Fellow smoke makers,
I want to thank everyone who has posted such helpful information and advice in such a friendly manner. I've been shooting BP since I was a teenager during the Pleistocene, but it was with my g-grandfather's Mississippi Rifle that he carried on Sherman's Goodwill Tour of the South. Caplock plus Minie balls is pretty easy, but now I'm shooting a lovely Colonial Long Rifle made by Terry Williams at Early Rustic Arms. A 42" .54 Colerain barrel, flintlock. I've read every posting about patch material, lube, basic load, etc, and followed the general consensus on these issues, and my gun really likes the combination of linen patches cut at the muzzle, Hoppe's #9 Plus lube, and 70 grains ffg. I'd like to try Mr. Flintlock, and I'll get some of that, too. The gun has settled down nicely and shoots tight groups--that's where the humorous part of this posting comes in.
I went to the local range in Vancouver, WA, and there were some young bucks there with their plastic fantastic "zip guns" equipped with scopes. They were somewhat amused by all the work I had to go through to shoot, while they were cramming mags into their heaters and popping away. Two young Japanese guys were especially laughing at the old coot with the funny gun. I shot 8 rounds while those guys put about 30 or 40 rounds downrange. Then it was time to walk down to the targets and the snickering stopped. Their targets looked like they had been hit by shotguns, and mine had 8 rounds in a 2" group right on the bull. This was the best grouping I've had since starting to use the flinter, and it's thanks to the sage advice I've obtained in this forum that I've been able to come up with the best combination of powder/patch/ball. Thanks again, friends!
