Huh, maybe the blight is over.

[Brad]

Can do.
We shot ML competition for quite a while. Won a few matches at state shoot with that rifle. Not bad for a bunch of parts I bought and paid a guy 200 bucks to assemble. Took him a week or so. That was my freshman year of college. Yikes, that rifle is over 30 years old.
The rifled musket with minis is fun too. That huge hunk of lead isn't going very fast but it is huge. Nothing like 500 plus grains of lead flying thru the air.

 

[Ian]

Harvesting tree rats with a small-caliber rock-lock has to be one of the most fun and rewarding woods adventures a person can have.

 

[Bret4207]

Let "kid" pay for hardness of use &/or head. S'what my old man did. You either learn to take care of, or have broken stuff.
He wouldn't let me park my trucks in his driveway after I'd go muddin. Had to pressure wash broken mud trucks just to fix them. It's amazing where mud can get when driving through a river with 44" boggers.

Don't even own a 22lr, it's very freeing to be insulated from that hysteria. Do have 1 wmr, it just sits around even though we have plenty of ammo for it.

The kid is a farm boy that spends his non-school days working more than most grown men do, or ever have. He fixes his own stuff and scrounges parts when he can. He can break down a tire from a 4" yard cart to a 38" tractor tire, fix the tube and put it back together. Not many kids his age, would attempt that, much less do it. This particular bike was given to him by a neighbor, as have his last 3 bikes. I figure I owe the kid since he does the stuff I can't anymore.

 

[Tom]

Farm boys are amazing. I grew up in a small town in farming and ranching country and was amazed at the abilities they possesed. While I would whine about having to fix something, farm boys seemed to take it in stride and get the job done quickly and cheaply.

 

[Pistolero]

Bret - good to hear that there are still a few young Americans who can and will fix things. Seems to
be a vanishing breed. Sounds like you did a fine job there teaching him, sir.

Ian, my little Rem #4 RB is a good bit of fun, too, but it does seem like the challenge
of a flintlock would add to the sense of accomplishment. Small, well camouflaged targets,
very quick and elusive - and good eating, too.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Tree rat & dumplings is a favorite of mine. Rabbit is pretty good that way too, but I prefer that browned and stewed with potatoes, carrots, celery, salt and pepper.

 

[fiver]

our tree rats taste like a cross between the tree and a rat, heavy on the tree.
we ain't allowed to shoot them anyway.

 

[waco]

Squirrel is one thing I have never tasted. I'd like to try someday. We have the red ones and big greys around here....
Pretty sure there is a season...

 

[Pistolero]

Ok, Brad, need to see a pic of this flinter. Does anyone still sell small
caliber flintlock rifles? A friend had a .32 cal caplock years ago, seems like it was
Thompson Center brand. It was real cute.
Bill

 

[waco]

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/dept/muzzleloaders/rifle/32-cal

 

[Brad]

Sorry about the quality but this is a photo of an old photo. Rifle is in back of safe and I don't care to dig all the others put to get to it.

Rifle is the one in the center of each photo. Stock hadn't been oiled much at t time of photo. I kept rubbing oil in for a few months.

A TN mountain rifle type gun. Shoots very well.

 

[Ian]

Waco, we have the red ones in trees here and black ones in the rocks, I've only eaten the red ones. No pine trees around here except for what the Yankees plant, but lots of pecan, elm, and live oak. Pecan-fed squirrels are really good eating if you like dark, rich game meat. Old squirrels, particularly old bucks, are virtually impossible to eat and would require pressure cooking as well as holding your nose.

 

[waco]

I'm not even sure what the little guys eat around here. Pine nuts and hazel nuts I guess?

 

[Pistolero]

So, Brad, was that a kit --- you said "bunch of parts", but not sure if you picked out bits and created the gun,
or bought a kit. The one Waco linked to is a Hawken style caplock, but is a small caliber. Seems like about all
of them are .50 cal or so, like my Hawken.

The more I think about it.....I have about 112 more projects now than I can handle. This will
have to be pushed back. But a small caliber flinter DOES sound very cool.

Bill

 

[freebullet]

The kid is a farm boy that spends his non-school days working more than most grown men do, or ever have. figure I owe the kid since he does the stuff I can't anymore.

Glad to hear it. Definitely, help him out then!

 

[Brad]

I bought the parts and another guy assembled it for me. Stock was a precarve, basic shape was there but butt was still square, barrels channel done except for breech end, and rod hole routed and drilled. Lots of wood to remove and parts to inlet. Forearm was square on sides before work began.

Want a good flinter? Talk to JW. Won't come cheap but quality never does.

I paid 200 bucks for the work he did and I supplied all the parts except a few screws, etc. Parts alone for a rifle like that today with decent wood is gonna be over 500 bucks, possibly 700.

 

[Pistolero]

Nice looking rifle, Brad. 42" is amazingly long! No problem focusing on that front sight! Sounds like you got good value
for your $200 labor fee. I can see where the parts would be pretty expensive. It takes a heck of a long piece of wood
to stock one of those old long Kentucky or Pennsy style rifles.

Bill