First Flintlock

[Wayne Smith]

My situation is that I have just under a grand and Cabela's bucks to spend, so I am looking at the Petersoli's that Cabelas carries. Is there a functional difference between them or is it all appearance? It's hard to say from the blurb Cabelas gives. I'm specifically looking at the Poor Boy (I like the look) and the full brass (Lancaster?) that they offer.

[waksupi]

Wayne, go to American Long Rifles page, and look at Track of the Wolf sales page. You may find a good deal on either one for a better grade gun.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?board=7.0

[Maven]

Wayne, Take a look at this Schimmel/Poor Boy @ $850 also from the ALR site: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/...?topic=42099.0

[rfd]

jackie's got a southern .62 smoothbore poor boy in the making for me, my first gun from him. i've heard diff'rent stories about him, but i'll see for myself. he sells a lot of guns on that ALR forum.

if that schimmel gun is at least decent and a consistent shooter, his asking price is better than fair. take a good look at its spex and make sure that's what you want.

there are more than a few different kinds of flintlock configurations (and cap locks) with a number of different features. this is subjective stuff and some things will be good for you and others not so good. i have a tom watson "hawken" in the build and it has all the specific features that i want - that's what a custom gun should be all about, no compromise. on the lower end of the spectrum, those investarms rifles are, i believe, a good value and a good starter gun to help realize the direction to go, or stay.

so, if you don't really know exactly what you want, and why (hunting?), yer gambling. best of luck to ya!

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Take a look at Dixie Gun Works too.

[JeffinNZ]

Don't buy a cheap flintlock. It will ruin you for life.

[rfd]

Don't buy a cheap flintlock. It will ruin you for life.

there are dependencies to "cheap". not all of the "cheap" offshore guns are useless, but some sure are.

[rancher1913]

you guys missed the part about cabelas bucks----they can only be used at cabelas.

[rfd]

use yer cabela's buckeroos to get the pedersoli of yer choice - avoid the traditions.

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

My friend bought a used but like new lyman great plains flintlock. He had to send it to a member on a forum to look at it due to all the poor ignition issues hes having. I had a few lymans and 2 of the 3 were junk. lyman is like everything else, its a hit or miss. Pedersoli even had issues with the frizzen on their rifles breaking. TC had gotten a rep of poor sparking, cock not striking correctly.

There is no perfect buy over the counter flintlock.

All my traditions flinters are doing wonderful after simply taking a c clap and compressing the frizzen spring a little remove pressure as it took way to much to open. Other than that, the frizzens spark great and consistent, ignition is amazingly fast with half a pan of powder ( they seem to like more pan powder BTW). I even went and bought a st.louis hawken kit because of my luck with traditions so far. However, I went to a percussion as i have 3 flinters as it is.

[mooman76]

You can get by with a cheap cap lock better than you can a flintlock. Many a person has been ruined for muzzle loading (ML) because they started out new to ML and with flintlocks. I'm not trying to persuade anyone not to go with flint but there is more of a learning curve with flint that a caplock. One has to know what to do when they are having ignition troubles. A cheap lock on flintlock guns can be anywhere from you got lucky and have a good one tone that barely works at all. Petersoli and Invest arms has a pretty good rep for a production gun. Traditions are better than they used to be. If you have a friend to help you that would be ideal to get started. Just a little food for thought, I know allot of info will be coming your way and some of it contradictory

[Wayne Smith]

Wayne, Take a look at this Schimmel/Poor Boy @ $850 also from the ALR site: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/...?topic=42099.0

Maven and rfd - what do you KNOW about Jackies work? I am e-mailing him and he has sold that one but offered to make me one just like it.

I am not a novice muzzle loader - have a GPR with both barrels, never mounted the quick twist barrel, my best friend did the same and he put on the quick twist and never took it off! I guess I am a round ball shooter. I want a flint a) to fill out my 'collection' b) to have something to shoot it it all goes to hell legally, and c) because I've shot them and they are fun! Besides, I read the Last of the Mohicians and the rest of the Leatherstocking Tales in High School, long before the movie came out. I grew up watching Daniel Boon on TV

[rfd]

Maven and rfd - what do you KNOW about Jackies work? I am e-mailing him and he has sold that one but offered to make me one just like it.

I am not a novice muzzle loader - have a GPR with both barrels, never mounted the quick twist barrel, my best friend did the same and he put on the quick twist and never took it off! I guess I am a round ball shooter. I want a flint a) to fill out my 'collection' b) to have something to shoot it it all goes to hell legally, and c) because I've shot them and they are fun! Besides, I read the Last of the Mohicians and the rest of the Leatherstocking Tales in High School, long before the movie came out. I grew up watching Daniel Boon on TV

you have a pm coming shortly ....

[sharps4590]

With a flinter, it's all about the lock. Others have said it and I'll repeat it, a good one will be a joy and a bad one will put you off flintlocks, sometimes for good. If you get a bad one keep after it until you get it working correctly then keep shooting it. Follow through is key.

[waksupi]

jackie's got a southern .62 smoothbore poor boy in the making for me, my first gun from him. i've heard diff'rent stories about him, but i'll see for myself. he sells a lot of guns on that ALR forum.

if that schimmel gun is at least decent and a consistent shooter, his asking price is better than fair. take a good look at its spex and make sure that's what you want.

there are more than a few different kinds of flintlock configurations (and cap locks) with a number of different features. this is subjective stuff and some things will be good for you and others not so good. i have a tom watson "hawken" in the build and it has all the specific features that i want - that's what a custom gun should be all about, no compromise. on the lower end of the spectrum, those investarms rifles are, i believe, a good value and a good starter gun to help realize the direction to go, or stay.

so, if you don't really know exactly what you want, and why (hunting?), yer gambling. best of luck to ya!

I'd definitely like to hear what you think of the gun you get. I've seen some of his work, and have an opinion I won't share here.

[Wayne Smith]

Well, Rick, there are a couple ways to look at value. If I buy from him I will be answering the question "did I get what I paid for?" Rather than the question "Is it the best possible?" I know I can't afford a $2000-$4000 gun and don't expect one for less than a grand. I can do woodwork and he apparantly uses quality components, the question in my mind is; can he get the geometry right? However, your post encourages me to look elsewhere.

[rfd]

.... I've seen some of his work, and have an opinion I won't share here.

clearly, saying that is a negative towards jackie brown, gunmaker reknown

[rfd]

wayne, if yer thinking going beyond cabelas bucks, there are more than a few excellent gunmakers around, such as tip curtis, chris walker, tom watson and many more. tom is building me one now, and tip and chris have both have built rifles for me and their work is spot on. another thing is that i always get the entire gun in-the-white and do the wood finishing myself, that alone can save some serious dollars. a tip curtis carolina .45 flinter that i finished ...

[Wayne Smith]

Yeah, but budget gets in the way. How much will a grand buy me? I would love to do the wood finishing, but don't have the equipment to brown the barrel unless there is some way to do it without tanks.

[Maven]

Wayne, Laurel Mountain Forge Browning Solution doesn't require tanks, just somewhere to stand the bbl. after you apply the solution. Here's a link to their instructions: http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/b...brown_inst.htm Btw, it isn't difficult to do, easier than blueing in some ways. Also, rfd's suggestion about a Tip Curtis rifle is excellent.