How Deadly is a Flintlock Rifle?

[Mikeoxenormous]

It has been a few years, but I once bought a black powder revolver and had it shipped by UPS to my house. I think I had to specify ground transport. But that was it.

That old .44 BP revolver was badass at reasonable ranges. And with an extra cylinder it was easy to reload.

Sounds like a friggen cannon going off, every time you fire it.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

The first one I ever shot practically dislocated my shoulder

There is no place for the recoil to happen except into your shoulder. Same with bolt action rifles. It was the semi and full autos that enabled a lot of the recoil to be absorbed by the spring in the buttstock.

 

[JGalt]

It has been a few years, but I once bought a black powder revolver and had it shipped by UPS to my house. I think I had to specify ground transport. But that was it.

That old .44 BP revolver was badass at reasonable ranges. And with an extra cylinder it was easy to reload.

I have two BP revolvers that I take out and shoot every couple years, a repro Colt and a Remington.

Come to think of it, the last time I shot either was at a Civil War reenactment. And yes, they load up spare cylinders.

 

[1srelluc]

LOL.....I was looking at a old .58 Cal. Thompson Center Big Bore this morning at the pawn shop.

Like this one:

It was priced right and had a T/C tang peep sight but I'll need to bring a drop-in ML bore light capsule to check bore condition before I jump on it.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

All the the leftists running around saying our Second Amendment only meant we could have muskets have no concept of a .75 lead ball plowing through a human.

Fuck you King George!

Blooey Goes Kerflooey

The deadly sharpshooters at the Battle of Bunker Hill set a nightmarish precedent that sapped the Redcoats' will to put much effort in stopping the Americans.

How will the Blue States' Rainbow army react to our can't-miss long-distance hunting rifles and other patriotic weapons?

 

[JGalt]

LOL.....I was looking at a old .58 Cal. Thompson Center Big Bore this morning at the pawn shop.

Like this one:

It was priced right and had a T/C tang peep sight but I'll need to bring a drop-in ML bore light capsule to check bore condition before I jump on it.

I always check them with the ramrod when I find them. Believe it or not, the last one I bought was still loaded.

Sometimes people will have a misfire because the nipple had oil in it. They don't have a wrench or nipple pick, so they just put it away and forget about it.

I've always liked the 58 caliber. Probably not the most accurate, but they do pack a hefty punch.

 

[1srelluc]

Blooey Goes Kerflooey

The deadly sharpshooters at the Battle of Bunker Hill set a nightmarish precedent that sapped the Redcoats' will to put much effort in stopping the Americans.

How will the Blue States' Rainbow army react to our can't-miss long-distance hunting rifles and other patriotic weapons?

They won't react....Hard to react when your head is a canoe.

 

[whitehall]

Tell me about it! I blew myself off the porch of our hunting cabin once.....I must have been around 20 at the time.

I was shooting a Parker-Hale Enfield Musketoon and paused to refill my powder flask from a can of FF BP.

I loaded/capped as normal and when I fired I found myself laying out in the yard, the first thing I saw was a cloud of BP smoke billowing up under the roof of the porch.

I collected myself off the ground (rifle in hand) and the best I can figure is I forgot to affix the cap on the can of BP properly when I set it back down in my ML box (a old wooden ammo crate) as it was blown to hell and gone. I found what was left of the can and it was missing it's lid.

I suspect when I fired a piece of the top-hat cap or spark must have found it's way in and Kaboom!

It blew me through two porch rails, bruised me up good, and blackened my jacket a bit, but otherwise I was none the worse for wear.

LOL....I had to go out and cut me two locust rails to replace the ones I busted and repaint the porch.....From then on I put my new ML box inside the cabin.....Lesson learned!

Now you are talking about "capping" a percussion rifle rather than a flintlock. Are you saying a spark from a percussion cap could have found it's way to a black powder container? I suspect your story is full of shit.

 

[1srelluc]

Now you are talking about "capping" a percussion rifle rather than a flintlock. Are you saying a spark from a percussion cap could have found it's way to a black powder container? I suspect your story is full of shit.

Sigh, a top-hat cap has flanges that sometimes part from the whole when fired. Pay attention asshole and know your weapon system.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

I always check them with the ramrod when I find them. Believe it or not, the last one I bought was still loaded.

Sometimes people will have a misfire because the nipple had oil in it. They don't have a wrench or nipple pick, so they just put it away and forget about it.

I've always liked the 58 caliber. Probably not the most accurate, but they do pack a hefty punch.

I do love a good nipple with oil on it.

 

[BothWings]

Seriously, have these idiots ever SEEN real photos of dead and injured soldiers from the Civil War and WW1??? That's about as brutal as it gets.

The ammunition made for the AR was partly selected because of it's NON-lethal properties, whereas an injured soldier had to be evacuated and cared for, thus diverting and distracting enemy troops from fighting.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

If it did not have a rifled barrel, wouldn't it have been a musket? I thought if a firearm was a rifle, by definition it would have a rifled barrel.

I may be wrong and I am too lazy to google it. But I know my fellow posters here will know the answer.

You are entirely correct. By definition, a rifle has to have a rifled barrel.

I recall, a long time ago, reading an article a gun that once belonged to Annie Oakley. It was described in the article as a “smoothbore rifle”. The author of the article is an ignorant caulk bucket. By definition, there cannot be any such thing as a “smoothbore rifle”.

 

[WinterBorn]

Sounds like a friggen cannon going off, every time you fire it.

Yes it does! And the smoke?

 

[WinterBorn]

Blooey Goes Kerflooey

The deadly sharpshooters at the Battle of Bunker Hill set a nightmarish precedent that sapped the Redcoats' will to put much effort in stopping the Americans.

How will the Blue States' Rainbow army react to our can't-miss long-distance hunting rifles and other patriotic weapons?

Some will run crying for a "safe space". But a surprising number will be shooting back. Until I started shooting with a group here in the Atlanta area, I never realized how many liberals were well armed.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Back in the day of the flintlock it wasnt a rifled barrel so if you aimed at the persons chest, it knuckleballs all over the place thus you could be hit in the foot, where it is completely blown off or your head, where it would take most of the skull. How little do moronic Marxists (But i repeat myself) know about ballitstics.

You are wrong. There were flintlock and percussion MUSKETS which were smoothbore and nearly as inaccurate as you claim. Then there were flintlock or percussion RIFLES which were very nearly as accurate as modern weapons. I’ve seen people with flintlock, black powder rifles make center of mass hits at three hundred yards. The same weapon hand built by a Pennsylvania or Kentucky gunsmith could at least approach that performance.
In the ACW, the standard Union Army rifle, the model 1861 Springfield could reliably hit a man sized target at five hundred yards. That rifle was fitted with a percussion lock, but the means of ignition had nothing to do with accuracy, percussion locks were merely more dependable than flint locks.

 

[WinterBorn]

People think you need the latest and greatest semi-auto rifle. But blackpowder rifles can do some amazing things.

While not talking about a flintlock or percussion rifle, Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch talks about black powder rifles and "old guns".



I posted the link instead of posting the actual video because it is (stupidly) age restricted.
Clint is always entertaining.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

You are wrong. There were flintlock and percussion MUSKETS which were smoothbore and nearly as inaccurate as you claim. Then there were flintlock or percussion RIFLES which were very nearly as accurate as modern weapons. I’ve seen people with flintlock, black powder rifles make center of mass hits at three hundred yards. The same weapon hand built by a Pennsylvania or Kentucky gunsmith could at least approach that performance.
In the ACW, the standard Union Army rifle, the model 1861 Springfield could reliably hit a man sized target at five hundred yards. That rifle was fitted with a percussion lock, but the means of ignition had nothing to do with accuracy, percussion locks were merely more dependable than flint locks.

I guess you didnt read the second post i made on sharpshooters.

 

[1srelluc]

You are entirely correct. By definition, a rifle has to have a rifled barrel.

I recall, a long time ago, reading an article a gun that once belonged to Annie Oakley. It was described in the article as a “smoothbore rifle”. The author of the article is an ignorant caulk bucket. By definition, there cannot be any such thing as a “smoothbore rifle”.

Yet clearly a rifle by any definition the Winchester M1895 Russian Contract was marketed by Winchester as a musket.

Same with the Winchester-Lee Straight Pull Navy M1895 Musket

I believe it had more to do with marketing the full length stock to the military than if it was a rifle or not. Sorta odd though as the term rifle had been in use for a long while by then.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

I always check them with the ramrod when I find them. Believe it or not, the last one I bought was still loaded.

Sometimes people will have a misfire because the nipple had oil in it. They don't have a wrench or nipple pick, so they just put it away and forget about it.

I've always liked the 58 caliber. Probably not the most accurate, but they do pack a hefty punch.

Unnecessary Shit and Mass Confusion

In Vietnam, I tried to adjust my sling so I could quickly click off the safety and fire from the hip. That caused an accidental discharge.

Because we were poorly trained and rushed over there, one Marine didn't know he wasn't supposed to have his safety on when positioned outside the patrol line in its flank. A VC ambushed him and in the split-second it took for the Marine to click off his safety, the enemy put two bullets in his chest.

The Marine didn't die right away. Our lieutenant was frustrated with the medevac helicopter pilot's incompetence in finding the landing zone. After about twenty minutes, the lieutenant finally said, "You can take your time now. The man's dead."

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

They won't react....Hard to react when your head is a canoe.

They Signed Up for Cock in the Jaw, Not Shock and Awe