My New (Sorta') Flintlock Rifle

[Thumb Buster]

Many, many moons ago my wife bought me a Thompson/Center 'Hawken' Flintlock rifle as a graduation gift.  Perhaps I should call it a 'flinchlock' or klatchlock as it seldom threw any sparks.  For a while I got used to this 'foof-sha-boom' accepting it as typical flintlock ignition.  This was during my 'buckskin' days, there was no Internet to peruse for information and there wasn't all that much money I could throw at this new interest.  Finally one day a friend of mine invited me to attend a 'rendezvous' with him at Fort Reno here in Oklahoma.  He had just built a Lancaster County southpaw flintlock in .54 caliber and as I shoot my long guns left-handed I hoped he would let me try it.  He did.  I set the trigger and when the front trigger was barely touched the gun went off as it should have but the shock of a properly functioning flintlock caught me by surprise.  That was when he advised me that '..a well timed flintlock is as fast if not faster than a caplock'.  Uh...okay.  Then after seeing other flintlocks function I started to believe the adage.  What this experience I set that T/C 'flincher' aside and never did anything about it but it started to nag me that I had a wall-flower and not a shooter.  Threats of replacing that darned lock with a good one would surface and then fade away.

Last year the opportunity to replace that T/C lock came up and as there was no excuse I ordered an L&R replacement lock.  Yup, there was a bit of inletting to do but it got done.  It was a good spark-maker but then the frizzen pivot screw broke.  I called L&R and in days had a new screw.  That was fast service.  I was highly satisfied.  Urban sprawl makes old outdoor shooting ranges as rare as hens teeth so getting to try out the new lock did not surface until a friend of mine who lives 'way out thar' invited me down to do some shooting.  We both shot it several times and the ignition was so fast as opposed to before I was as giddy as a kid with a new toy.

Back home I set to cleaning the rifle but noticed the same screw had again broke at the same portion of the screw where the threads end and the pivot surface starts.  Calling L&R again I talked to a gentleman, Bill, who advised me to send it in and they'd 'fix it once and for all'.  L&R installed a beefier screw and sent it back all within a week!  

First of all y'all may understand my extreme giddiness at having a flintlock that actually works...especially with a good English flint and  REAL gun powder.  (Yeah...I tried those substitutes once and spent weeks scrubbing the rust out of the barrel.)  Secondly I am thrilled with how fast L&R's service was.  Good ol' American way of doin' business.

'Nuff said.  I've chewed y'all's ears long enough.

[44caliberkid]

I understand your excitement. I picked up a pair of flint lock pistols cheap at an auction. Drove me nuts trying to make them work. Finally sold them to a pirate re-enactor in Florida for a nice profit.  But I've hung around buckskinners enough to know how nice a good one is. Congrats.