Articles Muzzle Loading Shotguns   This year I decided to try a flintlock shotgun. So far, most of my flintlock shooting has been done with an original English fowler or the short barreled blunderbuss which I built for the Blunderbuss Championships at the the NMLRA Winter Nationals. While the flintlock ignition systems adds some complexities, for the most part, lessons learned by shooting a percussion shotgun translate directly to a flintlock shotgun. This article discusses some of the more interesting issues encountered when making the jump from a percussion gun to a flintlock. Before discussing the idiosyncrasies of the flintlock shotgun, I need to make clear that I would not recommend a flintlock as your first muzzle loading shotgun. Here are my reasons for this recommendation It is harder to hit targets with a flintlock. Breaking clay birds is fun. Missing clay birds is frustrating. If you are new to muzzle loading shotguns you should put yourself in the best position to break the maximum number of clay birds early on. Standalone Ftp Client No Install Cell there. Under the best of conditions, the lock time of a perfectly tuned flintlock will be slower than the lock time a below average percussion shotgun. See End. Note at bottom of post   The slower lock time makes it harder to break moving targets. Even the best shooters will have better scores with their percussion guns as compared to their flintlocks. Flintlocks are more expensive. A good used percussion shotgun can generally be found for 3. An inexpensive percussion shotgun is a great starter gun and will generally be as reliable as the more expensive models. This not true of flintlocks. Getting a flintlock to go off quickly and reliably is a tricky situation under optimal conditions. As a general proposition, a cheap flintlock will give you more problems than a more expensive model. Flintlocks can be temperamental. A flintlock ignition system relies on a piece of sharp rock hitting a metal plate to create a spark. The metal plate then has to snap out of the way and expose the loose priming powder. The spark needs to land in the priming powder and ignite the priming charge. Core Temp 1.0 Rc5 Portable. The heat from the priming charge must travel through a small hole and ignite the main charge. If there is a problem with any of these steps, the gun does not go off. Even the most experienced flintlock shooters have misfires and hang fires from time to time. Get used to it. Flintlocks are more complicated. Here you will find a number of different Articles which address topics related to muzzleloading shotguns. If you are new to muzzleloading shotguns, check out the. Reloading Dies Reloading Accessories Shooting Supplies for sale at Buffalo Arms Company over 10,000 Shooting Supplies, Black Powder Cartridge Rifles, Black. Browse all new and used Ammo American Collectible for sale and buy with confidence from Guns International. Browse all new and used Muzzleloading Rifles Modern Replica Percussion for sale and buy with confidence from Guns International. Flintlocks have more moving parts and they require you to pay attention to small details regarding the flint, frizzen and touch hole. If you are new to muzzle loading, these added details only complicate matters. The Importance of Loading Routines    While not unique to flintlocks, using a flintlock is much easier to shoot if you develop a consistent loading routine. Loading a muzzle loading shotgun is a multistage task. Under normal circumstances, there are at least five steps 1 measuring and pouring powder in to bore, 2 inserting and ramming home the over powder wads, 3 measuring and adding shot to the bore, 4 inserting and ramming home the over powder cards, and 5 priming the gun and readying it for firing. An important aspect of loading a muzzle loading shotgun is developing a fixed loading routine and repeating this loading routine until it becomes second nature. This is particularly true when you are also dealing with the pressure of competition. For me, it took several full days of shooting my percussion gun to really become comfortable with the loading process on the range. During the learning process, I forgot to add powder or shot, accidentally double charged the gun, or loaded one barrel twice while leaving the other barrel empty. My most troublesome mistake was spraying some waterMurphys Oil Soap mix down the bore prior to putting the over the powder wads in place. As an aside, it is very hard to get wet black powder to ignite. These types of mistakes are just part of the learning process. Once a set loading routine is established, loading speed will increase and the number of  the mistakes diminish. The establishment of a loading routine should not be confined to loading your gun from the bench. It is equally important to develop a fixed routine for loading the gun while hunting. While my loading routine while hunting differs from my loading routine. I have a definite and fixed routine which I. It is not easy to reload a muzzle loader while. Having a fixed routine makes the loading process quicker and. My routine while hunting includes giving my dog. When given the command to charge, the dog is. The. charge command is little used today. However, getting the dog under. Changes in the Loading Routine Associated with the Flintlock    Switching from a percussion muzzle loader to a flintlock requires some small, but important, changes to the loading routine. These changes deal primarily with safety issues which are unique to flintlocks. With a percussion gun, most shooters develop the habit returning the hammers in the half cock immediately or very soon after the gun is fired. Having the hammers in the half cock position has at least two significant advantages. First, the air in the bore can be easily forced out through the nipple when the over the powder is rammed home. This makes ramming the over powder wads home much easier. Second, any remnants of the nipple which may cover the nipple will be blown out at the over powder wads are pressed into place. Once it is time to shoot, most percussion shooters will place the cap on the nipples with the hammers in the half cock position. It is not until the caps are firmly seated that the hammers are pulled to their full cock position. This sequence minimizes the chances of an accidental discharge during the process. The sequence described above with respect to percussion guns is not allowed for a flintlock at an NMLRA sponsored event. Under the NMLRA Rules, it is not permissible to return the hammer of a flintlock or more accurately the cock to the half cock position prior to loading the gun. NMLRA Rule 1. Like most of the NMLRA Rules, Rule 1. Having the frizzen in the forward or open position has several advantages from a safety perspective. Any grains of powder which migrate through the touch hole during loading will fall harmless away. If the frizzen was in the closed position, there would be a small quantity of powder in the pan, increasing the chance of an accidental ignition in the event of a stray spark. In addition, having the frizzen in the open position reduces that chance that the flint could in contact with the frizzen an produce a stray spark. The same logic applies to having the hammer in the forward position. Even with the frizzen in the forward position, if the hammer slips out of a half cock position, it is possible for the flint to hit the side of the barrel causing a spark witch could theoretically ignite the main charge. Paper Patch Muzzleloading Bullets And SabotsWithin the bounds of Rule 1. My routine which was described to me by Richard Dale a long time flintlock shooter is a follows  After stepping into the shooting station, pull the hammer to a half cocked position. With the hammer at half cock, add the priming powder to the pan. When the flash pan is primed, cock the hammer to the full cock position. Finally,  pivot the frizzen down to the firing position. The logic behind this routine is that the gun will not be ready to fire until the frizzen is closed.