Flintlock pistols

I picked this up used from one of the buy/sell newsgroups on the Internet. I've always had at least a passing interest in muzzle-loading firearms, but a while ago the A&E network made four movies based on the Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester (yeah, Hornblower's a Revolution-era monarchist, but he's got a republican streak in him), and then Mel Gibson made up for that Lethal Weapon garbage with The Patriot, and then this appeared for sale at a very inviting price and I got a sudden hankering for a flintlock pistol. Eventually I'll get a rifle to go with it, and then another pistol, and then a period-style sabre or cutlass, and a Continental Army or US Navy uniform of the era, and then maybe another pistol....

Here it is, a reproduction of a typical Colonial/Revolutionary American Kentucky or Pennsylvania pistol in .45 caliber. It's marked Jukar, Spain, and was probably assembled from a kit 20-odd years ago. I finally had an opportunity to fire it; that extra long lock time (whack, whoosh, bang) is really detrimental to accuracy, at least in a handgun. Fortunately I found a range that I can a) reach and b) afford, so I'll be practicing. At one point, from a benchrest, I had a four-shot group at 25 yards measuring something under six inches, so I know the weapon is capable of accuracy - firing offhand, thus far I can barely hit a target the size of a man at ten yards with this.

It is said that Thomas Jefferson could hit squirrels at 30 yards with one of these. Now that's good shootin'.

I have all the stuff to practice with, anyway: FFFFg (4F) blackpowder for priming, 3F for propellant (generally speaking, flintlocks don't like Pyrodex), .433 lead round balls and .010" or .015" patches (some pre-treated with Ox-Yoke Wonder Lube), three or four flints. I'd like to get a spare frizzen, on principle. I also intend to experiment with cigarette paper to make paper cartridges for it.

Here's how a flintlock works: the hammer holding the flint is driven by the mainspring against the frizzen, which is also the cover for the flash pan. A small charge of powder, the priming charge, is in the pan, held there by the cover part of the frizzen. The flint strikes the large, vertical part of the frizzen, driving the frizzen forward to uncover the pan while driving sparks into the priming charge. This charge ignites, and the flame from this priming charge burns through the touch-hole into the main charge, which propels the bullet down the barrel.

These images I found on the net (credit to their creator, whoever that is) are animated, but there's a pause at the beginning of the cycle. Give them a few seconds.

See the 1861 Colt page of my collection for links to resources for and manufacturers of reproduction blackpowder firearms.

Then, a couple years later, I found another pistol very similar to the first at a flea market. Condition Fair, not identical, but for $40 (haggled from $50) close enough with some work. A brace of pistols! Yes!

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