Thnking on buying a Traditional Smoke Pole!
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i cant think of any flintlocks that are illegal off the top of my head...so long as they meet the requirements in the regs....
personally, im not a fan of Tradition rifles...my expirience is with a few buddies that have "deer hunters"
the most important part of a flintlock is a the LOCK...without a quality lock, you might as well stay home and save the headaches IMO...the deer hunters i have seen and played with have had TINY frizzens and tiny, odd shaped, shallow pans...what that means is the flint doesnt spark as much because its hitting less metal than a lock with a larger frizzen and flint...
the shallow, odd shaped pan, i dont know i never carried one hunting...but i like the deep pan on my TC..the lock is key to a good shooting flinter...its gotta throw a good spark and gotta throw that spark every time its fired and its gotta land in the pan...the spark gotta be hot enough to ignite the priming powder...and the lock has to be fast...cheap locks often lack in all those departments which leads to misfires, hang fires, slow locks and misses...
alot of guys that arent expirienced with a flinter have troubles getting them to fire and being accurate with them...the reason almost always comes back to the lock..even a good lock not used or cared for properly will give headaches..but a quality lock will do its job if the shooter does theres...cant polish a turd...cant make a crappy lock fire like a good lock..
i also do not care a whole lot for single triggers on flintlocks...after shooting a rifle with double triggers it'll be hard if not impossible to get me to own a flinter without them...it makes them that much easier to shoot...a personal thing i guess...but i like a hair trigger on a flinter...
for a starter rifle id recommend looking into a lyman or a TC...ive never shot a lyman but hear great things about them...i own a TC Hawken...i picked it up used for a pretty dang good price...like 1/3 or so of the new price...probably because its a pretty early model...but i inspected it, and someone took VERY good care of it...
if your shopping for a used flinter, theres some things to look at...the beauty of shopping used is a quick glance and you can almost tell if it was taken care of properly or not...hard to hide effects of black powder that wasnt properly cleaned..flinters are pretty simple...lock, stock, and barrel...as long as the stock is structurally sound(no cracks etc) and you can live with its looks, its on to the barrel...only barrels ive heard of issues on are CVAs and i dont know enough about the issues to talk about them...just know where were some issues with their muzzleloaders in the past...so if its cleaned inside and out and not rusted and pitted, the barrel aughta be fine....so that leaves the lock...and trigger(s)..a used rifle may need the frizzen replaced but thats 2 screws and a 20$ part...
TCs have a lifetime warranty...as long as its a TC product, they will make it right as long as its not something like "my rifle got ran over by a truck and was fired and wasnt cleaned for 8 years while stored in a damp basement now it wont fire.." not sure of the other production flinters warranties etc...
lots of good guys here that can give good advice...im no expert and dont proclaim to be...just passing on my opinions...good luck!! remember, black powder smoke is addictive!! once you start flintin, you'll be in love so long as you take the time to learn to shoot a flinter...if you dont, it'll be frustrating and not worth getting into...alot of guys dont take the time to learn and that leads to misfires and poor shooting...
personally, im not a fan of Tradition rifles...my expirience is with a few buddies that have "deer hunters"
the most important part of a flintlock is a the LOCK...without a quality lock, you might as well stay home and save the headaches IMO...the deer hunters i have seen and played with have had TINY frizzens and tiny, odd shaped, shallow pans...what that means is the flint doesnt spark as much because its hitting less metal than a lock with a larger frizzen and flint...
the shallow, odd shaped pan, i dont know i never carried one hunting...but i like the deep pan on my TC..the lock is key to a good shooting flinter...its gotta throw a good spark and gotta throw that spark every time its fired and its gotta land in the pan...the spark gotta be hot enough to ignite the priming powder...and the lock has to be fast...cheap locks often lack in all those departments which leads to misfires, hang fires, slow locks and misses...
alot of guys that arent expirienced with a flinter have troubles getting them to fire and being accurate with them...the reason almost always comes back to the lock..even a good lock not used or cared for properly will give headaches..but a quality lock will do its job if the shooter does theres...cant polish a turd...cant make a crappy lock fire like a good lock..
i also do not care a whole lot for single triggers on flintlocks...after shooting a rifle with double triggers it'll be hard if not impossible to get me to own a flinter without them...it makes them that much easier to shoot...a personal thing i guess...but i like a hair trigger on a flinter...
for a starter rifle id recommend looking into a lyman or a TC...ive never shot a lyman but hear great things about them...i own a TC Hawken...i picked it up used for a pretty dang good price...like 1/3 or so of the new price...probably because its a pretty early model...but i inspected it, and someone took VERY good care of it...
if your shopping for a used flinter, theres some things to look at...the beauty of shopping used is a quick glance and you can almost tell if it was taken care of properly or not...hard to hide effects of black powder that wasnt properly cleaned..flinters are pretty simple...lock, stock, and barrel...as long as the stock is structurally sound(no cracks etc) and you can live with its looks, its on to the barrel...only barrels ive heard of issues on are CVAs and i dont know enough about the issues to talk about them...just know where were some issues with their muzzleloaders in the past...so if its cleaned inside and out and not rusted and pitted, the barrel aughta be fine....so that leaves the lock...and trigger(s)..a used rifle may need the frizzen replaced but thats 2 screws and a 20$ part...
TCs have a lifetime warranty...as long as its a TC product, they will make it right as long as its not something like "my rifle got ran over by a truck and was fired and wasnt cleaned for 8 years while stored in a damp basement now it wont fire.." not sure of the other production flinters warranties etc...
lots of good guys here that can give good advice...im no expert and dont proclaim to be...just passing on my opinions...good luck!! remember, black powder smoke is addictive!! once you start flintin, you'll be in love so long as you take the time to learn to shoot a flinter...if you dont, it'll be frustrating and not worth getting into...alot of guys dont take the time to learn and that leads to misfires and poor shooting...
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I'd go with T/C,or Lyman
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Tradition have a problem with the sights comming loose,remember you get what you pay for,spend a little more now and you'll have a gun that will last. It has to be a .44 cal or larger for deer.
Tradition have a problem with the sights comming loose,remember you get what you pay for,spend a little more now and you'll have a gun that will last. It has to be a .44 cal or larger for deer.
Yeah agree, stick with the Lymans or T/C. There is a lot of frustration when learning how to use Flinters. Save yourself some and stick with a reliable product. What I like about the Thompson is that you don`t have to pack it with a large amount of Powder to have them shoot accuratly...
i have a traditions deer hunter i dont like it trigger pull is too heavy. my wife bought me a traditions hawken for christmas last year and i harvested my third deer with it yesterday. i love it it has a set trigger and the triigger pull on it is great. no matter what you get get one with a set trigger you dont have to go expensive to get a good one.
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6,802 Posts
Go with Lyman or TC.Your choise of calibers in Lyman are 50 or 54.TC is 45,50 and 54 if you go with the older ones.All kill deer with a properly placed shot within reasonable range.These are NOT centerfire rifles so don't expect to just buy one,load it,and hit where you want.It takes some work.(ball size,patch,lube,powder,etc.)Thats why one taken with a smokepole is so rewarding.
Be aware......it is an adictive sport!
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Be aware......it is an adictive sport!
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757 Posts
No matter where you are the drive to Dixon's is worth it. I bought a Lyman Trade Rifle from them a couple years ago and they tune the locks on every gun before they put it on the shelf. Mine fires almost as fast as a centerfire and is very accurate. Took my first deer with it back in October. They will also carry all the accessories you need and tell you everything you want to know about how to shoot it, clean it, etc. Great place.
http://dixonmuzzleloading.com/
http://dixonmuzzleloading.com/
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39,107 Posts
Or the Lyman DeerStalker!
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4,333 Posts
Have a Lyman Deerstalker and I love it. cant say anything bad about it.
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