More Flintlock Practice

Yesterday I got out to the range again with my flintlock longrifle for some more practice.

My shooting was frankly, bad, due to poor follow through. Black powder guns in general, but flintlocks in particular, require you to maintain your form after you pull the trigger because the lock time in slow. The 41.5" barrel of this rifle compound the need for follow through even more.

I had a hard time with all that yesterday. After shooting a rather crummy offhand group on paper I spent the rest of the time banging an 18" or so gong, which I was able to do regularly.

That said, a mediocre day at the range beats a good day in the office!

The Delrin ramrod I fitted to the gun a week and a half ago got its initial use. It's whippier than I'd like but I don't need to worry about it breaking on me.

One thing I noticed was that with the October Country Bumblin Bear Grease lube I was using, the rifle develops a crud ring of fouling a few inches down the bore if I didn't wipe between shots. Even though the rifle's muzzle is coned, I found myself using a short starter to get the ball past that ring of fouling.

I also tried using spit for patch lube and wiping between shots. For targets this seems to work fine. I'll note that the cotton flannel cleaning patches don't have much of a taste but the pillow ticking I use for shooting patches is a bit tangy.

Another patch lube I've used in the past is 100% pure neatsfoot oil. I was able to fire over 20 shots without wiping, but that was before I had coned the muzzle and used a short starter as a matter of course. I plan to try it again and see if I still get that crud ring.

Last week I joined the Pennsylvania Federation of Black Powder Shooters, and I'm looking forward to getting the booklet they publish which lists matches. I'm hoping to find a woods walk or two within reasonable driving distance of southeast Pennsylvania, so I want to get my loading from the pouch routine dialed in.