Flintlock turkey

[577SXS]

I got my first turkey with my flintlock smooth bore. The gun is a Chambers Edward Marshall with my own twist to it. I had built another Edward Marshall in 58 caliber and bought the 20 gauge barrel to switch when turkey season came in. Well I decided to just build a complete gun instead. First a hate finger rails on trigger guards so I reshaped the trigger guard and I'm not a real fan of patch boxes either. The stock had a little extra wood where patch box was supposed to go so I shaped it to mimic a patch box and cut a couple of turkeys into it. The barrel is a 20 gauge Rice with a jug choke for Full choke. I also put a peep sight on it because I can't see rear sights anymore.
The turkey was shot at about 12 yards. The bird was coming to me through tall Rye on the edge of a food plot. I shot as soon as his head broke the cover. When I shot a bird got up and flew which scared me because I hadn't seen the second bird. I couldn't see my dead bird on ground for the smoke! The load was 100 grs of Swiss 2F and 1 1/2 oz of a 50/50 mix of #6 & #7 lead shot. Wad column was 1/8" hard dry card, two 1/4" lubed felt over powder and a 1/8" cork wad over shot. SMOKED him! So much fun. NO 3 inch Magnum tungsten shot with red dot sights. Before the flintlock I did most of my turkey hunting with an 1870s WW Greener damascus hammer shotgun. I'm afraid the Greener isn't going to go turkey hunting much anymore.

[577SXS]

And I forgot to mention this was and old bird with long spurs but his beard had rooted off and was only about 2 inches long.

[Greg Pennell]

Nice bird, and a nice gun!  Congrats on both!  Our season in Kentucky opens next weekend, and I hope to do the same.

Greg

[acorn20]

Nice looking bird!  Congrats!

[Daryl]

Very nice bird and good looking 'gun'.

[Tilefish]

Congratulations on a beautiful bird. Much more rewarding than killing one with all the modern equipment folks use now a days.

[577SXS]

Thanks everyone. I'm afraid flintlocks are like any gun for a gun nut they are an addiction once you figure them out. I never thought I'd own a flintlock much less build one. Now I'm about to finish No. 5 and have another semi carved blank, barrel and lock on the way.

[John SMOthermon]

Congrats ! Well done.

[Mike Lyons]

Nice turkey!!  Is that a Dale Johnson lock?

[577SXS]

The lock is Early Germanic from Chambers. This was an Edward Marshall kit less barrel from Chambers. I ordered the barrel separately from Rice.

[Bob McBride]

Pretty Tom and gun. Well done. I love taking a Turkey...

[577SXS]

Got my second bird with flintlock. Why do they always come in behind you. This bird actually came within 6 feet of me but was directly behind me. I was sitting beside a huge oak tree near the river bank. He finally circled around to my left and I was able to get a shot at 16 yards. Clak,bang ,flop!

[stikshooter]

NICE bird and a nicer bird and really nice flinter ,building it makes it even better !

[Skychief]

577, don't know how I missed this thread earlier, but, congratulations on BOTH birds!!!

Just great!  Appreciate your sharing with us.  I can't see enough of these hunting posts.

Best regards, Skychief.

[wolf]

beautiful fellers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Percy]

Well done, those are real nice birds. Good looking flintlock too.

Percy