Late Flintlock History?

[Smokey Plainsman]

Does anyone have any information, articles, names of books, research experience, etc. on the late usage and manufacture of flintlock rifles in the United States of America? The caplocks came out in the 1820s from my research... but for how long after that were flintlocks still being built and how long after that were there people who stuck to the flintlocks instead of the new percussion guns?

I’m just curious about the late usage of flintlocks in our dear country! Thanks for any info or thoughts. Take care! 

Dillon

[JV Puleo]

I'm not sure that is an answerable question. One could say that they never went completely out of use but that is stretching the point. The further from the eastern centers of manufacturing and importation (all of the earliest percussion caps were imported) the more likely the flintlock would stay in service. It was the major problem of transporting supplies of caps to remote western garrisons, who would be effectively unarmed without them, that made the Ordnance Department hesitant to replace the flintlock until 1842. By then, caps were being produced domestically. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say that the adoption of percussion by the Ordnance probably marks the point where it was thought that the supply of caps west of the Mississippi would be reliable. That probably marks the end of the flintlock era in civilian hands as well although we can be certain that some continued to use them well past that date.

[Craig Wilcox]

JV, that was an outstanding and logical answer to the question. I admire your knowledge of history - top notch!

[Hudnut]

Not US information, but I have a copy of the page from the James Wilkinson & Son's record book where my 16ga flintlock shotgun is listed.  September, 1822.  Of the 15 guns on the page, two thirds were percussion.  This was London, and the patrons would have been fashionable.
I suspect that in more isolated parts of North America, flintlock guns were still in use later than would be expected.  HBC was still having flint trade guns made into the 1870s, although they were falling from favour.  I lived in the Canadian Arctic for thirty years, and in the 1970s there were elderly Inuit who had fired percussion guns; one had seen a flintlock in use.

[Kevin]

Greetings Everyone,

A book about the United States western fur trade includes a statement about percussion guns being rare in 1830 but common in 1840.  I'll have to find it on my bookshelves to get the exact citation.  I know it was a publication by one of the Mr. Hanson's associated with the Museum of the Fur Trade.

Kevin

[Seth Isaacson]

I'm not sure that is an answerable question. One could say that they never went completely out of use but that is stretching the point. The further from the eastern centers of manufacturing and importation (all of the earliest percussion caps were imported) the more likely the flintlock would stay in service. It was the major problem of transporting supplies of caps to remote western garrisons, who would be effectively unarmed without them, that made the Ordnance Department hesitant to replace the flintlock until 1842. By then, caps were being produced domestically. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say that the adoption of percussion by the Ordnance probably marks the point where it was thought that the supply of caps west of the Mississippi would be reliable. That probably marks the end of the flintlock era in civilian hands as well although we can be certain that some continued to use them well past that date.

Excellent response.

They certainly fell from prominence with the widespread adoption of the percussion cap, but we know that flintlocks still saw limited use in the Civil War and some stubborn fools use them even today!

[JV Puleo]

I have a friend who has done considerable research into the Boston gun trade and one of the things he noticed was how fast the percussion system seems to have taken over. Boston, of course, is an Eastern city and major seaport as well but nevertheless from about 1822 to 1825 Boston gun retailers all featured caps in their advertisements as if they were the latest & greatest invention. After 1825 they are simply taken for granted. One of the minor features of converted guns that seems to have been consistently overlooked by collectors is the style of the percussion hammer. Based on the specimens I know of that can be dated quite precisely, the earliest hammers are flat and rather wide. These persisted until about 1828 or maybe 1830. After that, we see the absolutely conventional percussion hammer we are all familiar with.

[Bill Paton]

Historical Rambler,
Count me a stubborn fool.    Bill Paton

[Ky-Flinter]

Historical Rambler,
Count me a stubborn fool.    Bill Paton

I am guilty as charged as well.

-Ron

[Dennis Glazener]

Aye, me too!
Dennis

[David R. Pennington]

Meshach Browning (born 1781) in his biography “Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter”, (my favorite book) relates a great fight between him, his dog and a panther in which his dog lost an eye. The whole scenario caused by his rifle, obviously a flintlock, being “out of order” and using his son’s borrowed percussion rifle. His first shot missing the treed panther’s head, he tried to quickly reload and spilled all the caps but one in the snow. The next shot wounding the animal and no more caps.
Here is an example of a man who depended on his rifle for his living who still preferred the flintlock for practical reasons. The panther was eventually dispatched with a club.

[David R. Pennington]

Correction, my second favorite book THE book being no. 1.

[JV Puleo]

I confess to preferring flintlocks myself. I haven't gone shooting in years but were I to again, I'd take my Henry Pratt NE rifle that was always my favorite shooter. That said, I do have a couple of percussion guns I shot regularly, one of which is a converted M1816 Common Rifle. But, the fascination with things antiquarian is a modern phenomenon, at least for the general public. I don't think we should read it backward into the past. The charm, to me at least, of antique arms, is that they were working tools in their day and still work today if you know how to use them.

[Natureboy]

  The wisdom of Disney:  Way back when, Disney made a serialized show about "Andy Burnett the Mountain Man.  Burnett was a greenhorn, who joined a gang of mountain men.  He had a flinter that had belonged to Daniel Boone, and because the caplock was all the rage then, he wanted to convert it.  A grizzled old hand in the brigade advised against it, for not only was it an historic piece, he could start a fire with it!  He then proceeded to do just that, sprinkling some powder on the tinder, and lit it using the pan of his rifle.  An interesting bit of an archaic skill, unusual for a television program back then. Of course, I was thereafter hooked on having a flintlock long rifle, and at last, a few years ago, I was able to purchase a custom-made colonial version.  Also of course, I've started a fire with it, just like I saw in that ancient TV show.

[flinchrocket]

Personally I like flints, however,if you squirrel hunt with one sooner or later you will get a shower of hot sparks in your face.

[David R. Pennington]

Count me in the stubborn fool category as well.

[mountainman70]

Yup, mee too. Been called worse, so be it. Dave