It's that time of year!

http://www.dixonmuzzleloading.com/compl ... -schedule/

Lots of good stuff....I'm going to have a full day tomorrow, and I'm taking a notebook.

Looks fascinating, Tom. You'll have to give us a full report. It does look to be a comprehensive series of seminars.

I will do so, but I'm crunched for time. I have rifle range work to do, and only so much weekend to go around. I at the least need to go to the seminar by Allen Martin, and I want to chat with Allen for a bit separate from the seminar, just to catch up. Last I talked to him, my rifle was 4th in line for his workbench.

Anyway, I could happily attend seminars through the entire day tomorrow, but I don't know when I'll get to the range if I don't go tomorrow some time. My Sunday is full, as it's time to start the process to clean-up/inspect/prune/fix treestands for the fall seasons.

OK. You got my attention!
I've always wanted to attend one of those seminars, there are several listed I'd like a seat in.
Hunting with the flintlock, Wood finishes, Building rifles, all of those would see me seated there.
What kind of rifle are you having built?

About 20 years ago I built a .54 Lancaster from parts I got from Track of the Wolf. 300 hours later I had a rifle. The rifle has a Colrain 1/56 twist and that twist works real well. I only shoot patched balls but the rifle will shoot better than I can.
A few years later I bought what I considered the best components available and built a Lancaster .40, I can't remember the twist but I think it's a 1/60. I ordered this barrel from LC Rice when he was still working at the barrel buisness. I think the raw parts for this rifle set me back a little over $800. but it was worth it.
I had some long conversations with Mr. LC about the flintlock mechanism itself. Both mine have been tuned and they go off like a firecracker. The sound of the flint striking the frizzen and the boom are so close you can hardly separate them.
I don't have the skills to carve a piece of wood I just paid several hundred bucks for so mine are just simple hunting rifles. Though the wood does have a good bit of curl and both look pretty good.
I sold my other ML'ers because I didn't shoot them anymore. That's how much I liked these new guns.
Shooting a flinter is a whole new ballgame that's for sure. They don't call them a flinch lock for nothing.

Those sound like some very nice rifles!

My rifle is being built by Allen Martin, a local (sort of) guy who is held in pretty high regard for his work. Super nice guy, very easy to talk to (likes to work on Mauser sporters, too, esp. medium bores, and is a fan of Nosler Partitions. )

I forget the maker, but my barrel is a 46" 1/56 twist 62-cal swamped barrel. I asked Allen if that twist was a little fast for round balls (I'm dumb enough to ask someone so knowledgeable such a question), and he said that is what Getz has found works best for what I want to do. I think he told me it will likely shoot extremely well at about 80gr of 2F. With that barrel, it should develop reasonable velocity with a 600 PRB.

It has a Davis Early Colonial lock, a curly maple stock, aged brass buttplate, trigger guard, ramrod pipes, sideplate and nose guard. Also will have a sliding wood patch box and some modest detail carving on the stock. It is a very early Berks rifle style, patterned after the Schreit rifle. I am from Berks County in PA, so I was drawn to the early, heavily Germanic styles of rifles that would have been seen in this area at the time.

Allen's work is not cheap, either in cost or value. While I didn't set out to spend what I am spending on a rifle, handling his rifles made the choice very clear. He makes rifles the way I think a rifle should fit/feel/handle. And he's a hunter. He gets it. Lots of builds I see out there are made without a thought toward actual use. His get used. I've seen and shouldered his personal hunting rifle. Shows wear and use, but it's a phenomenal rifle.

I was going to cut my time at Dixon's short so I could get to the rifle range as well, but I checked the range calendar and there's a plate shoot there today and Cowboy Action Shoot there tomorrow. So...I'll take the Winchesters out Monday after work. The place is deserted in the evenings anyway. Great time to shoot....no one else is there!

Both rifles have 38" swamped barrels, the .54 is a "C" profile and the .40 is a "B" if I remember right. The idea when I built the .40 was to get it as identical in feel and weight as possible to the .54.
At the time I was trying to get drawn for a Bull Elk Muzzleloader tag in New Mexico. Most of the hunts I was looking at were horseback and I just figured a 38" would be better than a longer barrel for that purpose. Never did get drawn. Turned out I liked the 38" for deer hunting too as it works better in close than the longer ones in our environment down here.
The .54 is brass mounted. But the .40 was built as a Turkey rifle (legal in ga.)and it is iron mounted with a darker stained stock. Some parts were made from local bought sheet steel that would rust, therefore I could brown it to match the rest.
Both rifles are Lefthand and that limits lock choices a bit. Both have Siler Locks. The second one was bought from Marse Jim Chambers.
The .40 has Davis set triggers. The .54 has a simple pinned trigger with a 2.5 lb. trigger pull. It is actually much sweeter than the set trigger.
I spent over a $100. more for the Rice barrel but when both were benched, they shot identical. Meaning better than I can see with those iron sights.
Man, it's been a long time since I've talked about these rifles.
When I find time I'll try to get some photo's up.
I've heard of Allen Martin for many years and one of his rifles are just a dream to me. And as builder I am an infant in comparison. I'm sure you will treasure that rifle as it will be a keeper for sure.