Colt Country | Home of The Almighty Colt
Long Guns => Flintlock Muskets and Rifles => Topic started by: Hawg on March 14, 2024, 02:55:27 PM
-
Kinda/sorta. I only got three shots off before it started raining out of the blue. Range was 25 yards. Load was 90 grains of Swiss 3F with a patched .530 round ball. Patch was part of an old T shirt cut at the muzzle and lubed with olive oil. First shot was wide to the left. There was a slight delay between priming charge and main charge I wasn't expecting so I may have pulled it off. I was more prepared for the next two. Red square is 5 1/2" high X 4 1/4" wide. Ace is 4 1/4" high X 3 3/8 wide. Holes at the bottom are 1 1/2" center to center.
-
Very good! Glad to see it performs well.
-
What do you think was the reason for the delay Hawg? Those Kibler locks are built really well.
-
What do you think was the reason for the delay Hawg? Those Kibler locks are built really well.
I don't know. From the videos I've seen Kibler locks are close to simultaneous. Mine doesn't have much delay but it is more than I expected. Maybe it's the way I primed the pan? Or it could have been the 3F powder. It's nothing I can't get used to but it is going top take practice.
-
I'd call that pretty darn good for first three! Something tells me you'll be shooting this one a lot!
-
Glad you got to shoot Hawg. Good shooting there.
-
Like I said it started raining on me yesterday so I grabbed my stuff and ran back in the house. Well I forgot I had left the ramrod out while I was shooting and it stormed all yesterday evening, all last night and it's still storming and the ramrod was out in it. I didn't oil it or have any kind of finish on it so it swelled and no longer fits AGAIN!!!!!. I don't know whether to try to shrink it by heating or just go ahead and turn it back down. If it ain't one thing it's another one. When I ordered the lock parts I got another ramrod and made a cleaning rod out of it. Since I don't like a ramrod sticking out past the muzzle that only leaves about 3/4 of an inch sticking out of an empty bore. I cut off about 6 inches of it and epoxied and pinned an old file handle onto it. Now it's plenty long enough to use comfortably and if I have to remove a stuck ball it should be fairly easy to do. I couldn't get the whole thing in one pic so you'll just have to imagine a long stick between the two ends. (7+"
-
Nice work Hawg! Looks factory made.
-
I cleaned it about an hour ago. It was pretty straightforward. Not too much different than cleaning a percussion rifle with a pinned stock. The only thing is I pulled the lock off. I plugged the flash hole and filled the bore with hot soapy water and let it soak a few minutes. Then poured it out and repeated a few times. After that a few passes with a bore mop and it was about as clean as it was going to get. For those that say you have to clean the same day. It was 24 hours since it was fired. Where is all the rust and corrosion?
-
Nice! Glad it goes bang :)
I bet the ignition will pick up as the lock smooths up with use.
-
Hello Hawg,
Before I switched my .32 cal. Pedersoli to percusion, I used 4F in the pan with 3F in the barrel.
When it did fire, it was almost instantaious without any lag.
It might be the 3F causing the lag.
AntiqueSledMan.
-
Do you think that using 4f in the pan would help the delay thing? That’s what 4f is 4. AntiqueSledMan is on with that.
-
Maybe, I'll try grinding some 3F down and see what happens.
-
I loosened up the internal lock screws and it is easier to cock now. Next time out I'll see if it's any faster. If not I'm going to crush some 3F and try that for priming powder and see how it goes.
-
I went out to play some so not really a range report. Distance was about 35-40 yards +or-. I had nothing to rest on so everything was offhand. I was just sitting in the back of my Jeep. My last outing I was hitting low so I took a full bead this time. I have a taller rear sight but it's being browned and I haven't installed it yet. I tried 70 and 80 grain loads to start. 70 grains was a wimpy load and hit 5 inches dead center left. Second shot was 80 grains and hit 2 3/4 left and a tad higher. Third shot was 90 grains and hit 3 1/4 inches high and 3/4 inch right. I stuck with 90 grains and moved to Coke cans. I was 5 for 7 on Coke cans. I despise shooting at paper. I only took 10 balls with me. My loosening screws helped but not a lot. It still has a perceptible delay even with the crushed 3F in the pan. I used a lot less priming powder too so I can't say which was the improvement. I did notice if the priming charge wasn't right under the flash hole the delay was worse. Next time out I'll try some 2F and see how that works and I'll try to figure out something to rest on. I guess I won't be needing a pan primer after all. The three bottom holes are from last time. Notice the bottom right hole and the top hole are in line with each other. The powder charge was the same. The distance and my sight picture were different as well as being offhand this time. I did try a patch made out of denim but I didn't bring a hammer to get it started. I didn't recover any patches but with the grass as tall as it was I didn't expect to. I used the same 100% cotton T shirt patches I used last time and the same patches I've used in my Hawken. I posted that on the Kibler group on Facebook and I got so many negative responses I almost left the group. I won't be posting anything else there so please keep your negative responses to yourself.
-
Good to see you having some fun with it now. Facebook groups are the sh*ts, I never post on FB groups due to the egos and bad attitudes. I only post on my own page. I hate FB but I get free advertising and a fair amount of work from referrals.
-
That's some good shooting. Maybe faster powder in the pan will reduce the delay. F...book is not a good place in best of conditions. I gave up on FB many years ago, preferring decent people over many of the ones that frequent there. Here you have true friends who want to see you do well. And, I'm glad to see you out doing well with it.
-
That's some good shooting. Maybe faster powder in the pan will reduce the delay. F...book is not a good place in best of conditions. I gave up on FB many years ago, preferring decent people over many of the ones that frequent there. Here you have true friends who want to see you do well. And, I'm glad to see you out doing well with it.
I tried some crushed 3F. It's finer than 4F. Null B would be finer but I'm not springing for that with no assurances it would work better. I can't tell any difference between 3F and crushed 3F. Yeah FB groups are full of people that just want to start something but there are a few good ones. I joined this one mainly to see what other people have done and how they did it. I did get one response from Jim Kibler himself and he said tightening the lock bolts wouldn't make any difference but it does cock easier now and it is a smidgen faster than it was. He was probably talking about the screws that mount the lock tho.
-
How nice you got to talk to Jim Kibler about it. That is certainly going to the source, eh?
-
No negative response here, you did a lot better than I did when I first shot my flintlock when it was new. I'm with you, I can't stand shooting paper either, cans, melons, or milk jugs full of water for me.
-
I'll put it on paper a few more times after I get the new rear sight installed to get it dialed in. I need to figure out some kind of portable rest. I'll probably just take my pickup and prop across the corner of the bed. I would like something a little sturdier tho. Once I get it dialed in it will never see paper again.
-
Hawg, something worth trying, after loading your rifle use a pick or paper clip in the touch hole to loosen some of the powder in the breech before priming the pan.
Comparison using different grades of black powder in the pan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6aQaImF3O4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6aQaImF3O4)