Author Topic: Flintlock shooting  (Read 2243 times)

Offline hortonstn

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 640
Flintlock shooting
« on: March 06, 2023, 03:33:47 AM »
Do you ever feel something hit your face when shooting just like dust
Shooting LH rifle Left handed?

Offline TDM

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 545
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2023, 05:13:25 AM »
I'm right handed and shoot right handed flints, but yes, if you watch slow motion video of flint ignition there are sparks/particles flying everywhere. Luckily the design of locks throws most of this to the side and slightly forward. I personally have never been hit, but I know others that have. Eye protection is important, sometimes I forget, but I shouldn't.

Online Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14972
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2023, 06:04:57 AM »
I will not shoot any muzzleloader without eye protection and you shouldn't either.
My wife has never shot a flinter, but back in the 70's caught a tiny piece of cap in her
right eyelid. She had a small green spot there for 30 years, and one day, it just fell out/
off while washing her face. No mark, just gone.
Had her eye not been closed at ignition, that cap frag would have pierced her eyeball.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline TDM

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 545
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2023, 06:50:43 AM »
I will not shoot any muzzleloader without eye protection and you shouldn't either.
My wife has never shot a flinter, but back in the 70's caught a tiny piece of cap in her
right eyelid. She had a small green spot there for 30 years, and one day, it just fell out/
off while washing her face. No mark, just gone.
Had her eye not been closed at ignition, that cap frag would have pierced her eyeball.

Can't disagree on that.

Offline alacran

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2100
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2023, 01:52:41 PM »
First time I went to Friendship, I was startled that the range allowed shooters to shoot without safety glasses or hearing protection.
Actually, I was dumbfounded by the stupidity.  Just from a liability standpoint this is stupid. Really made me question the credibility of the organization and its leadership.
There is no weapon that I will shoot without safety glasses of some sort. All the ranges that I shoot at will not allow you to shoot without safety glasses and hearing protection.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Pukka Bundook

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3342
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2023, 06:13:05 PM »
People are grown up, so I would not presume to Tell them what to do.
The trouble nowadays, is everyone is telling everyone what to do.
I feel there is enough of this in the world already.

Just my six penneth.

This is not directed at any of the above posts, just my personal take on shooting and protection.

all best,
R.

Offline Frank

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 966
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2023, 06:52:14 PM »
I have had more problems with a percussion gun than a flintlock, especially with the drum and nipple arrangement. Always getting cap fragments hitting my forehead.

Offline Wingshot

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 223
  • Brand new NMLRA member
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2023, 08:05:45 PM »
Like Frank described I too have experienced blown back shards of percussion caps to the face and even the hand. Flintlocks do shave steel and micro particles of the flint do fly but usually down and away. Eye protection is and should be a no brainer.

Offline smylee grouch

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7629
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2023, 08:22:45 PM »
Yes, protect your eyes and hearing. When you have macular degeneration and can only see with one eye in the first place this is especially important. I have had cap fragments pit the plastic lens's of my glasses in the past.

Online Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14972
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2023, 09:04:25 PM »
Interesting happenstance with a good lock is I've never had a cap frag with a leaf-spring lock, either the one on my .69 & with ANY load, nor the L&R"Hawken" lock on my wife's rifle.
With ANY load, the hammer is always 'down' on the slightly expanded cap after the shot. I well remember the bouncing up to 1/2 cock on the TC rifle I had.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline ScottNE

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 183
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2023, 10:41:26 PM »
People are grown up, so I would not presume to Tell them what to do.
The trouble nowadays, is everyone is telling everyone what to do.
I feel there is enough of this in the world already.

Just my six penneth.

This is not directed at any of the above posts, just my personal take on shooting and protection.

all best,
R.

I tend to agree, but one also needs to consider each instance on its own merit -- telling someone what they can or can't eat, bullocks. Telling someone they can't drive like they're in a video game, pulling idiotic stunts around other human lives, by all means read them the riot act.

I personally wouldn't shoot any type of firearm without hearing and eye protection. While I'm not going to scold anyone who doesn't, I keep spares in my bag to at least offer. I am somewhat surprised that the norm in primitive shooting seems to be foregoing eye/ear protection, as opposed to a highly-developed obsession with safety measures in most other veins of the shooting sports.

Offline Pukka Bundook

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3342
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2023, 01:31:23 AM »
I think you defined it better than me, Scott.

Offline Darkhorse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1657
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2023, 07:55:51 AM »
I mostly shoot while wearing a cap of some sort. On several occasions when shooting with it off I have had fragments hit me in the forehead but never (yet) anywhere else. Not only do I wear eye and ear protection when shooting I have occasionally wore safety glasses when deer hunting.
American horses of Arabian descent.

Offline Bob Roller

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9301
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2023, 06:56:16 PM »
Interesting happenstance with a good lock is I've never had a cap frag with a leaf-spring lock, either the one on my .69 & with ANY load, nor the L&R"Hawken" lock on my wife's rifle.
With ANY load, the hammer is always 'down' on the slightly expanded cap after the shot. I well remember the bouncing up to 1/2 cock on the TC rifle I had.
That TC was adjusting for the reloading process............wasn't it? ???
Bob Roller

Online Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14972
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #14 on: March 07, 2023, 09:03:28 PM »
A mere 80gr. 1970's GOEX 2F would throw the lock up to 1/2 cock. Of course there was narry any cap left on the nipple.
That was with a .495" ball and .022" denim patching. Seems to me, TC said the max. load was 110gr. but my rifle shot
best with 80gr. 2F. It did not like 3F at all.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline taterbug

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 154
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2023, 08:27:33 PM »
One of my cousins down south repaired quite a few of those tumblers that didn't survive the 'half-cock rebound'.  Apparently replacement parts were in short supply back then.  he said the worst offenders were those that loaded to the point of 'full-cock rebound'.  A badge of honor in the '70's?

Offline John SMOthermon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 538
  • John SMOthermon
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #16 on: March 11, 2023, 06:12:40 AM »
Is hammer blow back not a sign of nipple wear?
Smo

Good Luck & Good Shootin'

Online Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14972
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #17 on: March 11, 2023, 06:41:14 AM »
Yes, John. In a good lock that the hammer does not move off the cap with a new nipple, that would be true. A badly worn nipple could allow the hammer to lift off
the cap.
In a lock with a weak and/or coil spring main spring, lifting off the cap with a new nipple is normal, when using hunting or accuracy type-loads.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Nessmuck

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2023, 07:01:14 AM »
People are grown up, so I would not presume to Tell them what to do.
The trouble nowadays, is everyone is telling everyone what to do.
I feel there is enough of this in the world already.

Just my six penneth.

This is not directed at any of the above posts, just my personal take on shooting and protection.

all best,
R.


Couldn’t have said it better myself. Heck...here in the “ Live Free or Die “ state of NH....we can still ride a motorcycle with out a helmet.  And drink water out of a hose.

Offline Jeff Murray

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 573
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #19 on: March 14, 2023, 11:00:28 PM »
I have worn glasses since I was a kid so that is easy.  I also wear ear plugs at the range, But, I do not wear ear plugs while hunting.  That would defeat the ability to hear what the surroundings are telling you.  Perhaps an acceptable exception to the blanket statements on ear protection?

Offline mushka

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 57
Re: Flintlock shooting
« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2023, 05:57:49 PM »
I don't shoot any kind of gun without wearing glasses.  Only have one good eye and want to keep it.