Darn Good Historical Fun

Off topic posts are welcome in this forum!
No smear campaign, or you will be banned!

Moderator: Mike Everman

Post Reply
Mike Kirney
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:11 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: Round Lake Centre, Ontario, Canada

Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Kirney » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:45 am

Hey guys!

Just thought I would let you all know what combustion-related hobby has been occupying the time I formerly devoted to pulsejets ... shooting flintlock rifles! Flintlock rifles are great fun, powerful, accurate, and in Canada and the USA, completely unregulated. Black powder (the 'original' gunpowder) is hard to find but easy to buy (practically unregulated) in 'household' quantities. I bought a 25 lb. case of Goex in the spring from the one guy in 'eastern" Canada:

http://www.goexpowder.com/distributors.html

A one-pound can generally costs about $15 US and will supply about 100-130 shots. Black powder cannot be shipped in the mail. Some couriers will carry it for you but they charge a premium because it is classified as an explosive. Here is my reproduction .54 calibre Mortimer rifle by Davide-Pedersoli:

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/img/Arms/S.240.jpg

It has a slow twist barrel for shooting patched round balls. I just recently bought another flintlock, this one by Austin & Halleck. It has a faster-twist barrel for shooting heavier conical-type projectiles and is .50 cal:

http://www.austinhalleck.com/images/mtnfs.jpg

Flintlock rifles, along with the balls, bullets and other accessories are easily purchased online and mailed back and forth between Canada and the USA. I got one of my guns from these guys:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/

Flintlocks can be very reliable firearms and are accurate and deadly out to 100 yards and beyond. I can reliably fire both my guns 15 or 20 times before I have to clean the accumulated crud in the barrel, then they can be fired as many times again with no problems. It usually takes me about 2 minutes to re-load, aim, and fire but if I really push myself I can get an offhand shot off in just under a minute. It is interesting that the flintlock was by far the most popular firing mechanism for hand-held guns for over 200 years until percussion caps took over for about 40 years and then finally modern centrefire and rimfire cartridges were invented in the 1870s and 80s and have been the standard ever since.
Trig IS fun.

milisavljevic
Posts: 855
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:36 am
Antipspambot question: 125

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by milisavljevic » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:01 am

Hello Mike -- Welcome back!
Mike Kirney wrote:The Skinner engine is just too big for me to run economically right now.
I would need a long-term capital plan to make it worthwhile...
Did you sell the engine, or have you made any further progress with it?

Best regards,
M.

PS: I miss Tundra Man... =)
Last edited by milisavljevic on Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
no safe haven for merchant scum


for ye merchants who do the prop'r t'ing only if
ye be haul'd-up on charges b'fore ye ship-mates
an' threat'nd wit' forfeiture of all ye precious loot
hear this - so-called stand-up guys YE BE NOT

avast!
Cap'n M.

Mike Everman
Posts: 5007
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:25 am
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: santa barbara, CA
Contact:

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Everman » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:03 am

TUNDRA-MAN!
Hey, cool. Not much in to guns, but had to say HI. Ever get that big steam engine running? I was hoping you weren't gone as a result of making a 10 foot diameter jam jar...
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
__________________________

Mike Kirney
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:11 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: Round Lake Centre, Ontario, Canada

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Kirney » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:46 am

Thanks for the warm greetings, guys. I bought some steel pipe and fittings to make a water-tube boiler for my steam engine. I am probably going to build something in the spring.[/img]
Attachments
AUT_1060.JPG
(89.27 KiB) Downloaded 502 times
AUT_1061.JPG
AUT_1061.JPG (98.76 KiB) Viewed 9351 times
Trig IS fun.

Mike Kirney
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:11 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: Round Lake Centre, Ontario, Canada

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Kirney » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:20 pm

Here I am target shooting ...
Attachments
dec7a.wmv
(935.62 KiB) Downloaded 3005 times
Trig IS fun.

Mike Everman
Posts: 5007
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:25 am
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: santa barbara, CA
Contact:

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Everman » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:50 am

Cracka-boom!
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
__________________________

Mike Kirney
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:11 pm
Antipspambot question: 0
Location: Round Lake Centre, Ontario, Canada

re: Darn Good Historical Fun

Post by Mike Kirney » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:05 am

See Mike, flintlocks are great fun! Shooting them is sort of like shooting pool. You dial in your load, line up your shot, take a breath and shoot. If you worked everything out correctly, you will hit your target. The whole process takes about five minutes. Flintlocks are particularly fussy firarms, but once you have the wrinkles worked out (powder charge, patch thickness, ball diameter, etc.) they are great shooters. Humid days can be a problem because the black powder is very hygroscopic. Cold days are good because the air is usually very dry, unless the temperature is near the freezing/melting point. I had a better clip of the full loading sequence followed by an embarrasing misfire but it was too big to post here. I have a clip from the summertime posted on MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/mikekirney
Trig IS fun.

Mark
Posts: 10931
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:14 pm

Old ways

Post by Mark » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:24 pm

Hi Tundra from Spanish Moss. I guess this archaeological/historical post could/should go here with your flintlocks.
Mark
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48970
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48944

"This clearly points to a reverence for the technology, but also an intense anxiety about a power they could not have understood,"

"Listening to the whir of the disc drive and watching the blink of the cursor, we glimpsed, for a moment, life through a completely different set of eyes," Caspari said. "But, in the end, we realized have more in common with our shadowy ancestors than we might like to think."
Presentation is Everything

Mark
Posts: 10931
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:14 pm

The first cars

Post by Mark » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:39 pm

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52328

"Just because you're the first don't make you a genius."
Presentation is Everything

Post Reply