Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Muzzleloaders => Topic started by: Pappy on February 20, 2022, 07:28:20 pm
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As some know I have wanted a flint lock ever since I shot a good friend of mine's 45 flint lock at the cabin, I wanted a 32 or at least a small bore gun for small game hunting and squirrels , Well Saturday that good friend gifted me one, he laughed and said he knew I was to tight to ever buy one and to old to learn how to do it myself. ???I helped Matt build his first self bow about 20 years ago.The cool story is it came from Eric Krewson, also a good friend, Small world, I had seen a post by Eric about a big gun show and that he was going to meet a guy that wanted one of his guns, I didn't know it was Matt. Matt said once he told Eric it was for me he threw in a lot of stuff to get me started, man I am so humbled by this and really just don't know what to say except Thanks, the gun is a beauty that is for sure and i know i will have many days of fun with it while I learn how to use it. Matt is coming down tomorrow to get me started and show me some things I need to know to shoot and care for it. It is a treasure for sure and will be in my family forever. Thanks Gus many thanks.
Pappy
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Now that is a cool story and a nice rifle. :OK
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As some know I have wanted a flint lock ever since I shot a good friend of mine at the cabin, I wanted a 32 or at least a small bore gun for small game hunting and squirrels , Well Saturday that good friend gifted me one, he laughed and said he knew I was to tight to ever buy one and to old to learn how to do it myself. ???I helped Matt build his first self bow about 20 years ago.The cool story is it came from Eric Krewson, also a good friend, Small world, I had seen a post by Eric about a big gun show and that he was going to meet a guy that wanted one of his guns, I didn't know it was Matt. Matt said once he told Eric it was for me he threw in a lot of stuff to get me started, man I am so humbled by this and really just don't know what to say except Thanks, the gun is a beauty that is for sure and i know i will have many days of fun with it while I learn how to use it. Matt is coming down tomorrow to get me started and show me some things I need to know to shoot and care for it. It is a treasure for sure and will be in my family forever. Thanks Gus many thanks.
Pappy
Uh, Pappy, are you going to need an attorney?
You look about as mountain man as they come holding that.
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Yep , maybe 🤔type error, I am good at that 😉Pappy
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Cool story.Good things happen to good people.You've got the hides fix yourself up too.
That gun looks about as long as you are tall.
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Yes Ed it is, not sure if that is a good or bad thing but feels good in my hand, haven't shot it yet but holding and aiming , it seems to be very stable. We will see this morning. :)
Pappy
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I just saw this, A special gun for a special guy. It is an honor to build this gun and have it end up as yours.
For those how can't tell it is a Kibler Southern Mountain Rifle in .32. Here is the rifle just after I finished putting it together.
The tendency for new flintlock shooters is to over fill the pan with priming powder, on that SMR it likes just about 1/3 of a pan full, I polished all the lock internals and that lock was very fast when I tested the rifle.
Like I told Matt, southern rifles with the deep hook buttplate are shouldered a the top of your bicep and not on your shoulder like a modern gun. When you throw it up to that position you will see how natural that feels opposed to putting it on you shoulder.
When I posted that I planned on selling the rifle a M/L site I had a bunch of folk willing to drive up to 9 hours to buy it, one guy even offered me a lot more than I was asking if I would sell it out from under the other guys who where ahead of him on the buyers list. You guys who know me know I don't operate that way, Matt was first on the list. Buyer #2 was standing next to us when I handed the rifle to Matt, he was there in case Matt decided he didn't want the rifle.
I sold the rifle because it had the sight dovetails cut for a normal person, with my 74 year old eyes the rear sight was too blurry for me to see. I could have cut another dovetail and moved the rear sight forward but the rifle was stunning looking in my opinion and cutting another dovetail and filling in the old dovetail would look like an ugly wart on a super models nose.
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Karma for sure. Good things come to Good People. Enjoy your rifle. It sure is a nice one!
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Another thing; you can prime and load the gun with the the 3F I gave you, 4F to prime isn't necessary.
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Thanks , shot it today and man it shoots good and goes off without hesitation, only problem I had was the set trigger, it sometimes didn’t want to set but I think we got that worked out with a little adjustment , if not I will pm you Eric and I am sure you will walk me through it. Matt showed me all his stuff and I have enough stuff to shoot and clean but can see a lot of little projects in my future. Thanks again Eric, I love it, beautiful work. Pappy
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If you back the screw out too (or is it too far in?) far the trigger won't set, you can fire it off the front trigger as well unset just a higher poundage pull.
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Ya I shot it off the front trigger Eric, it is pretty stiff but I think we got the set trigger working, very light pull then and I am not very good with a rifle and need all the help I can get. I can say my first shot with this one was just out of a 3 inch circle at about 40 yards , so not bad at all for me and that wasn't resting the gun on a bench. I think with a little work I can get pretty good with it. I do need to measure and find some more flint, Matt said he would tell me where to get it , he ordered a few things I need but didn't get the flint so I need to look into that.I talked to Jesse about making me some but he said that was a whole other skill. I told him he needed to learn it . :) :) :) :) :)
Pappy
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You have the correct rifle for the part of the world that you live in Mark. You will find many hours of fun shooting that little rifle, no kick and cheap to shoot. Next thing you know you will be shooting one of these ground pounders that I shoot. The more of those rifles that you see and hold the more that you will see the simple beauty in them the same as a selfbow. These is so much more that goes into a selfbow and a flintlock that people don't realize until the dig in a little deeper.
That's the style of rifle that I killed my mountain lion with.
Have fun!
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Broken arrowheads work great for flints, I tried one. Your knappers could easily make all you need. I can't make an arrow head but had no problem making a few gun flints out of some spalled off flakes, they don't have to be perfect like the pros make. Some chirt or flint sparks well some doesn't.
I have a file driven into piece of log to work gunflints on, I made a gun flint hammer out of a file as well like seen in the video. My problem is getting any good stuff to work so I end up buying gun flints.
(https://i.imgur.com/WTnGUiO.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzi9ksSn-ZQ&t=40s
Here is how they did it on a commercial level years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XPEoiY3NnI
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Great story. Nice gesture from your friends. You will love that rifle as they are a lot of fun
Thanks Leroy
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Pappy,
I have an assortment of flints here and could send you some.
What size flint does the lock take ?
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Not sure the size Paul but will measure it today, like i said very new at this and not real sure about anything, just trying to learn and figure things out, I appreciate the help and advice. I did make some of the tools I need for it yesterday and making a couple new powder horn for it also. Like Mike said flint locks and self bows seem to go together, lots to learn and lots of projects that go along with them, I really love that part. ;)
Pappy
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Sounds like you are having fun with it Pappy.
Measure the length as well as the width of the flint and let me know. I have an assortment of them here.
PM me if that's easier.
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That is an excellent flintlock that you have acquired, a quality flintlock is a joy to shoot and surprises many cap gun shooters as to how fast the lock time is.
And the builder certainly knows what he is doing, I've been following Eric's post for years on the muzzleloading forum and learned much from him, now I'm doing the same over here!!!
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Paul the size of the flint is 3/4 long /5/8 wide and 1/4 thick where it clamps in, WillH looked at it yesterday and said he thought he could make some also, I only have the one right now and it seems to be working fine but was told they don't last that long. :) Just let me know if you think you have some that will work and we can work something out, and thanks. :)
Pappy
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Flints can last very long 30 to 50 shots, the late Ketland lock on the rifle is easy on flints, some locks are flint bashers but not that one. Another thing to keep note of is the flint will shoot loose in the jaws when you least expect it, they all do. I have lost several deer because my flint was loose when I took the shot and I hadn't checked it, a loose flint won't spark.
Retouching the striking edge is a necessary skill and should be done every 15 shots or so or when you get a miss-fire and the pan doesn't ignite. You just want to remove some micro-flakes from the striking edge and make it sharp again.
I use a variety of knapping tools to resharpen a flint while it is still in the jaws, little knapping hammers to gently tap the leading edge, a blunt nail if the flint is really worn down and a small copper pressure flaker(my favorite) that I keep in my possible bag.
(https://i.imgur.com/SzocQMP.jpg)
Of course there is the debater of whether to mount the flint bevel up or down, the Ketland lock likes them bevel up.
The first thing to do before you go hunting is to sharpen your flint and tighten the jaws as tight as you can, the more sparks you get to hit the prime the faster your gun is going off.
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And then there is cleaning your gun after use; water is all you need, DON'T use hot water as it will cause flash rusting that takes awhile to get out of the barrel, soap is unnecessary as well.
Matt probably has a handle on cleaning, everyone does it differently, some don't use water at all.
I pull the lock, put a green twin in the touch hole to seal it, toothpicks sometime leak so I use the twig.
(https://i.imgur.com/1nBHt52.jpg)
Just in case I get any leakage I put a folded paper towel up against the plug and hold it in place with a spring clip.
(https://i.imgur.com/kND1ZiP.jpg)
Another tip; when you run patches down the bore be sure to have a paper towel draped over the touch hole and held in place with a spring clip. You are going to get a spray of black crud out of your touch hole that seems to travel for miles, I forgot the blast shield a couple of times and the wall behind my workbench is permanently stained with black crud.
Pour the barrel full of water, let it sit for a few minutes and dump it out, fill the barrel about halfway full, put my flinger over the muzzle and slosh the water around and dump it out. Then I start running dry patches down the barrel, lots of them. Baby blanket flannel at Joann's and a fabric cutter wheel will let you turn out hundreds of cleaning patches in no time.
After I dry the barrel as best I can I give it a squirt of WD-40 to absorb the moisture and run 3 or 4 dry patches down the barrel to spread the WD and then remove it. My last patch is soaked with 30W motor oil, I have used a lot of rust preventives but this one or RIG gun grease seems to work the best.
It is a good idea to come back a week later and run a slightly oiled patch down the bore to check for any rust, in very damp weather you may find some but it is unlikely if you cleaned your rifle properly.
You also need to clean your lock while you have it out, I just wipe off all the black with a wet paper towel, dry it and put a light oil on the internals and outside surfaces that might rust.
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I am one that doesn't use water on my flintlocks. They've used water since the beginning of them and nothing wrong with it, but they also didn't have the solvents and protectants they do now. I shoot quite a bit and don't like to remove my lock that often and the times I've used water no matter what I do some gets between barrel and stock.
I use a quality solvent then follow with Barricade for protection and once or twice a year I pull lock and barrel for full cleaning. Whatever your method, make sure you check a week or so after cleaning as Eric stated. Had a friend who borrowed his gun to a buddy, who said he cleaned it after returning it. He didn't check it for a month and it had severely rusted, barrel was hairy with rust.
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Paul the size of the flint is 3/4 long /5/8 wide and 1/4 thick where it clamps in, WillH looked at it yesterday and said he thought he could make some also, I only have the one right now and it seems to be working fine but was told they don't last that long. :) Just let me know if you think you have some that will work and we can work something out, and thanks. :)
Pappy
I have some. Sent ya a PM.
Paul
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I had used Barricade for years to protect my M/L barrels, my gun safe is out in a utility room attached to the garage, this is an unheated area. We had a month of rain with very high humidity, I checked on the barrel on one of my guns and found rust, I checked all the rest and found the same thing, no pitting or damage but it was still pretty ugly. I spent the entire day cleaning guns, I used scotch bright followed JB Bore Paste and Bore shine to straighten them out.
This is when I ditched the Barricade for 30W oil and Rig gun grease. Had my guns been kept in a climate controlled house I wouldn't have had a problem. I had one dehumidifier rod in my gun safe, now I have two with second one being twice the size as my initial one.
I have a Teslong bore scope that sees so much detail that it drive you nuts thinking you didn't clean well enough.
This picture is after my serious gun cleaning session.
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I might have to give that a try, mine stay in low humidity when not in use but there always is a better way. I used to use Ezzox, but it is hard to find and seems I can taste it for hours after using it, which I assume is probably not good for your system...
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Strikes me that you and that gun just go together naturally like biscuits and gravy.