What Flint Lock For all round use?

[Warped Arrow]

I am thinking about getting a Flint Lock to accent my bowhunting. I would want one that can be used for deer, bunnies, tree rats, and fowl. What are your suggestions on a decent one that will handle slugs and shot, loose powder and pellets.

WA

[Bowjack]

You would need a musket to handle the shot and ball. A Trade musket or a Brown Bess would be good if you like period guns.

http://www.dixiegun.com/ is a good place to start browsing. Pedersoli makes good reproduction guns.

Black powder is FUN!!!

The only problem with the muskets is that they sacrifice the accuracy since they don't have a rifled barrel. However, a musket would be cool to hunt all game.

My favorite part of black powder hunting is discharging at at the end of the hunt. I hunt with my .54 cal Hawken repro. during the modern gun season, and everyone knew when I was coming out of the woods ... ka boooom.

BTW, this gun is deadly on deer. I load 110 grains of FFG behind a 230 grain round ball. It is devastating on deer. I have only killed 2 with this gun, but both dropped where they stood. The ball flattens into a quarter lodging under the skin on the far side both times. No loss of energy there.

[Warped Arrow]

Now this I like:

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_92_196&products_id=973&osCsid=52f7fb76b97851e91363cb272c5d4eeb

Also, what about using shot in a rifled barel by using a "cup" to contain the shot. Kinda like a modern shotgun shell. It would load like this: Powder, wad, cup, shot. The cup could be made to where when it leaves the barrel it would break away or open up. Might be able to do the same thing with a patch, but you would have to load like this: Powder, wad, patch(dont ram, just seat) shot(now ram and tamp down)

Just thinking out loud...I have 0% Experiance with black powder.

WA

[falconpro]

Warpped, I have thought about using 20ga. shot shell wads that way too. It would make good sense that the wads petals would protect your rifling from fouling up with the shot. I think that it would work just fine, and one could preload the shot into the wad and use butter wax ( like for your 6 shooter pistols) to cover it over so the shot stays put. I am not sure that the lead shot would really hurt your rifling anyways, I think it would just foul it up some, where when your done shooting shot, you will have to really clean the bore with a good solvent and brass wire brush. Something you have to do anyways. Anyways, I am going to experiment with shot through my rifled barrel using the wad cup. If I damage it, I'll let ya know...

[Bowjack]

Warped,

The problem is a musket doesn't do anything well, but can do both. There is a reason Dixie doesn't have cross-over guns. However, this one can be what you are looking for. It has both a rifled barrel and a smoothbore.

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_24_71&products_id=14656

You don't want to shoot shot form a rifled barrel. It will fill the rifling with plastic from your shot cup, and may damge the rifling causing a loss of accuracy. Second, though it may be done, I would not want to impair the accuracy of a good gun by using it as a shotgun.

You also do not want to use modern solvents in a barrel that fires black powder ... it fouls and gums up way too easy. I use soap and water and grease as a lubricant like an irons frying pan on my Hawken to clean it. You want to season the barrel.

The Kodiak rifle is fine, but expensive and heavy and not a shotgun.

I never got into shotgunning as it requires a lot of time and accoutrements to purchase and carry. It would be cool. Cabelas sell a nice side X side blackpowder shotgun if I were to start shotgunning that I would buy. It is also a Pedersoli.

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0006386210061a.shtml

Here's a cheap side X side that it worth looking at.
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_24_65&products_id=15894

I think a Brown Bess musket or a trade musket would be what you are looking for. Both would be accurate enough to 50 yards with a ball to hunt deer, and could be easily used for shotgunning. Start here:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartList.aspx?catID=12&subID=81&styleID=284

[Warped Arrow]

Never knew it would be this complicated, or exspensive, LOL!!! But there in lays 1/2 the fun!!

WA

[Bowjack]

Black powder is no different than any other sport/hobby I have been involved in. They all require time, money, and effort just to become moderately proficient with a basic understanding of the endeavor at hand.

Mastery, if at all acquired in any endeavor involves a wholly different attitude, mind-set, and investment.

Nevertheless, you are right, it is all part of the journey.

However, next to the flight of an arrow, the smell of burnt black powder is awesome, as is making meat with a smoke pole in the autumn woods.

[Dave Holquist]

I can't recall at the moment, but there used to be a hawken-style gun available that you could swap out the rifled barrel for a shotgun barrel. Maybe Thompson Center? I think it was a percussion gun though.

[Bowjack]

Thompson did, but no longer does. I think it was the New Englander model.

[Betterluckytg]

Sounds like what you're looking for is a 20 gauge trade gun. Plenty accurate for deer to at least 50 yards w/ patched round ball and 80 grains or so of 2Fg. Same load w/ an ounce or ounce and an eighth of lead shot for everything from pheasant to doves, depending on shot size. Barrel length to suit you from 30 to 35 inches.