Anyone ever built a flintlock kit?

[Canuck Bob]

I'm hoping for real life experiences from anyone who tried this successful or not. My focus is a kit like Track of the Wolf produces in flintlock. However the more finished kits like the Lyman are also interesting. It will be a left hand side lock. My current flinter is a LH .54 Deerstalker which I like but it is a lot of rifle for range only. I no longer hunt. I'm handy enough and have the required tools.

Something a little more historical from the late flint era is interesting. Maybe a NW Trade or an English sporting rifle from a kit manufacturer like Track, TVM, Chambers, Etc.. I'm not a purist and will use modern vent liners, rifles instead of smoothbore, good iron sights and probably smaller bores like .36 or .45.

How did you handle the metal finishing?

How did you acquire the kit?

How long from start to finish?

Is it just more sensible to buy the rifle in the white or finished?

[catnthehat]

L&R furniture and lock, Hawken half stock metal finished with Laurel Mountain browning solution
Fast lock time and accurate
However I am a cap lock guy , sold the flinch lock!
Cat

[Canuck Bob]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

L&R furniture and lock, Hawken half stock metal finished with Laurel Mountain browning solution
Fast lock time and accurate
However I am a cap lock guy , sold the flinch lock!
Cat

Thanks Cat..., would you please outline why someone of your experience likes cap better? I bought a flintlock because I could order direct from the States. I missed this question above. Also was that L&R lock what you expected out of the box?

[petew]

Instead of the kits why not buy the parts . TOW has all the parts you need and you can make exactly what you want. I have used L&R locks and TC, Investarm /Lyman locks with no diference in function or speed. Real flints and Real Black powder are far more important than the lock maker.

My next flinter is going to be a Southern Mountain 36cal 42" barrel , full stock from walnut, if I get around to starting it.

[Canuck Bob]

Originally Posted by petew

Instead of the kits why not buy the parts . TOW has all the parts you need and you can make exactly what you want. I have used L&R locks and TC, Investarm /Lyman locks with no diference in function or speed. Real flints and Real Black powder are far more important than the lock maker.

My next flinter is going to be a Southern Mountain 36cal 42" barrel , full stock from walnut, if I get around to starting it.

Actually I am leaning this way. To get a lefty that I like it seems likely to be from a RH kit or plan modified to to LH. I almost bought a North Star West Chief's Grade LH musket kit but got sick and now they are gone.

Just ordered in English knapped flints and use only Goex BP.

I think I can cobble up the stock from a local blank and design it in a simple Trade or Poor Boy type in steel furniture. The Lyman GPR slow twist rifle is interesting and simple but it is heavy at over 9 lbs. in the specs list.

First the summer and fall are dedicated to the Deerstalker and learning black powder muzzleloading.

[Dean2]

I too am left handed. I shoot LH flinter guns and I have put more than a few together. From what you have written, this will be a paper puncher only. If correct a 40 Cal is what you want. They shoot well, buck wind far better than a 32 or 36, are are generally easier to get along with. That said, I love my 32, but I use it for small game more than paper.

If you are going to shoot paper, are you shooting offhand, trail walks, group shooting from rest or something else; as all of these makes the style of rifle you want change. For sure in the 40 caliber make sure you get a swamped barrel, more money but they balance far better and are significantly lighter than a straight or straight tapered barrel. Order the barrel with a normal breech, patent breeches are no advantage in a flintlock and are more difficult to clean well. If you are using liners order three, get them all drilled .060, just shy of 1/16. Great starting spot for fast ignition. You can always open it up a little more later on if you want.

Be careful what steel you buy in the barrel. Most ML are made of 12L14. It is very soft and while it stands up okay it is pretty much the same as stuff made 300 years ago. I much prefer barrels made of gun modern quality steel and they aren't all that much more money. Ed Rayl makes some barrels out of 8620 and he may be using 4150 as well. Jim McLemore uses certified for gun barrels grade 4150 as does Sleepy Hills Barrels.
Rice make some barrels that are 4150 as does Green Mountain if I remember correctly.
Rice would be my preferred supplier due to quality and broad choice of contours but any of them that makes the better quality steel barrels is just fine as long as they can so the length, twist and contour/swamp you are looking for.

As far as stock making goes, I would recommend you order a pre-carved stock that fits the barrel and Lock you get. There are lots of places that will do this very inexpensively once you know what style gun you want to build. Also, get barrel wedges instead of pins. The pins make removing the barrel a true pain in the butt.

Chambers makes EXCELLENT fully tuned locks, I also have some L and Rs because they make lots of lefty's but they must be tuned by an expert to get the most out of them.

If you tell me exactly what type of target shooting you want to mostly do I can tell you what type of styles to look into closer.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Canuck Bob

Thanks Cat..., would you please outline why someone of your experience likes cap better? I bought a flintlock because I could order direct from the States. I missed this question above. Also was that L&R lock what you expected out of the box?

Dunno why, same as some like pumps over semi autos or like me, prefer single shots to repeating rifles
L&R locks (and Silers) are fantastic
I shot a Lyman Hawken for a few years and it was a good gun after I tuned it up
The biggest complaint I have with some of the Itslian locks , especially the coil spring locks is under heavy charges they can come back to half cock.
The triggers are also not as good quality or as accurate and consistent but they can be toned to an extent
Cat