Lucky's Trekking Tips - Muzzle Blasts, September 2023

Ready, Aim, Fire!  When it comes to what flintlock I take on a trek, it boils down to: what will I be doing? Over the years, the period firearms I have acquired have been totally based on trekking and hunting, not reenacting. I have done, and still do plenty of Revolutionary War reenactments, but 90% of the time my weapons are used in the field with a purpose.

If I am out in the early fall for small game season, my weapon of choice is a .20-gauge smoothbore with swan shot, when I can get it, or number 6 shot. It has rear sights and is deadly on small game. I don’t even carry wadding for it. Instead, I use what I find in the woods. Dried leaves, a cut piece of shelf fungus or some wasp nest if I find it. I don’t believe for a minute they carried the over/under wads on the frontier. Maybe they wealthy had them back in the populated areas, but not your average guy in the wilds. They were not practical and were not readily available. With primitive wadding mine patterns nice and has killed a lot of game. I highly encourage you to go to the woods without modern over/ under wads, etc., and give it a ‘shot’. 

 If I am out later in the fall during deer season, I carry my .50 caliber rifle. It is Jim Chambers a guy built for me and shoots straighter than my eyes are probably capable of. It’s a mere 7- and three-quarter pounds and is easy to carry all day long. I do have a serious hankering for a Hawken rifle in either flint or percussion. The ultimate would be an “Ashley Hawken”, but that original baby came in at almost 13 pounds in .69 caliber! 

 Finally, on horse treks my immediate “go to” gun is my canoe length smoothbore 16-guage trade gun. For those that were at Kempton, I had it there. It has a repaired wrist, tacks, lots of dirt and is ugly as a stump, but shoots every time with great accuracy with either shot or ball. When riding, shorter is better. I carry it in a four-inch-wide sling on my saddle horn or carry it in my lap. It is what I took on the Ashley’s Return trip and it fired every time.

 No matter which one I carry, they all go to the woods with a calf knee over the lock, most of the time, or dangling from the trigger guard. A lot of people are afraid to take a flintlock out in the rain deer hunting. Not me. I have hunted in the pouring rain with a calf knee and not had a miss-fire and I have forgotten the calf knee and still hunted in the rain with a couple miss fires before it went off. However, it is a good lesson in how well you know your gun and your quick response drill when a buck is 40 yards away watching you miss fire twice only to decide to run before the third time, which was a charm, although I missed him. Smart buck. 

Pictured from left to right are my rifle, 20-gauge smooth ‘rifle’ and the 16-gauge trade gun.  No matter what, the one you own is the one you take unless you are fortunate to have a choice. Keep your fire burning and I hope to see you on the trail soon.

By Gerry “Lucky” Messmer. Reprinted by permission from the September 2023 issue of Muzzle Blasts.