Want to buy a flintlock, what am I getting myself in to?

http://albertablackpowderassociation.com/

Sounds lots of fun.
I would rather go that route better than a rendez-vous, although I never went to one myself, except Nouvelle-France reenactments here in Quebec, where they mostly use Armae Charleville flintlocks after drilling the touch hole....not much to learn.
That's doesn't mean by no way a rendez-vous is useless to attend.
At the best, you will have a clue of what you get into.
From my own experience, I was a handgun competitor only (IPSC).
I had the misfortune to follow the course of RO for the carbine stand of my club.
Oh boy ! get your wallet ready.
I bought a Remington 700 all dressed with a Vortex telescope, a CZ-457 At-One and a beautiful stock only, to swap when I feel to.
And....I went to the end of the stand where two fellows, who became best friends , were shooting with strange rifles and pistols.
So, next day, I started to gain as much knowledge about black powder shooting and it is lot of fun.
The research for technics and guns were a great part of the fun.
I have now a french Charleville An IX , an An IX cavalry and a Brown Bess, all from Pedersoli.
Excellent quality rifles and service from Pedersoli second to none.
And to top all, I often go to french sites where you find a wealth of knowledge from shooters that use BP guns for a number of years, since BP shooting is very popular in Europe.
That is where I found a brand new French Gendarmerie pistol, dated 1802, never been shot; the amount of the $$$$ invoice reflected the condition of the pistol.
All that to say that if you want to shoot black powder guns without being disturbed by on-lookers and be in a hurry, its not for you.
If you want to spend a beautiful day, trying the flintlocks or BP revolvers of your friends, discuss their merits, take your time to load and shoot, invite on-lookers to try your rifle and be rewarded by a big smile....then go for it.
Be prepared to learn continuously, to view excellent You-tube tutorials and you are on.
 
If you do take the leap, the only further suggestion I can add is that you should invest in a Lee "Rifle Engraved At Loading" R.E.A.L. mold for the caliber you're shooting, particularly if it's rifled.

I've found that they weigh 1.5x's that of the caliber lead ball (hunting) and aren't patched. Rather they are lubed (bore butter), which keeps the fouling soft. One can literally shoot one after the other all day without swabbing the bore. They load faster, are more accurate, are heavier and all around way more convenient than patched round ball (prb).

The only real caveat about using the R.E.A.L. boolit is that it should be pure lead (soft) to bite into the rifling. I believe hard cast would be counterproductive.

Minnie boolits are another option in lead, they're about 2x's the weight of prb, but I don't find them as consistent in accuracy. I'm shooting Hawken rifles so the Minnie may stabilize better with a different twist (rifling) and longer barrel, but in the Hawken it's just kinda like lobbing school busses at a target. I've tried upping the charge to try and get a flatter trajectory with them, but after about 120 grains, which beats the hell out of my shoulder, the Hawken just throws unburnt powder out the muzzle. There is a point of diminished returns.

While Minnie's load even faster than R.E.A.L. boolits as they drop straight down the bore and rely on a skirt to obfuscate into the rifling on ignition, the skirt is relatively short resulting in a nose heavy bullet that is only engaging the rifling slightly on it's skirt. The R.E.A.L boolit grabs rifling on several large lands interrupted with a lube channel.

 
Jasper Morris said:
The advice given in the previous posts is very good so not much to add on kit guns. Another option for instant gratification is to purchase a Pedersoli Mortimer .54 flinter - looks like they are in stock at Marstar. I had one and it was a fantastic shooter; capable of putting 3 shots into one hole at 30 yards all day every day. It was also very reliable - never had one misfire. Also has an advantage of a keyed barrel which makes cleaning easier.

The caveat was the QC on Pedersoli. I've owned 4 different models and they all had quality quirks which bugged me. My .54 had a crack through the stock at the lock. I still have a Mortimer flint 12 gauge shotgun - its a nice gun (lighter than the .54 rifle) but for some reason they sent it out with the bead drilled at 11 o'clock.

So if you can inspect prior to purchase or send it back for a refund if you find a flaw a Pedersoli flinter will get you into it right away. Best of luck - flinters are a ton of fun.
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$2,700 + tax, +shipping is a $3K flintlock!? That bloody thing had better load itself and hit 10 rings at 100 all day for that kinda scratch!?
 
Iron Sighted said:
So after owning centerfire and rimfire firearms for awhile now, and loading for the centerfires for some time as well, I have recently found myself wanting to perhaps get in to some black powder fun. I'm in B.C. so no advantage from a muzzle loading season from a hunting perspective, though I do think it would be fun to try and hunt a big game animal with a flintlock rifle.

I've tried to do a bit of reading online to get at least a bit educated, and from what I've seen a kit is probably the most economical way to get in to a traditional patterned flintlock, however most of the cheaper and more readily available ones don't get the best reviews. I found a few recommendations for the Kibler kits, and after looking at the Woodsrunner I'm kind of leaning in that direction, appears to be the easiest to assemble and finish and gets you pretty decent rifle at a reasonable cost. Am I way off here, would you recommend something like that to someone looking to get started?

It'll probably be a little bit before I throw the money down and dive in to it so I've got lots of time to read up and continue learn ahead of time so I'd be grateful for any resources you all might recommend, or any information you want to share.

Thanks!
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I also found this resource. Duelists den is a great site for reliable info. Five part video series on everything pretty much you need to know.

https://www.ilovemuzzleloading.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-flintlocks-duelist1954
 
Painkillers said:
Sure, but Kibler is a far cry from a handmade custom gun.
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Not quite “a far cry” since the architecture is actually BETTER in many cases than what many consider a “hand made” custom but it is quite removed from an actual “handmade” custom. There are VERY few handmade customs being turned out these days and the VERY few that are would require far north of $3000 to aquire.
 
Not quite “a far cry” since the architecture is actually BETTER in many cases than what many consider a “hand made” custom but it is quite removed from an actual “handmade” custom.
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Jim is no slouch and was building many years before producing the kits, the architecture will be accurate to the originals he is reproducing.

There are VERY few handmade customs being turned out these days and the VERY few that are would require far north of $3000 to aquire.
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In Canada this is true, in the USA not true, there is virtually no market in Canada for long rifles at all (hence no manufacturers).

Some handmade custom guns can be even more $$$.
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When you consider that just a bag of unfinished castings, lock and barrel are going to cost $1500+ after exchange, shipping, and, duty then there is 100+ hours in making the gun $3k is a relatively plain Jane gun.

The benefit of a custom gun is you get to tweak the specs; barrel length/calibre/profile/twist, fit (LOP, drop, cast) embellishments, sight type, sight radius, checkering, etc-etc-etc You get a one-of-a-kind :) (never seen a Pedersoli with a cast, not sure if Kiblers have one or not)

The drawbacks are you get to wait a year or more, no refunds/returns, no real liability (on the part of the maker in the respect that they probably don't have liability insurance) and no resale value .... like brutally none, you would be lucky to get 25% back on resale.


In the end, a basic custom is about in line with a Pedersoli or Kibler cost wise, having considerably less resale value but absolutely unique. :)
 
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