Planning a Kentucky Flintlock Pistol build

[Swede Creek]

Where to start?

OK   Finished my .50 hawken (Pecatonia kit, from blank), so now with winter months keeping me near the shop, looking at building a Kentucky Flintlock.   Not wedded tightly to period accuracy, mainly looking for a pistol for target practice, small game and plinking, hench the desire to have a longer barrel.

I have a small L & R lock which should work fine, but nothing else.

So #1: question is: Barrel?   Where can I get a long(ish) 12-13" .50 barrel?    With one that long, would a swamped barrel be advised?  Or w/ .50 would a straight hex 13/16 or 7/8 be OK?  (not too heavy?)

# 2:  Stock?   I see a lot of these done in curly maple, but I have some local grown seasoned walnut blanks as well as some nicely figured Oak slabs.    Wondered what you'd think of a oak stocked kentucky pistol?    Would be looking to stain it a reddish brown..... but try to keep the oak grain visible.    I do think there is some nice figure in the Walnut blanks, so I could go that way as well.   I like the idea of having a "Locally sourced" stock.

# 3:   Trim?   Trigger guard, butt guard, thimbles, etc?     What are your favorite go to vendors for these?

I'm sure I'm forgetting to ask important things, but wanted to toss this out to get your input!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Swede Creek!

I

[ed lundquist]

Swede, I am currently working on a walnut stocked 12"swamped 50 from Rice and think it is going to work out nicely. The couple straight barrels I have done do not leave me wanting more although they do shoot well I prefer swamped or oct / round. Wood is your choice, maple, walnut or cherry are my choices, I have no desire to fight with a piece of oak. Furniture is very subjective, brass probably offers the most options. There are good tutorials here on making pipes, butcaps and guards from scratch, search and ye shall find. MBS, TOTW, and this forum are good places to look for parts, need something, ask. Sights and triggers can make or break a gun so look at some past posts for ideas there as well. I enjoy building pistols from a blank and have found the variations possible to be addicting. I haven't made my best gun yet, my last one is my favorite till I finish the next one. Good luck, have fun, it's your gun.

[Van]

    I am working on a curly maple flint pistol, and barrels were the hardest to find.  I emailed everyone I could think of, and Pecatonica was the only one who had one.  Theirs was a 12" .45 Green Mt.  Every other part was found at Track of the Wolf.  Since my stock was 10", I cut and crowned this one to 10".   I just got the Small Siler Lock inlet along with the barrel tang.  The barrels were $125.  They list a 12'' long, 7/8'' 50cal. but don't know if they are in stock.

[Bigmon]

I bought one of those Clay Smith pistol kits.  I have not yet started it but did check it out when it came.  Pretty hard to beat for completeness and quality for the price.
It includes a small Siler lock.  You could always just sell that L&R lock towards the kit.
It is a nice project.  Still lots of work to do, yet not extreemly chalanging??

[Swede Creek]

Swede, I am currently working on a walnut stocked 12"swamped 50 from Rice and think it is going to work out nicely. The couple straight barrels I have done do not leave me wanting more although they do shoot well I prefer swamped or oct / round. Wood is your choice, maple, walnut or cherry are my choices, I have no desire to fight with a piece of oak. Furniture is very subjective, brass probably offers the most options. There are good tutorials here on making pipes, butcaps and guards from scratch, search and ye shall find. MBS, TOTW, and this forum are good places to look for parts, need something, ask. Sights and triggers can make or break a gun so look at some past posts for ideas there as well. I enjoy building pistols from a blank and have found the variations possible to be addicting. I haven't made my best gun yet, my last one is my favorite till I finish the next one. Good luck, have fun, it's your gun.

Ed, appreciate the input.    Thanks for the warning on the oak.    Actually had not fully thought through the challenge of chewing that ornery stuff.   

Do have another question about barrels:  Swamped or straight?    What would you say would  be the advantage of a swamped barrel v.s. a straight one?    Again, my main interest would be accuracy.     Also, I have never inlet (I plan to start with a blank) a swamped barrel, so would that be a bridge too far for me?  (relative newbie on in letting barrels).

Thanks again for the infol

[alacran]

You say that accuracy is your main interest. Accuracy for what, hunting, target shooting? If it is for target shooting, a .50 cal is not the best choice.
If you are planning to shoot NMLRA matches, you may want to get a copy of their rules.
I assume the small L&R lock you have is a Bailes. That is a great little lock, but is challenging to make a simple single trigger for it.
A straight 11-inch long 13/16th barrel in .45 will yield a pistol in the 2.35 pound range. A .40 barrel will be slightly heavier.
Weight is a concern for shooting one handed.

[Daryl]

I would support the thought for a fast twist 18" to 22" .45 bl., & about the same twist in a .50.
That said, Taylor's .60 Hawken pistol with a single set trigger is very accurate, also 18" twist(I think) & only uses 25 to 30gr. powder. We
have both shot perfect scores at 25 yards with it, standing 2 handed, of course. That's 5 shots in very little over 1" on centres. we were
also younger and could see then. LOL

[Swede Creek]

I already have a mold for my .50.   So for simplicity (and to avoid having 2 visibly similar but quite different balls), I'm aiming for the .50

I do not plan on shooting in sanctioned matches, It would be pleasure shooting (have two young grandsons) and burning powder and punching tin cans (and if lucky an occasional bunny rabbit).

[smylee grouch]

I have an 8 inch 40, pistol twist by Don Getz that shoots into 1 inch at 25 by anyone with good eyes. Its a 13/16 barrel and has about ideal balance. Real easy on powder and lead.