Colt Country | Home of The Almighty Colt
Long Guns => Flintlock Muskets and Rifles => Topic started by: Hawg on March 29, 2024, 03:08:27 PM
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As y'all well know I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to flintlocks. I've been doing a lot of reading and watching videos. Mostly trying to find out the do's and don'ts. I keep coming across people talking about polishing the pan. Some say it speeds up ignition. Others say it doesn't but it does make cleaning the pan easier. I figured what the hey, if it makes cleaning easier I'm all for it. I was somewhat worried the slick surface would make powder slide around and since I use very little powder in the pan it might be a bad idea but I did it anyway. I twisted the gun this way and that and the powder didn't migrate much. It just leveled out. In a hunting situation it might migrate further but I'm not up to that anymore. I must say it improved ignition speed. It's not as fast as a cap lock but it's close, dang close. I am well pleased with it. I'll clean it in a day or three and see how easy it is to clean. From what I've read just one swipe and it's clean. We shall see.
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One swipe with a dry rag removes all the fouling from the pan.
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Me not knowing much about flintlocks I find this very interesting. In fact, all your threads about flintlocks have made me very interested is trying one out. What type of metal is the pan made of?
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I might try polishing the pans on my flintlocks after reading what Hawg did. Flintlocks are a lot of fun Zulch, easy to load and you don't have to worry about finding caps to shoot them.
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The pan is cast steel Z. I have no idea how polishing it makes it fire faster but it does. It definitely makes cleaning it easier so it's worth doing just for that.
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Might try that with my Great Plains. If I ever shoot it, that is.
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Might try that with my Great Plains. If I ever shoot it, that is.
Whacha waitin on?
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Might try that with my Great Plains. If I ever shoot it, that is.
I'd like to see a photo of that gun Capt'n.
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https://coltcountryforum.com/index.php/topic,4475.msg50896/topicseen.html#msg50896
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Thanks Hawg, You gotta shoot that Capt'n!
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Four years and you haven't let it breath fire and smoke. Whassa matter wif ya? (7+"
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Four years and you haven't let it breath fire and smoke. Whassa matter wif ya? (7+"
I had my .50 for eight years and my .54 for two and sold them both before they made smoke. It happens; life will get ya every time.
(they weren't flints, but...)
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Thanks Bishop Creek. I admit it is sounding like a fun idea.
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Four years and you haven't let it breath fire and smoke. Whassa matter wif ya? (7+"
I had my .50 for eight years and my .54 for two and sold them both before they made smoke. It happens; life will get ya every time.
(they weren't flints, but...)
I've got guns I haven't fired for 20 years or more but I did fire them a lot when I was younger. I've got a CVA St Louis Hawken I've only fired once and that was just to unload it. I've had it for about 15 years. I don't have any guns I haven't fired at all.
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Four years and you haven't let it breath fire and smoke. Whassa matter wif ya? (7+"
This year, waiting on the black powder rifle range to open up (usually around May 1st), It's on the agenda.
Thanks for linking my pic, Hawg! Woulda taken me half an hour to find it! (7+"
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There is just something about flintlocks that really appeals to me, the primitive flash in the pan to ignite the main charge, but with the very sophisticated mechanical design of the lock itself using a "rock" (flint) to ignite it.
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Thanks for linking my pic, Hawg! Woulda taken me half an hour to find it! (7+"
All I did was do a search for Lyman Great Plains.
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Hawg, is this Kibbler your first flintlock? I can't remember. After all is said and done are you pleased with the rifle and outcome overall?
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Hawg, is this Kibbler your first flintlock? I can't remember. After all is said and done are you pleased with the rifle and outcome overall?
I had one when I was 13. It was a nice looking maple stocked Kentucky in .45 caliber but it didn't spark worth a crap. I didn't know jack about them except for what I saw on TV and probably just needed a new flint. I thought it was a POS and it turned me off of flintlocks for many, many years. I'm very pleased with it. I've been wanting one for a long time but don't like the look of the CVA's/Traditions etc and a Pedersoli was always too much. Now that it's just me my needs are few and I don't eat much and I wanted one really good flintlock before I die.
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Hawg, is this Kibbler your first flintlock? I can't remember. After all is said and done are you pleased with the rifle and outcome overall?
I had one when I was 13. It was a nice looking maple stocked Kentucky in .45 caliber but it didn't spark worth a crap. I didn't know jack about them except for what I saw on TV and probably just needed a new flint. I thought it was a POS and it turned me off of flintlocks for many, many years. I'm very pleased with it. I've been wanting one for a long time but don't like the look of the CVA's/Traditions etc and a Pedersoli was always too much. Now that it's just me my needs are few and I don't eat much and I wanted one really good flintlock before I die.
I've had other things in the past that did not do what they were supposed to? Information wasn't readily available like it is today so I understand that completely. Just glad you are happy with the rifle. Were the older CVA's any different than today's CVAs or have they stayed the same? What was it about the CVA rifles that you did not like? just curious.
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I've had other things in the past that did not do what they were supposed to? Information wasn't readily available like it is today so I understand that completely. Just glad you are happy with the rifle. Were the older CVA's any different than today's CVAs or have they stayed the same? What was it about the CVA rifles that you did not like? just curious.
CVA never made anything. They're importers. All they import now are inlines. Traditions sells almost the same guns as CVA did. I don't like them because they look nothing like the guns they're touted to be. I have a CVA Hawken but I've only fired it once and that's because it was loaded when I got it. For what it's worth it was loaded with Pyrodex for at least 12 years in a closet in a laundry room right next to the water heater. I capped it and it fired like it's supposed to. His powder measure was set at 90 grains and it felt like 90 grains when it went off.
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A gun has to look the part. I agree that some of the CVA and TC guns look very little like what they are supposed to represent. I found the Lymans to be more like what my mind's eye wants to see when I think Hawken or plains rifle.
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The Lyman is a pretty good representation of a plains rifle for a production gun. I could live with it.