Alright flintlock experts...............

I am about to commission a custom Flintlock rifle to be built, period correct to about 1770. I have chosen the Jacob Dickert school for ascetics. I am thinking .45 caliber and 42in barrel length. Do the last two specifics seem optimum?

I am open to criticism. I am told .45 is best for accuracy and 42 the max for commercial barrel length.

Any suggestions?

I like .40 caliber more, but if you ever want to use it on deer, or at 100yds on critters, .45 caliber is a better choice.

A 42" tapered barrel will give your rifle a beautiful look.

Maple, right?

My gunsmith told me that the .40 would be more accurate but that the .45 would be more practical. And yes, he seems to have a good resource for curly maple.

Good deal.

I know just how much the Bucks County Longrifle I want costs.....

Post pics when complete.

Certainly, though it will probably be a while. He does not get in a hurry, but it will be worth the wait.

Definitely go with a swamped (tapered and flared) barrel rather than a straight barrel. It will be considerably more money, but the difference in how the rifle will handle will be worth it.

...Ed Rayl has the ability to make 44-46" barrels...but the Dickert wouldnt look "quite" proper that way..but would also not be out of place, the .40 cal would be more correct historicaly, .....

ETA...and if you REALLY want it to be period correct for either a Dickert or Christian Springs...have him relief cone the muzzle, thus eliminating the use of a "short starter"..which is a modern invention anyway.....

A rifle of that time would be of larger caliber normally. 50 to 60 range and the swamped barrel also.

True many were but there were also a lot in circulation in the .42 to .47 range.

As I understand the history of the longrifle, the smaller calibers weren't popular until the early 1800's rolled around. The .50 -.60 range is more period correct for a typical rifle of 1770.

.45 -.54 cal for that period .

My Lefthand flinter was built by a John Berggman of Parris Tenn.

Personaly I'd have your smith to use the nicest grade wood you can afford .

41' tube , mine's not swampped as I had to draw the line somewhere .

Gray

the 40 cal. is a great choice for either target shooting or deer hunting. with my 40 flint i have taken deer at arround 140yds. an whached them nose dive in. i built mine ( c beck style) about 30 years ago an it is still a tack driver.

as for what cal. is more correct for the time period, well there are always exceptions... good luck jim

I traded my .45 for a .50 for easier access to components.

Your on the right track. +100 points for choices and motivation so far. In some states .50 cal is the lowest BP rifle you can deer hunt with. I've wanted a custom flintlock for some time. If I ever go that route, I'll probably stick with a .50, mainly because I'm set up that way already. I've shot higher and lower calibers, but never enough to really dial them in. After 20 plus years of shooting a .50 Hawken, I pretty much know what works for me.

The truth is calibers of that time varied widely. Often it depended on the habits of a particular town's smith and materials or equipment available to him at the time. Smooth bore muskets of the Revolution were anywhere between .60 to .75+ caliber and there were some rifles in the same same range. Specific features of any particular gun may have boiled down to choices made by the client or smith at the time of manufacturer, just as you are making choices now.

Rifles made in that time period really were loosely defined as to standards. A .45 caliber made by your smith in your town may of had a slightly different internal diameter than a .45 made by a smith three towns over. Often a rifle came with a bullet mold tuned specifically for that rifle. The mold was considered a crucial part of a the individual rifle. In appearance a rifle made in New York would have looked different than one made in Pennsylvania, hence the name.

As we now know, higher muzzle velocity generally translates into higher accuracy. The factors involved in velocity are seating, bullet weight, bullet hardness, charge quantity, and powder burn rate. Consistency in all areas is crucial. Smiths at the time may not have known about modern ballistics, but they would have observed the properties in practice. Larger bore diameter means larger surface area. This translated into greater opportunity for variance effecting seating and pressure. Generally speaking, given the metallurgy and technology available at the time, it would have been far easier to produce a dependable and accurate rifle in a lower caliber.

Expert riflemen at the day would have been able to control the factors surrounding the bullet, but not the powder. Powder availability would have been an issue. Powder was almost completely manufactured in Europe. A colonist or frontiersman would of had little choice in grades or consistency. He would of had to use whatever was available. Sure he could use higher charge amounts in a heavy tight fitting .60's caliber bore, but the pressure differences would have been disastrous over time. Again in practice they would have observed smaller calibers as the way to go in a precision rifle.

The good news is you have modern manufacturing and supply in your favor. You can get a well made rifle in whatever you want. Yes in theory one may be more accurate than another. Actual results are up to you. It takes a lot of work to see the difference. You can go to BP matches and watch guys with .50s beat .40s hands down. It aint just the rifle.

J. Dickert would be correct with a 42" straight octagon or a 44" Swamp barrel

There are a few things to consider, If you are planning on doing a lot of target shooting or hunting.. If hunting, i would probably step it up to a .50, for target shooting, most of mine are .45s

As far as barrel length, Allot depends on you, how tall, your arm length, etc. Without getting too specific, a 45 will be around 3/4 to one pound heavier in the same size barrel. Keep in mind if your building a hunting gun.

At this point in time, you may end up having a barrel made anyway if you go straight octagon, Most of the sites I have seen lately are pretty dried up with Green Mountain .40,.45,.50 cal 42" barrels. For a few dollars more, Mark DeHaas makes a real nice barrel, and his turn around time is pretty quick. The last list (last month) I have from him he had a 42" 7/8 45 barrel in stock, Rice or Rayl may have on in stock, I haven't ordered one yet, so I cannot speak for their turn around time.

Also I would suggest if your going with a Large Siler lock, the Deluxe version is worth the extra $10

Work is about to start. I have been waiting a while, but the gunsmith is family, and he is working for scale. I am pumped, it should be ready in by the end of summer. I hope to get to sit in on a lot of the work. I have been reading Foxfire 5. If you are a black powder enthusiast you should get a copy. I got mine off of half.com for a song. I will be posting pics as soon as it is under way. I will do a beginning to end piece on it.

Getz makes very good barrels.Get a swamped barrel if you can. The balance is much more better than a straight walled barrel. I used a 32 inch swamped Getz barrel on the Yaeger that I built afew years ago. Very happy with the way it shoots. I have used Green Mountain for barrel but they were all straight wall barrels.
Also, think about an early Germanic lock. Davis makes a VG lock that is period correct. Unless your gunsmith is hand forging the lock for you.
Single trigger, unless it is to be a fancy wall mount, not to be used.

I'm looking to commission the "Kill Deer" rifle of "Last of the Mohicans" fame from Wayne Watson. It's a .50 cal w/ a 48" barrel, and would likely have been more accurate to the time period.


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must agree with the above all good advise .
my custom has a hoyt barrel . not swamped I had to draw the line somwhere ?

i'd spend some bucks for curly maple . I piad 100 bucks for my blank in 82'

I won the 84' Colorado State flintlock championship with it . left handed small Siler . I would not go with a Dean Mitton lock . Some people swear by them ....but I dont .

ROCKLOCK (flintlock)

ETA her name is 'Snipper' as that was a pet name for my wife when she got all in a bunch over something .

Mine is 42 inch, 54 cal swamped, round bottom rifleing, not curly wood, wood patch box, bit of carving, no engraving

Picked it up at the Conner show for 1200

Actually, a rifle of the 18th century would probably start out with a .40 to .45 bore. Over time, the rifling wore out in the soft wrought iron barrel
and the rifle was taken to a gunsmith who freshed it out and re-rifled it. Then the smith re-cut the mould to the proper size for the new bore.
Another thought:
Up to the end of the American Revolution, most rifles were probably pretty plain. A rifle was a MAJOR investment, costing almost the equivalent of a new compact car today. Engraving and inlays were extra-cost options unnecessary to function and were usually omitted. Most of the high-art rifles we see today were owned by wealthy people and were fired a little and cleaned by the servants (18th century safe queens?). The average long hunter's gun was simply used to death.
We also see more ornamentation on the later Golden Age rifles, dating from the 1790's to about 1820.
On more than a few rifles, carving, engraving and inlays were added long after the rifle was built.

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