Good Range Rifle

[Bomber Boy]

Hi all,
I can't make up my mind on getting a good range rifle.
What is a nice rifle for the range?

Any info would be great.

Cheers
Bomber Boy

[necchi]

Well your two Poll choices are a horse apiece. About the only differance is the trim and school of stock shape.
More important is; what do you want? Flint or Cap lock?
What caliber and barrel size and length and style? Straight or swamped?
What kind of "range" work? Sillouet or paper, Bench?
Are you thinking Custom, Kit, Used, or off the shelf?

 If your wanting info about the Pedersoli Blueridge vrs the Traditions Kentucky you could probably get feed back.

Can you elaborate for us? I mean, How much of your money can we spend? 

[Bomber Boy]

Price range is about: $250-&700
I prefer the flintlock
Caliber between 45cal-54cal
And I want to use it for paper targets

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

I like my traditions kentucky.

[Swampman]

Price range is about: $250-&700
I prefer the flintlock
Caliber between 45cal-54cal
And I want to use it for paper targets

I'd get the Lyman Great Plains Rifle in caplock.  Cheap flintlocks aren't much fun.

A Kentucky rifle and a PA rifle are the same thing.

[bubba.50]

for an out of the box target rifle the gibbs reproductions are very popular. no flint though and a little higher than $700.00 maybe. for what it's worth, bubba.

[flmason]

I like my traditions kentucky.

That does look nice.

You should be doing advertising photos for them, LOL!

Is that stock in 2 pieces? The kit shows two halves of the stock. The main body and the forend. Kinda wondering if the finished rifle is all one piece. For that matter, where the originals one piece?

[necchi]

Price range is about: $250-&700
I prefer the flintlock
Caliber between 45cal-54cal
And I want to use it for paper targets

Hhmm.? Next question, How much shooting do you do? are ya kinda novice, experianced or an old sage?

The primary issue with flint lock is the lock. The geometric aspects are basic yet very important for reliable ignition and with paper shooting speed is essential. Smaller caliber, longer heavy barrels, have better "hang" when shooting off hand.
Alot of guy's will recomend this gun;
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/muzzle-loaders/great-plains-rifle.php

 It's a reliable shooter and aftermarket parts are readily available for up-grades and swapping barrels, but it's a half stock Hawkins style. Here's a link to a used one from Track of the Wolf;
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(wjivtmbhcqaajd55yev44p55))/categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=12&subId=81&styleId=280&partNum=LYMAN-GPR-50-F

Track has a great web site, cruise around it for awhile. Look at some of their kit guns too.

Then theres this direction.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/traditions-pennsylvania-flintlock-rifle.aspx?a=264886

But the Traditions locks usually need a little,,no, alot of tweaking

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

yeah its a 2 piece stock, Kind of nice too. I think it makes it easier to take down to clean. Mtn man joe meek ( i believe) had a 2 piece stock rifle.

traditions needs a lot of tweaking?  I really wish you guys would buy one so you could actually get some on hand training with them. There are a good deal of traditions flintlock shooters ( cayugad has a couple or 3+ ) and i havent heard one complaint about his.

Mine did require a lot of tuning. Actually it still does.  I have to change pierce flints out every 70 shots or so    darn thing is a son of a gun to keep in working order! 

[necchi]

traditions needs a lot of tweaking?  I really wish you guys would buy one so you could actually get some on hand training

Oh those split stock's are good shooters, IF their put together proper. It's an easy enough kit, but the novice could use a few pointers from someone with more experiance too "wring out" the fine shooting qualities. Many guy's look down on it because it's an inexpensive gun. I've had a couple in cap lock that where real tack drivers. But I'm an experianced ML shooter.
I have that lock on a trapper pistol and I must have got a lemon, I can't get anything but a weak yellow spark or two out of it! Not the nice white "shower" of sparks you need. I tried the kasenit hardening method to no avail, messed around with different flint size and types,,,AAHHGGG!! I gave up,,not really,,well kinda,,next option will be to replace the frizzen, Deer Creek has an after market that is suposed to be hardened better than the factory one, but that priority is low on the list right now.
 I made the comment because the flintlock has it's own nuance's, it's another step above caplock ML'ers and can be a source of frustration for beginners/novice. The gentelmen that started this thread want's to shoot paper targets, I had supposed in compitition, with ALL the other stuff going on for paper accuracy with the PRB, it's a rare occurance that a beginner start with that rifle and be succesfull.

[Swampman]

yeah its a 2 piece stock, Kind of nice too. I think it makes it easier to take down to clean. Mtn man joe meek ( i believe) had a 2 piece stock rifle.

traditions needs a lot of tweaking?  I really wish you guys would buy one so you could actually get some on hand training with them. There are a good deal of traditions flintlock shooters ( cayugad has a couple or 3+ ) and i havent heard one complaint about his.

Mine did require a lot of tuning. Actually it still does.  I have to change pierce flints out every 70 shots or so    darn thing is a son of a gun to keep in working order! 

Joe Meeks's rifle didn't have a 2 piece stock.  It's just a method used to produce cheap "guns".  Buy something safe.  Get a Lyman.  It isn't authentic esp. in flint but at least it goes off most of the time.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

meek or another famous mtn man did indeed have a 2 piece stock.

I saw that frizzen in deer creeks booklet. I wonder if they are better or not.

Get you some pierce flints, they blow the doors off the  fuller flints.