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15 Comments

  1. Good info here,America. Read all u can on these weapons. Look at UTube demos etc. U decide what is good for u. When all the sonar, battery powered laser etc mess on those high tech systems is broke or faild these systems work. Learning Ky windage and bare sights are truly gifts fron the Lord. Learn and pass down.
    I have all brands of these things but Pedersoli out of Italy is the gold standard manufacturer. Consistent quality but never cheap. Things cost more because they are worth more. Jump on Gun Broker black powder sections on see what u can find. Contact me using FB and i will help u for free. Get ready. Wont be long before Pelosi or AOC finds these weapons are not tightly regulated.

    Shoot like a Patriot!!
    Glyn Slay

  2. Does everyone just order their black powder on-line, and pay the Haz-Mat fee? I have looked far and wide in a major (Red State) metropolitan area, and no one stocks GOEX anymore. I’ve seen some Pyrodex pellets, but that’s about it. One reloading store owner said he had to pay a $ 5000 fee to handle black powder, and it just wasn’t worth it! Any ideas? Thanks

      1. BTW, there is no way around the hazmat fee. If you find BP in a brick and mortar store the fee is always figured into the price as the store has to pay the fee the same as everybody else.
        I occasionally find old cans of BP at gunshows cheap and buy all I see. It never goes bad. Some of my powder dates before 1900 and shoots fine.

  3. Just to clarify a few things. A properly built flintlock has nearly instantaneous ignition. I can hit skeet or pheasants as easily with a flintlock fowling gun as I can with a modern shotgun.
    Blowing down the barrel is done to soften the fowling so loading the next shot is easier to load. The practice is now outlawed at organized shoots because there are too many idiots that can’t figure out if their gun has just went off or not. Has nothing to do with left over embers or small amounts of left over powder. I still blow and always will. I rarely have a flash in the pan or a hang fire as my guns are correctly built and use the highest quality parts.
    Wheellocks are the fastest muzzle loaders I have shot, the instant that wheel spins the shot is off, pretty incredible.
    Have a look at my old website to see what custom made guns look like, they are far different from the commercial offerings.
    http://www.fowlingguns.com

  4. I have about five cap locks and two flintlocks. I simply do not see how the flintlocks are the best choice for “long term sustainability.”

    It is safe to say that the people who read Survivalblog have much greater than average interest in survival-related matters. Some are only ready for a disruption that might last for a couple of weeks. I expect that many are ready for a major catastrophe that will last much more than a year. The author does not define what “long term sustainability” is. A year? Two years? Ten years?

    The threshold for “long term sustainability” is not defined. Let’s say that long term sustainability involves ten years, a period that is certainly a possibility after a major EMP attack (but, even then, most of the country’s power service would likely recover within ten years according to most EMP experts, albeit there would be a lot fewer of us left to use it). What is the author’s recommended base of modern centerfire and rimfire ammunition that a person should have on hand before concerns about using flintlocks become a consideration?

    As I type this, I see that a person can purchase 1000 rounds of Russian 5.56 mm online for $170.00, and 1000 rounds of Russian .308 for $280.00. A person should expect to pay at least $1,000.00 for a basic Kentucky Long Rifle (at Dixie Gun Works, for example). So, by my calculations, for that same amount, one could purchase approximately 6,000 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, and approximately 3,500 rounds of .308.

    While we can go back and forth about zero bullet expansion by FMJ bullets, that’s a “whole lotta” hunting. (And keep in mind that storing ammo for hunting is quite a bit different than storing it for self-defense. In normal times, the average deer hunter can go several years on one 20 round box of soft point ammunition, given that most go home empty-handed after deer season. Just how many deer does anyone expect to shoot during the course of a year post-SHTF?) We can also go back and forth about hitting a deer with a Brown Bess at 125 yards, or defending one’s self from 2-legged predators with a Kentucky Long Rifle at 10 yards.

    In a true survival situation, would one willingly waste hours in a tree stand with a weapon that did not give him the best chance of providing meat for the table? While a flintlock will certainly kill a deer with proper bullet placement and did so for a couple of hundred years, a Russian FMJ bullet used with a good scope will kill that deer, too. Headshots may spoil the trophy, but no one will be concerned about trophy hunting at that point.

    And for defensive (or even offensive) purposes, caplocks are far more reliable, but they are dependent on musket or pistol caps. Choosing flintlocks should be the choice at the bottom of the barrel (pun intended). A good man with a Kentucky Long Rifle cannot shoot and reload it in much less than a minute. Ramming a patched ball down the bore is performed very slowly.

    That’s why smoothbore muskets were the “assault rifles” of their day. A good man with a smoothbore musket could shoot a loaded smoothbore musket and reload it twice in a minute. (In the British TV series, “Sharpe’s Rifles,” actor Sean Bean does just that on screen without the help of a stand-in or convenient editing.) Five shots in a minute? I won’t say that it can’t be done, but the issue of actually HITTING a target is the next issue that should be addressed.

    While any gun is better than no gun in a survival setting, in my opinion, if the use of limited financial resources is an issue–and it is for most people– I believe that it is more prudent for long range survival chances to lay in more ammunition for centerfire and rimfire weapons now than to spend money on weapons that fall in the “hobby” category. Basic survival concerns mandate relegating the flintlocks for fun on a trip to a gun range, for a Mountain Man rendezvous or for a Revolutionary War reenactment.

  5. Pyrodex or triple7 pellets do not perform well in a sidelock. If it does ignite, it’ll be a hangfire. Usually looks like be a short range tracer. So I’m told…

  6. I answer a few comments with deep respect for opinions…Flintlocks do work best with black powder not Pyrodex. Flints are available in every state. Learn how to find em and prepare them. I all 50 years of hunting it was the first shot that counted…. The rest were just frustration. You can make percussion caps fron cut soda can alum and match heads. Works but you gotta practiced the process.
    Flinters and caplocks are just part of your arsenal. They will work when the laser satellite controlled battery operated gun systems are balast for the water well pump. But they require training and are very unforgiving to folks that dont have patience to do things right every time.
    But ask them lobsterbacks at that rude bridge in Concord or the walking trip back to Boston about the true effectiveness of flint long arms in the hnds of a determined Patriot.
    Or some of Pickett’s infantry that charged across one mile of open field into the teeth of Union regiments with cap locks waiting… It was ugly.
    Go out and try it with a flinter in company of someone who knows the gun….You will be converted…Yeah verily I say unto thee…..Shoot like a Patriot!”

  7. No one should doubt the lethality of flintlocks or cap locks. History dispels any such uncertainties.

    To plan on using these weapons in lieu of modern firearms, however, is elevating what should be a hobby firearm to an unwarranted and dangerous level in a survival setting.

    Just how effective would those Minutemen at Concord Bridge or those Union soldiers on Cemetery Ridge have been if those firing back at them had been armed with AR15s or AR10s?

    I strongly encourage those whose primary interest is preparedness to reserve flintlocks and cap locks for hobby and entertainment pursuits.

  8. I agree with Survivalmann 99. That being said, you can pick these things up at gun shows for under $100 dollars if you look. They teach attention to detail and Great patience! Which many young people do not have in this age of instant gratification. And what if the disaster is such that it puts us back several hundred years, or more. Would you want your decenents to have spears or firearms ?

  9. Alright folks listen up. Some of your comments are dead on. Hat tip to brooksy. My Lyman flinter goes off almost instantly because I’ve figured out its quirks. I’m completely self taught in regards to the way of the muzzle loader, and when I learned i never even thought about the internet or YouTube. My point in these articles was that you could use a muzzle loader FOR HUNTING during a long term (anything more than say 6 mos) shtf event. Not as a replacement for your m16/ ak47/ m1a…or what have you. You do not want to get into a fire fight with it. These articles weren’t about self defense, but SUSTAINABILITY. Yah you can jump on Dixie gunworks or track of the wolf and spend thousands and you’d get a damn fine piece and that’s great if you can afford it. Both of my kits cost less than 200 bucks when I got them; now expect maybe 300 ish for a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. So, yah, stock up on piles and piles of ordinance for your main gun. Sink a fortune into that. Lord knows I’m sitting on enough 556 and 45 auto to take over Quebec. But if you’re well set up, and/or you’re like me and want to save EVERY SINGLE cartridge for EVERY one of your fire arms for fighting with 2 legged problems, get a smoke pole (best you can afford) and learn its ways. They’re not just “hobby guns” like I saw in the comments. Quite a few places are muzzle loader only hunting areas, and many of those areas (eastern states) are flint lock only. You could legitimately feed your family for a helluva long time with a pound of powder and a couple hundred balls. So, if you’re interested in learning about muzzle loaders or wanna pick this bone some more, please feel free to contact me. I’ll value your opinion as long as you do the same for mine. Hopefully my comments aren’t as edited as my articles were

    1. No doubt the world will be fraught with danger after tshtf. That’s just a fact of life. It’s gonna get real ugly real fast. And no kidding, if the Concord Minute Co had faced an army wielding M4s or Pickett’s men had faced even a single M60, it would have been an even worse blood bath than history tells us. But I stress again, my muzzle loaders are not fighting weapons. I don’t know where all y’all live, but here in the Rockies, not much hunting is done from a tree stand. It’s spot-and-stalk plus a healthy dose of luck, and then it comes down to making a shot. The point I’m trying to convey is that no matter what your personal ammo situation is, having a good shooting muzzle loader to put game meat on your table will mean you aren’t burning your precious loaded cartridges on deer and elk, and thus saving these cartridges for mean critters that shoot back. I’d way rather use my Savage 30-30 or my original 1873 Winchester in a fire fight than a rock or stick or any of my misc front stuffers. That’s just plain old common sense, especially if we’re EMP’d back to the stone age and nobody’s making factory fresh ammo any more. You make your own decisions, though, and you and your tribe can live with the consequences. As for me and mine, we’ll be hunting in parties, with the hunter runnin’ a muzzle loader up front and the rest being the security detail behind, so that when we do face miscreants armed to the teeth, we have plenty of loaded cartridges to fend ‘m off. Rusty out

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