Thread: The FLintlock Shooter

Originally Posted by Tasbay

Pretty normal to have to file the front sight almost to nothing on these Pedersoli Kentuckys. They do have straight shooting barrels though. Was this one on T/M a few weeks ago selling from Otago somewhere?

Just re read what you typed. You mean a foot down and right when you flinch. They do call them a Flinchlock for a reason.

I don't flinch with it as a general thing, but if I have a misfire, like if the flint gets blunt, and it doesn't go off, then after that I will have flinches I have to wilfully control. I suspect I may find it harder to shoot offhand because of the slight delay I think. I have it shooting pretty quick though. I will have to practice that more.

I bought this one new and did the stock carving myself. Didn't look right without some carved decoration from the period. I also changed the shape of the buttsotck, which had an unsightly hump on it for some reason, which had always put me off getting a Pedersoli Kentucky rifle, because it just looked wrong. But I figured I could correct it myself, and now the buttstock shape looks right to my eye for a roman nose style long rifle.

The gun shoots to point of aim at 50 metres as per those targets, I am using a six oclock hold there. I could make it shoot higher, and may yet.

What kind of quality powder are you making? What kind of load are you using -how many grains will give you the equivalent of 80 grains of Holy Smoke 3F for example? How much fouling does it have?

Also what do you use for flints and what kind of life do you get out of them, they are bloody expensive down here. I am wondering if I can use obsidian and make my own, which gave rise to the notion of making my own from bottle glass. I looked that up and found records of people doing that in the old days too, not sure how may shots you would get from glass.