Pennsylvania Flintlock Basics

While many are still tucked away, enjoying the warmth of their beds, sleeping off their holiday hangovers, flintlock hunters take to the hills, fields, and forests of Pennsylvania for one last attempt to harvest the elusive whitetail deer, mountain man style.

- KORY SLYE

 Pennsylvania's late flintlock season begins the day after Christmas. Pennsylvania is the sole state that holds a flintlock-only season, the first of which opened in 1974, and it remains a one-of-a-kind season.

Many people have probably seen a flintlock rifle while watching movies about the American Frontier. The flintlock that Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Hugh Glass, carries in "The Revenant" is one of the most accurate representations. The rifle used in the movie was based on a Pennsylvania flintlock rifle built by John Shuler of Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the early 1800's. The flintlock rifles that are produced today are from companies like Traditions, Lyman, Pedersoli, and until recently, Thompson Center.

The flintlock consists of a few main components. The stock, barrel, trigger, breech plug, and lock. The lock is an assembly that can be broken down into its separate parts; The hammer, jaws, flint, frizzen, pan, and frizzen spring.