I’ve been hunting with regular rifles for 35 years, reloading, all that stuff. I’m thinking about building a longrifle type flintlock from a Kibler kit, but I’ve not really been around muzzleloaders much. What resources would y’all recommend to get my started blackpowder hunting on the right foot? What tools do I need, what caliber/powder/bullets do you recommend, what’s the range procedure look like, ditto for hunting day, etc.? As I said, the hunting part I’m solid on, but don’t know a lot about the equipment.

Looks like really good kits and huge step up from the old CVA kits but the price does reflect that. I have shot flint lock rifles but never hunted with one. The trad ML rifle I have hunted with was a CVA Kentucky kit gun.

Lock time on a Flint is a little longer but good accuracy can be had with them but takes discipline om the shooters part. As one of my Uncles said years ago you need a sense of humor to hunt with a ML these days but there is a satisfaction hunting with true traditional MLs.

My setup was the CVA Kentucky in 45 cal. I used patched round balls as the rifling for it was for round balls and any conical I tried accuracy was poor but with RB I could get 2 inch groups at 50 yards with a 308 rifle case full of FFF black powder. 1:66 twist rate is common with the old ones but not sure what Kibler uses but would think that might be the case with them.

Use only natural lubricants and cleaning for your trad ML. Think seasoning an iron skillet when shooting your rifle. With petroleum products you will get more rust than with the natural products. Just like an iron skillet once seasoned it protects from rust quite well but care must still be taken.

I do not think a man of your abilities making knives and such will have any issue with assembly and finishing the kit. Hunting with it I do not think you will have any problems either just think shorter yardages than modern rifles but that can be setup for. To me the hardest think about shooting a flint lock is the little delay and distraction of the powder igniting in getting through the flash hole and igniting the main powder charge with that puff of smoke right in front of your face. 45 or larger will kill deer cleanly of going to use it on larger animals go with a bigger caliber, looks like anywhere from small game 32 and 36 calibers are available then on up to 65 cal. I would probably go with either 45 or 50 which are the most popular anyway.

Looking it up makes me want one but I already have 3 Muzzle loaders which is enough for me. love the looks and feel of the old style though and they are fun to shoot.

One thing about a flintlock you are never looking for percussion caps.

I hunted with a flintlock for 17 years while i lived n North Central Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a flintlock only season starting the day after Christmas until the third week of January.
My go to rifle as a .50 cal Thompson Center Renegade using 90 gr. of 2F Goex BP and a 370 gr. T/C Maxi- ball. I used 4F Goex BP in the flash pan. The rifle was sighted in at 65 yds. Dead center on a 3” bullseye. At 30yds. I would crack the top of the bullseye and at 100 yds. It would crack the bottom of the bullseye.
To get instant ignition of your powder charge you need a dry powder charge, a good hard frizzen, (Lyman made great frizzens) , a quality flint properly positioned and locked down in the jaws of your hammer between a strip of leather to get a good shower of sparks . Your flash hole needs to be clear. Don’t over fill your flash pan, too much powder tends to smother the ignition.
A good ram rod, a wood one is nostalgic but a metal or fiber infused rod is more practical. You’ll also need a ball starter, a pan primer, a flintlock small tool kit, a cleaning jag, ball puller and patch worm. You will also need a tube of bore butter and black powder solvent for cleaning. A leather lock cover called a Cow’s Knee is great for keeping your lock and powder dry when hunting.

Cleaning the barrel is simple, a bucket of hot water and dawn dish soap. The hotter the better for speeding the drying process. Submerge the breech end of the barrel in the bucket insuring that the flash hole is below the surface. I used a shotgun cleaning rod and a cloth patch big enough to creating enough suction to draw water into the barrel. Plunge the rod up and down several times until the water coming out of the flash hole is not black.
Dry off the outside of the barrel and run dry patches down the muzzle blowing air out of the flash hole. Once the barrel is dry, run a patch lightly coated with bore butter down the bore to protect the barrel. Before reloading, run a few dry patches down the barrel so that your powder isn’t wet. Cleaning solvent should be used to clean the lock and frizzen. I used a q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces of the flint, frizzen and flash pan.

Answers to every conceivable question are available at muzzleloadingforum.com. Kibler's high-quality CNC kits have revolutionized the business. A well-made and properly tuned flintlock is capable of very fast lock times indeed. As to caliber, decide what the biggest game is that you might potentially want to hunt and choose your caliber from there. Be advised that in many states with muzzleloader seasons, minimum bore sizes are required. Some require .45 and larger for deer, .50 or larger for elk. Many like .54 for an all-around caliber. Most of the legendary Hawken plains rifles were about .52.
Good luck on this fascinating adventure, Travis.

Ditch the very hot water, it only causes flash rust, tepid water does just fine.

The American Long Rifle Forum is a good place to ask your questions and receive knowledgeable answers.

The other Forum can get rather nasty and testy at times, I stopped going there for those reasons, There is a lot of misinformation there as well.

For white tail deer a 50 or 54 will work fine.

Even thought it covers percussion rifles a good read is: " The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle" by Ned H. Roberts.

For flintlock rifles one of the best reads is: Flintlocks, A Practical Guide For Their Use and Appreciation by Eric A. Bye. It will answer all your questions that you have and you will get quality information from it. It can be ordered directly from the NMLRA. Beside being full of information, Eric is a nice guy.

Kibler is quality and as good as it gets.

For things you may want or need try: Track Of The Wolf or The Log Cabin in Lodi, OH.

You will need real black powder, modern substituents will not work with a flintlock.

Let me know if you need more info.

fdf

I’ve never heard of hot water cleaning creating flash rust on a muzzleloader. I could see that this may be a problem for kit guns that aren’t professionally blued or browned.

The flash rust occurs inside the barrels, which are not protected from either bluing or browning. I have seen it on many different makes and models.

I think it’s fair to say that there is a lot of thoughts on the proper way to clean a black powder rifle.
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/black-powder-clean-up.131467/

I’ve hunted with black powder rifles for close to 50 years. My first rifle was a Thompson Center .50 cal Hawken percussion rifle which I still own today. I’ve always followed the manufacturers instructions on cleaning the rifle as it was written in the manual and have no rust of any kind on the rifle or bore. I’ve used the same method to clean my T/C flintlocks, Lyman flintlock and Traditions flintlock. The same cleaning method is still recommended for their modern muzzleloaders using 209 primers.

There is a wide range of opinion on what works best. At this point we’ll have to agree to disagree.

A point of information. There are several flintlock rifles that recommend the use synthetic black powder for their main charge. I introduced my wife to hunting with a flintlock black powder rifle using a Traditions PA Pellet rifle. The rifle had 100% reliable ignition using 2- 50 grain Pyrodex pellets and 4F black powder in the pan.



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I remember reading that post on the Forum.

You are fortunate that Pyrodex works for you, for the majority of folks it does not. Jim Kibler does not recommend it.

Started shooting traditional in 1973.

fdf

Hunting PA has a good muzzleloader and traditional forum. PA is the only state that has a traditional flintlock only deer season. It began in 1974. As I said in my original post, it starts the day after Christmas and runs for 3 weeks into mid January.
It’s often a brutal time to hunt. Temperatures are often near or below zero with plenty of snow. It’s a great time to test your skills on harvesting a deer with your flintlock. Each year over 70,000 hunters participate in the season.
https://www.huntingpa.com/

I shall keep myself in Texas, that is too far north and too cold.

My blind has a swivel chair, carpet on the walls and floor, a propane heater and windows that close to keep the wind out when required.

Down side to side to hunting with a flintlock comes with shooting, the smoke stays in the blind with you.

Headed to Alabama Thursday to the Alabama/Kentucky Rifle Show to see what is available there, normally lots of interesting things..