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Old July 16, 2013, 03:05 AM   #3
Bill Akins
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 28, 2007
Location: Hudson, Florida
Posts: 1,135
Hi Ultra12.

I'd recommend either .45 caliber, .50 caliber or .54 caliber. Because unless you mold your own projectiles, those will be the easiest calibers to find.

Since you want a flintlock for deer hunting, I'd recommend a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore. Because a rifled barrel will give you better hunting accuracy.

I'd also recommend a double set trigger. The advantage of a double set trigger over a single set trigger, is that when the hammer is cocked, when you function the rearmost trigger, that will "set" the front trigger so that it becomes a hair trigger and sets off with just the very slightest touch (if you have it adjusted that way). Once you "set" the trigger, do not leave it in that condition or drop it or jar it because it will go off. If you have set the trigger and then lost the opportunity for the shot, then raise your flintlock's frizzen so the flint can't strike it if your finger slips off the hammer, and then carefully lower the hammer all the way and then bring it back to half cocked, and don't leave the rifle in the set trigger condition.

The double set triggers are helpful because the less muscle motion you impart to the rifle as you function the set front firing trigger, the less your barrel will move and the more accurate your shot will be. I have mine set so sensitive that if I barely move the front trigger after it has been set, it will go off. You can adjust the sensitivity of how sensitive you want the "set" of the front trigger to be, on the CVA rifle. There are two screws that stick out the bottom of the trigger area that allow you to set that sensitivity.

Of course with a double set trigger you can also just give a longer & harder pull on the front trigger and it will fire without you using the rear trigger to "set" the front trigger to a hair trigger capacity. So a double set trigger will allow you to give a long or harder pull on the front trigger to set it off, (just as a single trigger rifle will do), and it also gives you the option of setting your front trigger to be a hair trigger by you pulling on the rear trigger first to set the front trigger.

This is good for deer hunting like you want to do, because you have the advantage to set the trigger if you have plenty of time to take a shot, or without setting the trigger, you can quickly just pull the front trigger if you have to take a hasty snap shot without time to set the trigger.

CVA made a fine percussion and flintlock rifle both in .50 caliber and .54 caliber that is called the "mountain rifle". I have that rifle and mine was originally in flintlock configuration. I changed it to percussion by buying a new barrel and a percussion lock. The CVA mountain rifle uses two wedges to hold the barrel to the stock rather than the usual one wedge. It is an accurate and very fine rifle and I am always amazed how accurate it is. You couldn't go wrong getting a CVA (Connecticut Valley Arms) mountain rifle in flintlock in either .50 or .54 caliber. You can find them pretty regularly at auction on gunbroker. More often in percussion but here and there in flintlock too.

Of course there are other brands out there too. But I am partial to the CVA mountain rifle since I have one and it is dead on accurate and I like the two wedges holding the barrel to the stock since I think it gives it greater stability. I use 50 grains of BP under the patched round 50 caliber ball. I could use more, up to 90 or slightly more grains if I wanted to. But I have found that 50 grains of BP gives me the best performance and accuracy and does the job just fine.

Here's a good tip to remember. One old timer way of gauging how much powder to use if you don't have a powder measure handy, is to lay the ball in the palm of your hand and then pour powder directly over the ball until the powder just covers the ball completely from sight. You will find that almost amounts to the same amount of powder grains as what the ball weighs in grains. I've tried that method a time or two just to see if it worked pouring powder over my 50 grain ball, and then carefully poured the powder out of my palm into a funnel going into my powder measure. It came out very close to 50 grains.

Hope this was helpful to you.


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"This is my Remy and this is my Colt. Remy loads easy and topstrap strong, Colt balances better and never feels wrong. A repro black powder revolver gun, they smoke and shoot lead and give me much fun. I can't figure out which one I like better, they're both fine revolvers that fit in my leather".
"To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target".

Last edited by Bill Akins; July 16, 2013 at 06:37 AM.
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