When Did Flintlocks Fall out of Favor?

[Smokey Plainsman]

For those purveyors and students of original rifles, in the United States of America, when would you say flintlocks fell out of favor in favor of percussion guns?

I know percussions were available in the very early 1820s, but were flintlocks still being built in the USA for a while after that? Anyone have any examples of late era AMERICAN flintlock rifles? Just curious about this.

Thanks!

-Smokey

[Dennis Glazener]

In western NC, and probably the adjoining mountain areas, flintlocks were popular and still being made well into the 1840's and still being used even to the early 1900's.

My GG Uncle Mathew Gillespie was a bear hunter and he made a Flintlock bear pistol for himself that is dated 1846. I always thought he showed his faith in flintlocks when he chose a Golcher flintlock for his personal hunting pistol. He certainly had access to and experience in building percussion rifles.
Dennis

[ron w]

you can't run out of caps with a flint gun and you can be runnin' from a bear, trip and fall on a rock pile and most likely find a rock to light your gun off. with a cap gun, if you're out of caps,....you're just bear food.   

[Ky-Flinter]

Never!

-Ron

[WKevinD]

Ron, ya beat me to it.

Kevin

[Mike Brooks]

I have seen a NC flint lock rifle that dates ca. 1850.

[mountainman70]

Don't believe I ever heard of it happening. You should know some of us would 'spond in such a fashion. Them cat'rige guns aint much,neither. hahahha Dave F

[oldtravler61]

   What's a percussion ? Why such mention of such a thing is blatant disregard in the highest order....!  Oldtravler

[E.vonAschwege]

I agree with the assessment of 1850s in more remote parts of this country.  Consider the US military didn't switch from Flintlock to Percussion until 1842...

If I recall correctly, the last shipment of flintlock guns imported to this country from Birmingham England was in the 1880s.  If you want expand beyond this country, the Belgians were making flintlock guns for trade in the Congo in the 1930s. 

-Eric

[Smokey Plainsman]

Thanks, guys!

[David R. Pennington]

Meshach Browning, (born in 1781) evidently preferred flintlock rifles well into the percussion period. He made his living hunting deer, bear, wolves and panthers on the MD/VA border. In his autobiography he relates a story about getting into a scrape with a wounded panther because his flintlock had gotten ‘out of order’ and he had borrowed his son’s percussion rifle. After the first shot he lost the caps out of the cap box into the snow.
He also evidently had great confidence in his flintlock’s reliability evidenced by his practice of crawling into a bear’s den with a candle and a flintlock to shoot bears.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

The British were making flintlock trade guns for the North American trade dating at 1865.  I have an example of one in the shop currently that was found in the shallows of a local late about 12 years ago.

[Elnathan]

I agree with the assessment of 1850s in more remote parts of this country.  Consider the US military didn't switch from Flintlock to Percussion until 1842...

I believe I read recently that the reason that the military didn't switch to the percussion system earlier was due to the fact that there was no domestic manufacturer of caps before then, and prior to the last couple years of the 1830s all percussion caps were manufactured in Europe (notably, by Sellier and Bellot in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire). While it wasn't too difficult to acquire caps on the civilian market during the later 20s and throughout the 30s, the Army was understandably reluctant to convert to the percussion system until a supply chain that wasn't susceptible to disruption by a naval blockade could be set up. Pretty much the same story with the British military, too.

[Bob Roller]

The flintlock never went entirely out of use and Walter Cline mentions a man
whose name was L.G.(Daddy)Moore who was bear hunting with one in the 1920's
in Tennessee.I have never heard of large numbers of buffalo taken with a flintlock
but by then muzzle loaders in general were not major factors. Today they are a
real sporting gun and enjoyed by many who will use nothing else for hunting or
target shooting.The muzzle loading revival that started in 1933 was mostly with
cap locks and it took a long time to get useable quality,newly made locks for
those interested in flintlocks as a target or sporting gun.

Bob Roller

[Joe S]

when would you say flintlocks fell out of favor in favor of percussion guns?

As far as I can tell from reading period literature, caplocks were common in the mid 1830’s and maybe nearly ubiquitous by the 1840’s, at least in the far west. Joe Meek relates an incident in the early 1830’s where his companion, who was armed with a caplock, was killed by Blackfeet. Meek was carried a flintlock at that time.

I think that it’s interesting and instructive that people such as Jim Bridger and Kit Carson were using caplocks by about the 1840’s or so. Apparently they considered them superior to flintlocks, otherwise they would have stayed with the flintlock.