I spent the day at the Durham Rifle and Pistol Club shooting flintlocks for the first time. To this point I've been shooting WWII rifles and a Martini. I think the "click-whoosh-Bang" weapons are my new favorites!
I cast about 20 rounds each for my 2 new muskets. For the Baker I used a Lee .620 mould and for the Bess I had a Jeff Tanner .730 mould.
I used FF in the barrel and FFFF in the pan.
I cut my own patches from pillow ticking for the Bess and used pre-cut patches for the Baker (pillow ticking and plain cotton).
I lubed all the patches with Trapper's Pure Mink Oil from Track of the Wolf.
I was a little worried about shooting the Baker. The previous owner stated that it had only been used to fire blanks. The kit was assembled moderately well, but it I wasn't completely comfortable with a small gap between the barrel and the breech tang. I did some work on the stock around the tang area to close the gap, but a little bit still remains. The barrel is is seated very tightly so I thought I'd risk it.
The first few shots (the first I've ever taken with a flintlock) were all over the place. I think I pulled them when I heard the primer pan go off instead of holding steady. When I checked the patches they were shredded into small bits. However as I continued to fire they held together and I could see the rifling pattern in them.
My last 7 rounds were the most accurate. Here's the target at 50 yrds as I shot from a sandbag rest. The puny holes were from my buddy who was zeroing a new scope for his 22-250.
Out of 20 rounds fired I only had 1 "click" with no ignition. I used the same flint all day as well. Overall I'm extremely happy with the performance of this Baker!!
Next I loaded up the Pedersoli Bess which had never been fired:
Here are some of the patches and the target from with my last group at 50 yrds from a sandbag. The Bess had no misfires whatsoever and both muskets had extremely fast ignition.
What a day! Every shot was exciting. Thanks to everyone who helped me figure how how to load for these!