[greyfox]

For everyone out there who owns both a percussion and flintlock rifle which one do you prefer to shoot with ? I own 4 caplocks and I'm thinkin about buying a flintlock, would a lymans trade rifle make a good first flintlock rifle, I've heard people say you want a rifle with a good lock. is the Lman trade rifle a descent flintlock. thanks for all your input.

 

[cayugad]

I own a Lyman Trade Rifle in .54 caliber. Being a flintlock, I would rate the lock as very good, very fast and a great sparker. I have a RMC touch hole liner in mine. It likes 110 grains of 2f powder for the most part.

In that picture, the "Butch's" bottle is isopropyl alcohol for swabbing the bore of the rifle. The green pump spray bottle is moose milk for spritzing the patches, you can see my cheap little blue patch knife, and the balls are home cast by me. And of course my strip of patch material.

I tried it at 35 yards off a bench rest with roundball. Granted this is 35 yards, but that's an average shot where I hunt. I think out of my blind I would stand a pretty good chance.

This rifle will also shoot Powerbelts pretty good. This large conical would put a world of hurt on anything you shot at with it.

It also shoots sabots real well. Of course this is not any real distance, and I have never shot the sabots at long range. BUT at my hunting range, I would be comfortable shooting at ... say a deer.

The Lyman Trade Rifle is well balanced, easy to handle, and like I said, a real fast lock. I shot a deer with a roundball a couple years back with it. The deer was feeding, but facing me. So when she had her head down, I shot her at 52 yards, through the neck. The ball continued through her brisket, down along her stomach, exited and broke her back leg before it disappeared. The deer never took a step of course. So a .54 caliber roundball will get the job done.

 

[Gil Martin]

I own both

My strong preference is for the flintlock. The Lyman Trade Rifle is an excellent choice in either .50 or .54 caliber. I took a deer with the .50 using a roundball. The shot was through the lungs at 70 yards and he took six steps and dropped. Check out the used gun racks and see what is available. Be sure to carefully check the bore because all muzzleloaders were not properly cleaned. All the best...
Gil

 

[Rangr44]

I like a rocklock, provided the lock's of good quality, along with good flints.

I'm sorry now, that I sold a .50 Austin & Halleck Mountain Rifle rocklock, that exhibited virtually instantaneous ignition - waaay faster than any caplock I've ever owned, on a par with a good cartridge rifle.

.

 

[markkw]

I'd say the percussion can be a lot of fun

Oh .... Oh .... wait a minute .... you mean in ML's ..... ahhhhh .... but those percussions are a lot of fun too!

On the serious side, I'm a flintlock shooter but I'm also a percussion underhammer shooter. I build & repair ML's and I'm not fond of percussion sidelocks because of having to deal with the snail breech/drum that can foul easy causing hang fires and failure to fires when it's least convenient. If everything works right, they'll perform but my personal opinion is that I don't like them. The underhammer doesn't have those problems because the nipple goes straight into the barrel so there's no 90° turns between the nipple and main charge just like a flintlock.

As for the Lyman, I agree, of all the mass-production guns on the market, Lyman is by far the highest quality. I have a .50cal Deerstalker flint right now that I took in on trade and while it needed the typical lock & trigger tuning (as a custom builder, I tend to be a little more picky than the average shooter) overall out-of-the-box quality on these guns can't be argued with. I've had numerous Lyman's come in and out of my shop over the years and not a one with any serious problems that weren't caused by user abuse. The typical issues are common to all hook-breech guns where the wedges and escutcheons come loose and the breech hook and tang may work loose over time and use - I'd classify these issues more under "normal maintenance". BTW, that Deerstalker is for sale, if you're interested email me.

In my experience, the Lyman's don't care for an overly tight patch/ball combination. In the .50cal's I use a 0.490" ball and a 0.013" to 0.015" patch which is snug but not so tight that it's a pain in butt. The .50's have about a 0.502" bore and 0.517" groove diameter (metric) and I'd be happy to tell you what the .54's are but the memory card between my ears must be sluggish from all this global warming I'm feeling.

As for the Lyman flintlocks, with only a few exceptions, most will perform best using the grey cut agate (sawn) flints. The only quirk the Lyman flinters have is that the vent is set lower than it should be in the flashpan so overloading the pan will cause firing delays, this is avoided by simply using a minmal amount of powder in the pan.
Mark

 

[OneEyedJack]

No need to choose a "best". Everyone should own at least one flinter. Mine is a Lyman Great Plains .54, which I recommend highly. (I also have half a dozen sidelocks - which I recommend highly). Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Pete D.]

I shot this group for a postal contest last month. Only three shots were required.
Lyman Great Plains Rifle - flintlock. Open sights. 90 grains FFg and a .50 cal PRB.
Distance was 100 yards.

I like flintlocks very much.
Pete

 

[flintlock62]

For everyone out there who owns both a percussion and flintlock rifle which one do you prefer to shoot with ? I own 4 caplocks and I'm thinkin about buying a flintlock, would a lymans trade rifle make a good first flintlock rifle, I've heard people say you want a rifle with a good lock. is the Lman trade rifle a descent flintlock. thanks for all your input.

I have owned several cap locks and have enjoyed shooting every one of them. One day (many moons ago), I was at a shooting range, and was annoyed by the guy next to me with a flinter, out shinning me. I asked if I could shoot his rifle and he obliged. It was not like what I had thought and been told, whoosh....boom. I swear it fired as fast or faster than my cap lock.

I always liked the looks and styling of the flintlock, and if one has a rifle that is "tuned", it will be a sweet shooter. I built a Hawkens full stock in .62 caliber and it is by far my favorite. A Lyman is a fair choice. A friend of mine has one and it's OK for a "off the shelf" rifle.

If you do decide on a rocklock, please remember to be corteous to by-standers. Flinters shoot hot gas out of the touch hole, so anyone standing to the right may get blasted, which I can tell you, smarts!

 

[Pete D.]

I swear it fired as fast or faster than my cap lock.

Absolutely. Properly primed and picked, flintlock ignition is virtually instantaneous.
If ya hear a "whoosh", ya got too much powder in the pan.
Pete

 

[jodum]

Flintlocks by far. Don't own anything else.

 

[greyfox]

Thank you kindly everyone. You all have been a big help. I will let you know what I end up with.