. The slick brass butt plate on my kifaru strap slid upwards on recoil (which i did checker a little bit, but not enough). Missed low best I can tell.
Ive got a colonial 58 and a woodsrunner 54.
I ran them both pretty hot.
Shot a few deer with the 58 cal. 110gr 2f. Just poked a 58 cal hole in the deer, pretty underwhelming damage, ball slightly deformed but not much. Im guessing 1600 fps, but not sure. Had an elk hunt get western in the worst way possible. Turns out I was blowing patches and likely thru a shot 6" higher then anticipated about every 5th or 6th shot. I started putting a felt wad over the powder to protect the patch. Seemed to help.
Got the woodsrunner. Pretty sure I was getting near 2000 fps with 105 gr of 2f. Everything that thing has touched was ko'd. 1 mule deer buck at 110 yards (spine), 1 whitey doe at 75 (frontal, ball curved to the right and stopped behind shoulder). And 2 javelinas, one point blank, one at 35 yards which surprisingly caught the ball. The balls flattened out dramatically and dumped energy. Might be the most damage from a muzzleloader ive made.
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All that being said... ignition has cost me 2 elk. The learning curve is steep (im self taught on this). And you can do everything right and still have issues. My last hunt, lightly rained on us in the morning. Did my best to cover the gun and swap prime frequently. Caught one bedded. Primed and pricked, made my stalk. He caught me at 75. Stood up and stepped towards me. Went prone. And slight delay
Just pointing out assumptions that generally don’t hold. You know all this because you’ve read the original sources and know what’s in the trade lists. People depended on their guns on the frontier and beyond. But they definitely didn’t have ballistol, solvents, or soap, often didn’t have anything like tow, and generally didn’t have access to gunsmiths to fresh barrels if they let them rust. No precut patches, no micrometers. And mythical shooters were just that… Myths. Evidence of successful long range sniping in the day is rare and doubtful. Successful battles were won and lost through close range surprises. The most common long gun in the western fur trade was a smooth bore fusil. Long range was anything that was able connect further than a fuzee ball or an arrow from a 3-foot long sinew-backed bow.
She's a beaut. Im a trad bow guy at heart. But hurt my shoulder in '21. So had to find an outlet (shoulder is fine now).
. Also was hard to watch a 330" type bull broadside at 200, and a few days later a similar bull at 150...and do nothing 
...
Did not mean that to come off badly. Apologize if it did. Form has a tendency to focus on boiling things down and decanting the mythology. There’s a lot there to skim when it comes to flintlocks. The reality is that people used them in rough conditions without fancy supplies or gunsmiths. We tend to try to make things more complex to justify myths. The reality is that back in the day, 100+ yards was likely a pretty long shot given the guns and supplies that most people had to feed them.
Also, most people today don’t realize that flint longrifle stock are pretty fragile things if you take the barrel out. Most of those guns likely never had the barrel removed after they were built.
Oh at the range I was fine. Probably 19 out of 20 would break nice. The kibler guns are great sparkers and my ignition was as good as a percussion.
Oh at the range I was fine. Probably 19 out of 20 would break nice. The kibler guns are great sparkers and my ignition was as good as a percussion.
The problems come when hunting. I think after carrying the gun around all day, the powder would obscure the flash hole or humidity would get to it. You gotta keep the flash hole open or the charge will "fuse", you want the prime to send hot sparks straight to the main charge.
I tried to keep it pricked often. Carry it so the prime banks away from the touch hole. Etc. Despite my efforts I was closer to 50/50 on clean ignition in the field after carrying the thing for 5 miles.
A box of those little alcohol wipes is a worthwhile investment for cleaning up a gummy pan.
I believe it as far as quality and tightness of weave goes. I was recently at the Utah history museum near the U and in the native Utah section there was the remnants of an old woven cloth done with a loom.... It was from if I remember right around 1300AD. It looked better and tighter than any canvas cloth I've seen at Walmart or Michaels. About as good as duck canvas from Joann's.
If you hunt in humid areas, I'd recommend not using anything smaller than 4f. I use 4f and hunt in Utah. It doesn't ignite as quick after a few days of stormy weather, but it still goes without fail. Also, line the pan, anywhere water could get in, with chapstick. Keeps it waterproof but maybe not humidity proof.Oh at the range I was fine. Probably 19 out of 20 would break nice. The kibler guns are great sparkers and my ignition was as good as a percussion.
The problems come when hunting. I think after carrying the gun around all day, the powder would obscure the flash hole or humidity would get to it. You gotta keep the flash hole open or the charge will "fuse", you want the prime to send hot sparks straight to the main charge.
I tried to keep it pricked often. Carry it so the prime banks away from the touch hole. Etc. Despite my efforts I was closer to 50/50 on clean ignition in the field after carrying the thing for 5 miles.
Both Kibler and Dave Pearson seem to be students of good lock geometry and function. Dave's into British stuff ... The best locks. He has a thread where he reworked a not so great lock and had it showering with sparks using a dull looking rock from his driveway. I've been wanting Dave to build me one but I don't think he'd do it. Seems to be picky about when and who he does lock work for.
Yeah. I tried that stuff. Didn't help when that elk stepped out, even with a fresh prime.
I missed a 320ish bull from 85 yards with a solid rest because I unfortunately used my set trigger and was shaking in my boots... accidental discharge and didn't even knock any hair off him. But then redeemed myself by dropping a very decent 5x6 about 30 minutes later from 50-60yds.
