As most are aware that I have been shooting my “self built top-of-the-line kit” 50 cal. Jacob Dickert Lancaster Flintlock (from Jim Chambers Flintlocks Ltd.) of late for fun and experimentation to improve accuracy and reliability. I have named the rifle Cricket
Just prior to this article I had to open the flash hole a bit to 1/16th inch on Cricket to improve reliability of ignition in the deer woods. I now have 100% ignition. Heaven forbid a flash-in-the-pan and no bang and no deer! The accuracy of this rifle has been great but I wanted to experiment with a slightly thicker patch to get better spin on the 50 cal. 177 grain round ball to see if I can tighten the groups a tad. I was getting 4 inch groups at 75 yards with 0.015 Wonder Lube patches and 90 grains of FFG. I purchased some 0.018 Wonder Lube Patches a few weeks back and at 50 yards bench rest I cut the x on the target with my first shot. Yes Open sights that I created! I was so thrilled! My nephew said, looking through his scope that he couldn’t see the hole. He looked everywhere except the dead center. I stopped shooting so as not to jinx the next shots and helped him sight his Ruger M77 in 7 MM Rem Mag for a Texas Wild Pig Hunt. A week later I took the Flintlock back to the range and decided to go for 100 yards and then 150 if all worked out. There I met Vince Natale a club member that was just crazy about Flintlocks and their Revolutionary war history, just as much as I was. We talked and talked. Vince said; I will spot your 100 yard shot! My rifle kicked, and Vince shouts, great hit, high in the bullseye. I said, well I purposely aimed a bit high figuring for some bullet drop. Ok, lets move the silhouette target to 150 yards, I said eagerly. This for target only as it has insufficient energy for deer hunting at that range.
The 2 Shots struck the target low but grouped at 4 inches. Vince was very impressed. I needed more data.
UPDATED
Not enough for a real group, I went back and shot again this week with sunshine and little wind. My point of aim (See Below Target) was the upper bullseye at 150 yards and measured the drop at the lower edge of the bottom target at 17 inches at the lowest and average drop for the group was around 14 inches. I put the front sight level with the notch at the rear using 90 grains FFG and a .490 Hornady round ball patched with a .018 wonder lube patch (.45 to .499) patch diameter. The bullets were tight to load in the barrel than normal but achievable. The barrel was swabbed with a saliva spit patch and dry patch using both sides of the patch after each shot. I shot 4 shots for group and they look to be grouped about 6.5 inches apart in the lower left target. I adjusted the rear sight a tad to bring the bullets closer to center line and lifted the front sight just above rear sight and took a shot. You can see the bullet hit the lower target in the upper left quadrant about 2.5 inches left of center and 7.5 inches low. I drew a picture of what it looked like as I sighted the rifle.
I played with some assumptions using JBM Ballistics Software after finding some on line data (http://www.namlhunt.com/traditionalmldata1.html) for 50 cal Tennessee flintlock with a 41 inch barrel mine is 44 inches) and they chrono 1861 FPS Muzzle Velocity with the same round ball (est BC 0.068) and 90 grains black powder and a .015 patch. That bullet drops 12 inches at 150 yards says my JBM software and at 200 yards it drops 31.7 inches and has 276 ft-lbs of energy. At 300 yards the bullet drops 111 inches and has 188 ft-lbs of energy.
For hunting whitetail deer modern day experts suggest approximately 1000 ft-lb minimum as an energy guide for deer and with that said, I should limit shots at around 30 yards with the 50 cal round ball. Ridiculous! Of course we know that deer are taken out to 100 yards with round ball every year but data says the average shot here in New England is around 40 yards or so. At 50 yards most traditional muzzle loaders of the past achieve just over 800 ft-lbs at 50 yards yet these older muzzle loader flintlocks and caplocks have been cleanly killing deer size game beyond that 50 yard mark for centuries. Just use some common sense!
Good Shooting!