Poof…Silence. That is the sound of the main charge in a flintlock failing to ignite. When target shooting misfires are an annoyance, but during a hunt a misfire can cause the loss of an opportunity to harvest an animal.

It used to be that I had trouble with misfires in my flintlock when huntin. When I loaded the gun then shot it right away it normally fired good, but when I loaded it and let it set it misfired. I tried WD-40 as an after cleaning oil, which prevented the rust well for a few weeks. I tried regular gun oil, which prevented rust for even longer. However, the problem of misfires still remand.

This year after I cleaned my lock I started sprayed it down with a dry Teflon lubricant. I had switched to the Teflon as the lubricant for the lock, because it completely dries–meaning it will not freeze and slow the lock down in cold weather. One day I realized that the Teflon says on the can that it prevents rust. That time when I cleaned my gun instead of oil I sprayed some Teflon down the muzzle. Then I wet a patch with it and ran that down the barrel a few times.

A week or so later when I got my gun out I ran a patch down and found no rust. I could feel the Teflon on the barrel rubbing off onto the patch as I pushed the patch down.

Next time I took my gun out hunting I used the same after-cleaning procedure. When I got back from the hunt, a few hours later, I discharged my flintlock and it fired good with no hesitation.

Since then I have been exclusively using the Teflon as the inner barrel lubricant and still I find no rust. Also I now have confidence in my gun that it will fire, most of the time, when hunting.

Its not traditional, but it does work. For extended periods of storage it still might be good to use some oil just to be sure there is no rust.