My Lyman Trade Rifle is here!

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

I received my Trade Rifle from Woodbury Outfitters today. I like the feel of the rifle and it sparks beautifully! To those who have a Lyman flintlock, what flint size do you use? I've read that 3/4 x 3/4 is ideal, but I've also seen people who swear by 5/8 x 3/4.

Thanks all!

[tjtM38]

Congratulations! Beautiful flintlock rifle! I love that straight grain European walnut.

To be honest, I don't know what kind of flints I have I think they are 3/4" x 3/4". Get some high quality flints and find some FFFFG priming powder; you are going to need it. By the way, I don't shoot ANYTHING but black powder in my rifle. Trying to get any of the subsitute powders to light off is just too much of a crapshoot.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I do not have one of this model so I don't know, call the company and ask them, they should be able to send you a manual.

[ponycarman]

Wow beautiful!

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

Thanks! I'm happy with it. Most say 3/4 x 3/4 flints so I ordered eight from Track of the Wolf. I also returned a .440 Lee mold for a .490 ball Lee dual cavity mold from Natchez Shooting Supply. Another excellent company to deal with BTW, great prices and service.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I have bought some gear from Natchez, good folks. Did you get a pan primer to hold your priming powder? Makes life easier. You don't have to use priming powder if you don't want to, the finer grain makes for a slightly faster ignition, but I have fired my flinters with 1f in the pan with no problems. Just so long as it's black powder in the pan, and you don't overload the pan. Keep the flints sharp, and the frizzen face wiped down.

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

Gander Mt in Greensboro, NC has flintlock starter kits for $45. They come with a flask, priming flask, powder measure, vent pick and short starter. If I had bought all that stuff over the internet if would of cost me $70 with shipping. I'm going to get a can of 4f to prime with and a couple of 2f to see what the rifle likes.

[Junk Yard Dog]

That should do for it, I use 1f in the big bores, the Bess, Harper's ferry, the Potzdam, these .69-.75's are canons anyway. Back in the day there was no 1f, 2f, 3f, 4f, what they had was "powder" It was rough grain, often of questionable quality, if you wanted a finer grain you ground it down a bit yourself ( very carefully)

[Ironnewt]

Very nice looking rifle, enjoy!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Dixie has a nice buckskin sling for that, wraps around the buttstock and barrel in the style the mountain men would have used. I have one on my Sharps.

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

I'm looking at going on a hog hunt in Texas on a primitive weapons only ranch. Does anybody have experience with the Lee Improved Minie Ball? I want more "umpfh" for pigs and was thinking a 360 grain minie ball would be perfect.

[tjtM38]

Here's some stuff you will need for the trade rifle:

Premium flints
Pan charger
Flash hole pick
Ball/short starter

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

I have everything I need to shoot but projectiles. I plan of casting a few hundred next week.

[Junk Yard Dog]

No, I only shot with round ball, but I do have some .50 maxi bullets someplace.

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

I noticed that the front sight is off to the right, Should I try and center it?

[tjtM38]

I noticed that the front sight is off to the right, Should I try and center it?

No; shoot it first. My rifle was test fired at the factory and was shooting good centered targets out of the box. Did you get a second rear sight? Mine came with a fixed notch rear sight and a semi-buckhorn with a crude elevation adjustment. I opted for the fixed sight attached with the rifle.

[iwuzwhatiwuz]

Ill leave it alone until I fire the rifle, hopefully next week.

[desdem12]

Nice. You will love it. 2F should work great in the barrel.

[Darryl]

Here is a photo of my Hawkins .58 "Hunter" with that sling I think Jim was talking about. It helps protect the stock if you use it to hunt with.



Minis or conicals are good if you are hunting something "big" and need to bring it down. But round balls are as accurate (maybe more) and will do the job on most things.

I cast my own minis for the .58

Here I'm casting .58s for my Hawkins and .590 for my Snider.

I have to say it is almost as much fun casting bullets as it is firing them.....almost.

[tjtM38]

I like that Hawken you have Dolk. Is it a Thompson Center? You don't see too many in .58. That is also quite a bullet-making operation you have there. Now all you need is some way to make black powder in case the Feds try to ban the stuff.