What's Your Favorite Sidelock?

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hanshi

Well-Known Member
*
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,542
Reaction score
1,025
I admit it, I'm overly fond of these type threads especially on guns. I never tire or them simply because I just love talking guns. I also like reading/hearing what others say about their stable of MLs. With this in mind haw about talking about some of them (including your favorite(s). Post photos and/or let 'er rip!
 
Currently, my favorite side lock is a K. Blevins made North Carolina flintlock long rifle in .32 caliber. It is now my favorite squirrel rifle.
 
Currently, my favorite side lock is a K. Blevins made North Carolina flintlock long rifle in .32 caliber. It is now my favorite squirrel rifle.
Hunting small targets like squirrels with a .32 smoker... now that not only sounds challenging but a LOT of fun! My friend has one and I always thought about getting one of those pea shooters.;)
 
I admit it, I'm overly fond of these type threads especially on guns. I never tire or them simply because I just love talking guns. I also like reading/hearing what others say about their stable of MLs. With this in mind haw about talking about some of them (including your favorite(s). Post photos and/or let 'er rip!
The first step is admitting you have a problem, so good for you. Being addicted to gun porn is a disease with no cure but there are ways to treat it. Good Lord, what am I saying!?!
 
Ahem, I don't really have a favorite but I do have one that I shoot the most. My first custom built caplock, made with parts of a Lyman trade rifle, changed over to a left hand breech plug, L&R LH lock and a cherry stock, Big Red is a 54 caliber rifle that loves a charge of 85 grains of 2f Goex. The 1/48 twist rate is easily the most forgiving of all my smokepoles too. It did take over 100 shots for the barrel to settle in and get the bore polished up though, typical of Investarms barrels.20161019_031753.jpg
 
My favorite is my Tip Curtis .54 York County style Flinter. It’s got a nice maple stock with decent figure in it a swamped 42” Green Mountain barrel, Chambers Lock and Davis triggers, and iron furniture all around. It points great and has perfect balance and is the most accurate muzzleloader I own. All of the metal is in the white like most or all of his guns. I keep it clean and oiled and it will develop a patina slowly over time. I picked it up a few years ago while stopping in to his shop in TN. He gave me a great tour of his shop and was a pleasure to talk to and do business with.
 

Attachments

  • 929C6847-05F9-48CC-BFFC-E53E3400E4C9.jpeg
    929C6847-05F9-48CC-BFFC-E53E3400E4C9.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 15
I guess it's time for me to post mine. First up are my two small game rifles.
My .32. I've owned it for several years but it has yet to hunt.

The little "pennyweight" .36 has taken coon and squirrel, I love this little guy.

The only .50 I own. Had it a good while but it's yet to bag a deer; accurate. Yes I adore dogs and these are all sadly gone.
DSC00378.jpg

My main deer-slayer for a long, long time, .45.
PICT0553-zps42ae6f4a.jpg
 
I have always been a Renegade fan. Simplicity at it's finest.
All 3 barrels are .50 cal.. Two of them are 1-28'' twist GM barrels. One of them is factory 1-48'' twist. I love to shoot heavy lead conicals. I am getting pretty good accuracy with 350 gr Hornady FPB's from one of my barrels. I am in the midst of installing some Lyman 57SML peep sights on my tangs/stocks. Hoping to increase my range some.
20200606_105920 (1).jpgrenegade 1.jpgSS Renegade.jpg
 
Last edited:
My favorite is my Tip Curtis .54 York County style Flinter. It’s got a nice maple stock with decent figure in it a swamped 42” Green Mountain barrel, Chambers Lock and Davis triggers, and iron furniture all around. It points great and has perfect balance and is the most accurate muzzleloader I own. All of the metal is in the white like most or all of his guns. I keep it clean and oiled and it will develop a patina slowly over time. I picked it up a few years ago while stopping in to his shop in TN. He gave me a great tour of his shop and was a pleasure to talk to and do business with.

I agree, Tip does make accurate rifles.
I bought one "in the white" from him at Dixon's fair 15-20 years ago. It has the same barrel as yours. I had the same intention as you... let the barrel get a patina. That really hasn't happened yet. The first few years, I kept the barrel oiled & it didn't change in appearance at all. Then I switched to only keeping the bore clean & coated to prevent rust in it ... still no real progress toward a patina. So, I thought there must be oil still on the outer surfaces. I decided to clean the outer surfaces with alcohol & see if that would help.... no significant change. I even tried wiping the outer surfaces with dirty bore cleaning patches. The barrel is finally getting slightly "patina'd", but is more blotchy/spotted.
I finally came to the conclusion that one of these days I'm going to take the barrel off & do a browning to it.
 
It's hard to pick "favorite," but if I had to, it would be a Neill Fields flintlock .
The rifle was built by Neill Fields who built rifles at the Green River Rifle Works. It has an original Mortimer lock in it, with a 7/8x36", .50 cal, GRRRW barrel. Barrel has 8 lands and grooves.

The rifle is a small Beck style or early Lancaster, depending on who you ask and weighs in at 6.5 lbs.

Seems likethe gun was built around the lock. The original Mortimer English lock is 1810 or so. It features a waterproof style pan, rollered frizzen spring, and a stirrup linked tumbler and mainspring and very smooth internals. It sparks very well.

H.W. Mortimer on the lock plate: Harvey Walklate Mortimer (b.1753) was appointed Gunmaker Extraordinary to the Prince of Wales in 1811.

According to someone much more informed than me, the wood, the Rococo carving, and the sliding wood patchbox along with the curve on the buttstock are consistent with Rev War era rifles. All of which point towards an early Lancaster time period. The rounded back on the lockplate however is early 1800's style.
Neil Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock full rt smaller(4).JPG
Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock full lft(6)sm.JPG
Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock rt lock smaller(15).JPG
Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock lft stock close smaller(8).JPG
Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock rt patch bx close(14)sm.JPG
Fields Early Lancaster GRRW Barrel Original Mortimer Lock lft carve(33)sm.JPG
 
Man, but these are some great rifles. Ron, that one is a real beauty with wonderful carving. To me, picking a favorite is like picking a favorite child; ya' love 'em all but one or two makes you especially proud. I only have two capguns and I'm extremely fond of both. One is a little Mike Lange half stock, .45 X 25" X 15/16". It's only (so far) been used as a target rifle. But the other one is a US M1841 X .54. I ordered it many years ago and it's fit/finish rivals a custom. Even with the heavy, short barrel the HS is perfectly balanced for off-hand shooting; it's also lightweight. The 1841 comes in at between 9 and 10 pounds and has killed deer. The .50 flintlock and the .45 l Lancaster come in at around the 6.5 lbs mark. My .40 is more like 8 lbs or so.
PICT0689-zps77b16500.jpg

Better image of the .50.
7405ae69-0012-4efa-886d-2651c9c08aae-zpswsnzqleq-1.jpg

0adc999a-c097-4d1a-ab71-d647bd64c6ca.jpg

The .40.
 
My favorite is the one in my signature.....because that's the only one I own. Chastise me all you want, I am very new to muzzleloading and alas, I don't make great money. I wish I could own some of the amazing smoke poles you all own! I am sure someday I will be able to broaden my collection.
 
I had a rifle almost identical to that when I started shooting black powder, LongRifle. It served me well and triggered an interest that has lasted up to now. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Ron
 
My favorite rifle is a plain, stock T/C Renegade in .54. Short, accurate with both r/b and maxi-balls. The only accessory on this fine rifle is the sling attachments. The sling only goes on when I have something to drag. Not historic, not as pretty as some of the fine looking rifle in other posts, but a real dependable hunting rifle.20200103_180549.jpg
 
RonC, that is a beautiful rifle and a killer bag. I just saved that photo of the bag and I'm going to my friend leather shop today and start on one something like that. I have a small knife that I will put on the strap but the hawk sheath is something I have wanted to incorporate into my bag system for a while. Now I have an idea. Great looking rifle Love the small locks. I have a Bedford with a small lock, 44" 54 cal Getz barrel and curly maple stock I hunt with. It was given to me by a late hunting buddy before he passed. I need to get some photos of it. Especially the carvings and engraving on some of the metal work.
By the way, all of the posted rifles are great looking. I started with a TC Hawken, .50.
Hatchet Jack, you will love the peeps. I put a Lyman flip up veneer site on the tang of mine and a globe front with interchangeable inserts. It is a drop in Green Mountain .54 I got about 30 years back. It is 36" long and 1-60 I'm pretty sure. It is a tack driver with round ball and 85 grn of 3f for Targets and 95 grain of 3F for hunting. I put the peeps on for shooting off of bench or x-sticks at 100 yards on some target matches. It is also a great hunter with the peeps.
Great bunch of guns.

Mike
 
McClura, I was in a very fortunate situation with that bag. When I bought my first quality flintlock, the previous owner gave me a table-top full of gear and accessories for black powder shooting. That included the bag, tomahawk and knife! I was so new to the activity that I had no idea of what was required.
All the equipment (but not the guard cat)on the table came with the rifle:
Flintlock accoutrements with rifle with Rustysm.JPG
Flintlock accoutrements with rifle knife tomahawk short rod moldsm.JPG

Talk about being at the right place at the right time!
Ron
 
My favorite sidelock? Well, have to say there are two. The first is a TC Renegade built from a "kit" about 1984-1985. I was finding hunting with modern rifles didn't have enough challenge, and resolved to make the hunt harder, as in having to get closer. At the time I was very involved in NRA and CMP Highpower Rifle competition, in the Service Rifle class. Became a Distinguished Rifleman, several times in the President's Hundred at Camp Perry. The Renegade was assembled and finished as if I were building a competition M1 or M1A: metal parts were parkerized, barrel, lock, etc. were epoxy bedded, and the wood was finished with several coats of polyurethane boat deck varnish. A GI leather sling was fitted. I hunt deer and elk with this rifle, using home cast 54 caliber Lee Improved Minie bullets.

The other favorite rifle is a beautiful 40 caliber left hand flintlock by Jack Patterson from Upstate New York. It is a dainty thing, long and slim, with simple, tasteful carving, nothing ostentatious. There are some silver wire inlays accenting the lines of comb, cheekpiece and wooden patchbox. With it I have done well at the Colorado Squirrel Rifle Championship sponsored by the Buckhorn Skinners club at their range west of Loveland. My favorite match of the year. But that's not the most fun I have with this rifle. I have several adventures each Fall and Winter taking this rifle out to hunt cottontails. This demands real skill and patience, my heart rate gets at least as high as when deer hunting.

The Squirrel Rifle event was postponed this year, from late April to Labor Day weekend. Go to Colorado State Muzzle Loading Association on the 'net for details. Will be a grand gathering.
 
T/C Big Boar .58. Was a Pedersoli .58 Cal Kodiak. ctually, sort of torn between the two.

I had a TC Big Boar .58. Regrettably sold it but replaced my TC Hawken .54 barrel with a Green Mountain .58cal drop in barrel.
Close enough to be considered a replacement.
 
Back
Top