FRANKENSTEIN SHOOTS/ Need Help

[LURCHWV@BJS]

  Took her out for her first Shot today.  I'm not used to a Rock Lock yet.  25yrds does real well.  Can't find the paper at 50yrds   I am going to get a really big target after supper and will have more then.



   Rich

[LURCHWV@BJS]

  I went back out after supper took the boyz let them shoot they're .22's

  Anyway  I took a target 36in tall 24in wide drew two lines and held dead center.  10 shots never even hit the wood.   Took one shot aimed about 2ft in front of target hit 6in from the bottom but dead center.   I know I flinch a little when I touch her off, but would it affect it this much at fifty yards?

    HELP

  Rich

[A.Merrill]

    YES!  Put it on a bench with sand bags.    AL

[Berks Liberty]

Definately bench it!  Even a little flinch at that distance will throw the shot off. 

Jason

[Shovelbuck]

Get your 25 yard working before even thinking about 50. What do the patches look like?

[l.cutler]

I agree, shoot from a bench, work on a load and get that group down to an inch or less.  Then move it out farther.

[billd]

Rich,  If i remember your original post when you started this gun wasn't the barrel old or used or something?  How does the bore feel when loading?  Any loose or rough spots?
Bill

[Roger Fisher]

Well now young fella, don't like to tinkle on your parade; but that beastie should group under 1 inch from a decent bench rest at 25 yds.  At your stage of the game don't waste your powder and ball trying to sight her in offhand.  (Some lads can in fact do that after many yrs in the sport)

Try her again, using a black block on white/white paper using a 6' O'clock hold.  Your eye will center it right and left.  This enables you to hold the same each shot!

No flinching allowed.   You will get used to her!

[LURCHWV@BJS]

Sandbags and 25yrds it will be.  I LOVE ROCKLOCKS.  Wanna get rid of all my percussion guns now. Definately gotta wear safety glasses, keep closing my eyes just as the flint strikes frizzen.

billd,
  The barrel is old yes but never fired.  Cleaned it out with Ballistol and a Scotch Brite pad. Nice & tight yet relitively easy to load..

  Just in case anyone was wondering my cheek bones are still fine even after 100grains.  She never moves.  Shoulder a little sore though,  Never went above 60gr in my .40

    Thanx  Rich

[Rootsy]

100 grains?  Dial that puppy back a little bit...

[Dale Halterman]

If you think you have a flinch, there is something you can try.

Load the gun yourself but don't prime it. Sit down at the bench at let a friend or one of your boys prime it  (or not) while you look the other way.

If you flinch, it will show up very dramatically when the rifle isn't primed. A session of letting some one else prime (or not) may cure the flinch.

The other thing you can do is practice dry firing. I  have made wooden "flints" for all my flintlocks and dry fire them regularly. Pick out a target - I use a spot on a fence out my back door - and stand and go through the whole breathing, sighting, squeezing routine. The wooden flint saves wearing out flints and frizzens. Good practice in addition to helping cure a flinch.

Ditto what the others said about sighting in off a bench. Let us know how you make out.

Dale H

[Don Getz]

Rich.......looking at that 25 yard target, looks like you shot with five balls in the barrel......no, no, you must shoot them
individually.   Just joking.    I would back off on that 100 grain load, really don't need that much.   Try some 60 - 70 grain
loads, find out how it will shoot.    It is possible that eventually it will like 100 grains, but I would not start at that point.
Rest the gun on sandbags and concentrate on the sights and target, don't worry about that flash off to the side, it won't
hurt ya.........Don

[whitebear]

What I did to get over the flinch from the pan firing was to only prime the pan, on load in the barrel, and sight and flash the pan.  Keep doing this until you don't notice the flash and can still hold the sights on the target.  This won't be a real quick fix but within about the second session you should notice improvement.

[bgf]

Dry firing helps with flinch as mentioned.  If you have a .22 or an air rifle, practice with them between trips -- even better than dry-firing in my opinion, although you should dry-fire Frankie also.  Be careful off the bench -- some otherwise good offhand rifles can be bad actors on the bench as far as kicking or slapping you from that position, although it is usually the ones with more curved/pointed butts that do it.  Bruises don't help flinches:).

[Daryl]

.530" ball and .015" patch will sometimes work in a button rifled .54 barrel, ie: rifling no deeper than .004", ie: TC.  For a real round ball barrel with deep grooves, you need a thicker patch or much larger ball.  Roger uses a .015" patch in his .45, but he's using a ball that is .004" LARGER than the bore. That's why it works and that's why he won the chunk match this year - (he's also a good shot - shhhhhh).

[frogwalking]

Rich,

What kind of patch material are you using?   I had some store bought material that was too thin.  My wife had this old hand towel that miked a good bit thicker so I tried it.  My target, using her towel as patching, looked a lot like yours.  I ordered 4 different thicknesses of bulk patch material from Track or some similar outfit and found one I can load without a hammer that shoots about an inch at 25 yds and 2 or so at 50.  Not as good as some, but not too bad for an old guy who can't see s__t. 

[JohnnyM]

Rich,
A lot of good advice given to you.  Bench/steady rest, back off on the powder, check your fired patches, and practice dry fire.
The only suggestion I can offer is, if you dry fire, do so with your gun unloaded.  A loaded but unprimed flintlock can still fire and rather consistently, too!
My loaded flintllock rifle gunnes can fire UNPRIMED 3 out 5 times.

With open sights,  I was taught, rear sight, front sight, target, FRONT SIGHT!  When one stays focused on the front sight, that fire coming out the side ain't near as bad.  You'll get used to it.

Working up the right load for your gunne is a lot of fun.  Getting good with it is fun too!  Each one is a different character (just like those old Italian motorcycles I used to ride).  Have fun!

Regards,
Johnny