska in 1989 and shot with the McKinley Mountain Men. My son was 10 years old at the time. After the shot one member brought a small Italian made cap gun up. He asked me, "Does your son shoot?" I told him" he has shot 22s." He brought it to the line and handed it to my son. My son hit a 25 yard groundhog target 2 out of three shots. My son said, "Is this gun for sale?" "As a matter of fact it is. I bought it for my son when he was your size. Now he is bigger than me." We bought it. Bigger than him? He was a monster to my 5' 8" frame. Never seen his son, but he must have been a real monster of a man. My son took many youth shoots with that gun. It didn't seem to care what load, ball size or patch you fed it. My son dry balled it once and we couldn't pull it with a worm. I had to pull the breach. The rifling was all but gone, but the thing was a real tack driver. Don't quit make sense. Looking down the barrel it almost looked like a smooth bore. I'll have to ask what brand it is. I went from cap to rock gun. I had trouble unless I specifically concentrated on holding the site pattern until the second boom happened. I don't know if starting on a flinter would have been easier.
I think I just need more time on it for sure. I also think I had in my mind a comparison to my dad’s cap lock hawken that loves 80 grains on the same ball and patch as mine. I think I need to experiment more in the 55-65 range with a better bench rest. I was half leaning on my tailgate yesterday. As far as the swab after every shot I’ll have to try that as well because I went 8 shots before things got tight and I ran the rod down it.
thats a lot of shots ,you must have noticed a lot of resistance ,are you using a ball starter before the ramrod? if not you should try one ,makes it easier and safer
Yep I been using the starter it makes life a lot easier. Truthfully I was around 6 shots before I started noticing some resistance.
Busted out the old smoke stick this afternoon. Going to take her out in the morning hopefully. .495 ball,.010 greased patch on 70 grains FFFg GOEX. Not a bad little group off hand at 50 yards...
Built one years ago used it for match work and trap. sold most of the black powder stuff a few years ago. What is the question -if I can get my feeble old mind to work.
Just in the market to buy one. I was thinking of a flintlock shotgun of sorts and ran across the Fowler as a dual purpose gun. Would mainly be looking to hunt small game and turkey with shot, but the challenge with a .62 cal round ball sounds fun!! I’ve narrowed down to two guns from Tennessee Valley Muzzleloading, unless I can find one local.
The two choices..... little different stock shape and some cosmetics, otherwise serves the same purpose. https://www.tvmnatchez.com/natchezpoorboy https://www.tvmnatchez.com/fowler
little story with 20ga. regional match, no rear sight ( after all it is a fowling piece), but you can have a post or bead up front. 25 yard then 50 then 100- to make fifty I was holding at the top of the target. last relay of the day so 100yds would be the first thing up next day. the problem of course is how do you aim/ point somewhere into the sky to hit the 100 yard target? Got home that evening got out the torch and bent the barrel between two rounds. A somewhat educated guess as to how much. At any rate first shot was a high 9 at apx 1 o'clock, holding at the top of the target. Dropped the next four into the 10 ring. Good for a win. Flinters are fun but sure can be a pain on some days ( humidity can play havoc with your spark) On this particular action - which I do not remember where or whom I got it from. The frizen was too soft, hence very poor ignition. I had to re-harden it using some topical compound to introduce more carbon into the surface. Back in the 90's I did a lot of smithing as a side gig, at the time I was a pretty hot shot with just about anything. I sure do miss all my comrades from those days only a very few of us still stuck down here in the corporal world.
Kinda slow getting the pictures I promised but here it is. Custom 20ga flintlock fowler. Not sure who built it. Came out of my mom’s second husband’s estate. He was very into muzzle loading and a trader. He lived in South Carolina in his later years so I don’t know if it came from there or Nebraska or someplace other. Got a really nice piece of wood in the stock. I have never shot it, maybe someday I’ll use it on a turkey. Don’t think it has been shot very much!
Awesome!!! That’s the gun right there!!! I’d be curious how old it is? Definitely a nice gun though!! The one I was looking at had the full length stock otherwise the same.
It’s not an old original. My guess would be built in the late 70s though the eighties. Especially if someone in Nebraska made it, that seems to be when the sport of muzzleloading was at it’s peak in the state. There’s still some interest and events here but it’s nothing like it was “back in the day” All the old timers are dying off, and lots of knowledge going to the grave with them
My favorite time of year is the PA flynchlock season. Been at it since 1984. Built my first one from a CVA kit, PA Long Rifle. Practiced all summer shooting whistle pigs in the head. Deer in the late season were not as cooperative. Took 8 shots over 2 years to finally kill a big doe. Moved up or down to a PA Hunter carbine. Much more productive. Even killed one on the run. Then TC came out with the Firestorm with fibre optic sights. Made it so my older eyes could shoot again and I kilt 3 doe in 1 year. The last one was a head shot at 40 yards. Longest kill with that gun is 88 yards. I dont shoot much further than that unless I have a good rest. Heading to Bucks Camp on top of Savage Mt south of Bedford tomorrow for 2 weeks to finish out the season. We will have up to 11 there at one time and will have good eats, tobacco, poker and maybe enough beer. Our poker table sits in front of the Grandma Bear wood stove. And yes we do get out of the cabin more than watering the grass.
My last flint roundball gun is a TC PA Hunter Carbine 50 cal 1:48 twist. It is a handy little gun in thick cover in the woods. Off a good bench I used to get 2" 5 shot groups at 50 yards. My eyes can't do that anymore. I used 90 grains of 2f with 490 patched round balls and 4f in the pan. Keep the priming powder away from the touch hole. Flynching is likely the cause of "whip balls all over". Assuming your lock is functioning properly and since it's new your frizzen should not be a problem, the flint should be dropping a shower of sparks. There is a lot that can go wrong with all of that to slow down ignition time which makes it harder to hold on target. I shoot with guys who just can't stop trying to get away when they squeeze the trigger. When I shoot their gun I get a consistent group. So much to learn... Have fun
