old blackpowder guns

[CharlesHarris]

Interesting video of a lad in the US test firing his restored Nepalese Brown Bess Musket, which was assembled from original period parts from a kit sold here by International Military Antiques. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xu4QQnUJRI

Reliable and accurate. Exceeded my expectations. A family with four of these would be well armed to repel the savages!

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Another video with useful information on inspection, cleaning, loading and shooting a Pedersoli flintlock Blue Ridge Mountain Rifle in .50 caliber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrC2Thi_6xw

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You absolutely want to wear eye and ear protection shooting flinters, especially.

For normal accuracy you really need to have a ball which fits tightly when patched. While a heavier patch is useful as an expedient, which lets you make do with an undersized ball, having proper fit makes all the difference.

There is a touch of witchcraft as well as science in making these work. Being able to "read the patch" to diagnose proper loading is the key to good performance. When everything is "working" a recovered patch will have a clean black spot in the center, with no burn-through, holes or tears, and even a smoothbore gun will have useful accuracy to 40-50 yards, a rifled gun to over 100. These links have good general information for the starting blackpowder novice:

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/faq.php
http://home.comcast.net/~illinewek/faqs/kanger.htm