|
Congratulations on your first flintlock. Now you're ready to fight off the lobsterbacks and save your cabin, womenfolk, livestock and farm.
It's a tricky thing about black powder. You have to find the right patch and ball combination which will perform accurately in your rifle. This entails a lot of work and patience. Some buckskinners (or longhunters) just go to the fabric store and buy linen for patches. If you go this route, try at least three different ball sizes, and scrub out your bore between groups. You also want to try varying charges of powder to see what works most accurately in your rifle. Once you've determined the best powder/patch/ball combination, then you shoot to determine the trajectory of your gun at varying distances. That's the joy of blackpowder (pre-Civil War) rifles which shoot the patched round ball.
Contact the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association and find a Rendezvous near you. You can learn a lot from talking to those guys.
|