So, now I get to range report a century old gun. Why? Because I had no luck finding this info before, so now it'll be here for anyone who's looking. Plus its a beasty gun and fun.
So starting off. This is an African trade flintlock. Belgium proofed and made. Probably about 100 years old, so fairly recent as far as flintlocks go. The round balls I used were cast from a Do-It fishing sinkers mould and besides the "2.5" molded into the side are actually quite good. They cast at 0.900" and weigh 1050 grs on average. I used 150grs of Goex FF and a t-shirt for a patch. This was a tight fit and I needed to swab after each shot. Recoil wasn't too bad. 3" slugs like, but more pushy than snappy. I think I can safely up the load to 200grs. I tried to recover the balls, but they went over a foot into the sand bank and vanished.
Recoil was "mild". As in mildy pushy
Accuracy at 25yds was good. Honestly it was all my fault. The gun CAN do better. The big hole is a 1600gr conical I tried. it flew through sideways...
Here is a link to the video of it firing... https://youtu.be/NTrJ6HyXZ8Y
Also, big shout out to Benchmade... I beat the living daylights out of that knife today. I knapped flint with the handle, cut leather and patches, and used it as a shovel trying to recover shot balls. Still feels like new