I shot my .54 flintlock this weekend and tried something I have been curious about for a long time. I have always wondered how difficult it would be to shoot the flinter at long range. Revolutionary War history talks about colonial riflemen shooting British soldiers at pretty distant yardages and I wanted to see how effectively that could be done.
My rifle is a Berks Co. (PA) style "transitional" rifle--it's not an exact copy of any known rifle, but it is like the rifles being built around Berks Co. in the 1760's. It is .54 with a Getz barrel, 1:66 twist, with a Davis Jaeger lock and Davis set triggers. It is sighted dead on at 50 yds. with a .535 ball, .020 patch and 80 grns. of Swiss FFF. It has a green fiber optic front sight which is hardly historically accurate, and is ugly as hell, but which works really well with my 48 year old eyes in the deer woods.
For long range work I loaded with 100 grns. of Swiss FFF and fired three shots at 100 yards holding center mass on a big black bull. For scale, the 9 ring is 4" across, so the three shots are under 3" which is good for me with that fiber optic front which is not the best sight for precision shooting.
The 100 yard group is a little right, but that may have been the way the early morning light was hitting the front sight--I was not too worried about it. The group is about 3" high at 100.
I put up a big target at 200 yards and fired two shots. I rested the rifle's forearm in my left hand and rested my hand on sandbags (shooting right handed). The butt stock was not rested on the bench. My aiming point was center mass on the black bullseye "head" and, for scale, the orange ring is 12" in diameter. The balls dropped a good bit, but certainly would have been torso hits on an enemy at 200. I was pleased.
Here are a couple shots of the rifle. In the distance, above the frizzen in the one pic, you can see the 200 yd. target butt. The 7 tacks in the stock above the toe are for the 7 deer I have taken with the rifle.
For July 4th a couple friends and I are going to have a "Redcoat Shoot" and see what we can do at 300 yards with our flintlocks. It is really amazing what 18th century technology can do.
Thanks for reading and happy Memorial Day. Remember all the troops who have served our country for over 230 years.
My rifle is a Berks Co. (PA) style "transitional" rifle--it's not an exact copy of any known rifle, but it is like the rifles being built around Berks Co. in the 1760's. It is .54 with a Getz barrel, 1:66 twist, with a Davis Jaeger lock and Davis set triggers. It is sighted dead on at 50 yds. with a .535 ball, .020 patch and 80 grns. of Swiss FFF. It has a green fiber optic front sight which is hardly historically accurate, and is ugly as hell, but which works really well with my 48 year old eyes in the deer woods.
For long range work I loaded with 100 grns. of Swiss FFF and fired three shots at 100 yards holding center mass on a big black bull. For scale, the 9 ring is 4" across, so the three shots are under 3" which is good for me with that fiber optic front which is not the best sight for precision shooting.
The 100 yard group is a little right, but that may have been the way the early morning light was hitting the front sight--I was not too worried about it. The group is about 3" high at 100.
I put up a big target at 200 yards and fired two shots. I rested the rifle's forearm in my left hand and rested my hand on sandbags (shooting right handed). The butt stock was not rested on the bench. My aiming point was center mass on the black bullseye "head" and, for scale, the orange ring is 12" in diameter. The balls dropped a good bit, but certainly would have been torso hits on an enemy at 200. I was pleased.
Here are a couple shots of the rifle. In the distance, above the frizzen in the one pic, you can see the 200 yd. target butt. The 7 tacks in the stock above the toe are for the 7 deer I have taken with the rifle.
For July 4th a couple friends and I are going to have a "Redcoat Shoot" and see what we can do at 300 yards with our flintlocks. It is really amazing what 18th century technology can do.
Thanks for reading and happy Memorial Day. Remember all the troops who have served our country for over 230 years.
