About 1200 worth of parts, IF you can find them. The entire trade will collapse when the remaining old guys die. We will be knapping our own flints in 5 years, and I'm not wrong.

Mark Novak, gunsmith, veteran, and teacher.

That kid holding out the powder flask was cracking me up😂 he was like "i dont care how the flint works! I want to see it go boom!" God thats hilarious! His arm was fully extended holding out that powder flask while mark was talking😂 reminds me of myself when i was young

I once owned a Spanish made flintlock with the cutest tiny little silver lock assembly, that was such a pain to get reliable shots off. I bought a monster sized lock assembly that was ugly as sin, but it never let me down when shooting at meat. The wife tells me that I am looking better with age. And so, at age 71, I wish I could have stayed an ugly 30 something one heck of a lot longer.

I never realized that radiant heat from the pan is what actually ignites the main charge. Makes sense, just hadn't ever thought about it. Cool!

I'm 53 and I've been shooting since I was 12, but got into blackpowder guns about 15 years ago. My first bp gun was a Pietta Remington in stainless. Sometime later I got more cap and ball revolvers and then an Indian made Howdah gun from Middlesex Village Trading Co. It's a double barreled 20 gauge percussion. He also sells a double barreled 20 gauge flintlock pistol, but it's the same price as his 20 gauge double barreled shotgun. I got a few Italian Civil War replica rifle muskets, but my favorites are my Indian flintlocks. I also have a .75 caliber British Ship Carbine, a .65" bore steel blunderbus (both from Middlesex) and a screen used 1866/68 French Charleville from Veteran Arms. I have all my flinters fine tuned, they go off instantaneously like a modern centerfire shotgun. I use 2F in all of them, even in the pan, just like they did back in the day.

"Mark Novak, Gun Enthusiast"😂

Log Cabin in Lodi is still in business.

It'd be really cool if you did a series building a black powder rifle and explaining a lot of the nuances that come with it

I was a student in your mechatronics class back in the day. Watching this in class was a real treat.

"Smokeless powder is a passing fad." Even this early in the morning I know that is the QotD.

You are a wealth of knowledge. You made the joke that you were saying everything that could go wrong during the filming but you know alot more about fire arms then most people. I am glad that you shared this with us. Thanks for another great video. Thw look on the guys face after you told him a tiny air pocket could banana the barrel was hilarious.

Thanks for doing what you do to pass it on. One can only hope that it sticks, and doesn't get snuffed out by those that think 1776 should only be remembered as an ancient musical.

In an alternate universe: Mark has a bad day and stars in Falling Down. 😅 ❤

Mr. Novak, sir you are an excellent teacher and a proper gusmith as well. Going down the rabbit hole with you is both a great lesson and and great fun. Well done sir.

Good 'ole VHS. It was like magic when it first came out. Prior to that we had good 'ole super 8mm, and the only sound you heard was clickity-click-click-click from the projector. I wonder what's next. Time marches on, but these days it feels like it's marching right across the small of my back. Cool video, and thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Mark.. as i am sure you know, there is NOTHING like the first shot out of a gun which you have made yourself! Outstanding! Edit to add.. I run a stall at a Game Fair in Scotland and one of the quirks of UK firearms law is that I can let members of the public shoot a smoothbore. I have a Land Pattern Musket and we shoot about 300 ball out of it over a couple of days.. silly grins are golden!

"gun enthusiast". I remember when you could see that on tv and not have 50 blue haired freaks shrieking on the ground.

great as always Mark...would have loved to known you then... I've got bout 4 yrs. on you but i would have killed [well...maybe not that far but you get my drift] to have had the chance to study under you...but alas I did not so I've reverted to watching all of your videos at least ten or more times to try and adsorb all of the knowledge i can from them...please if at all possible don't stop... the wealth of skill and know how you show is unbeatable and worth ever min. of ones time to spend and learn and a special thanks to Bruno for all the work he puts in to film these videos...I was a Master electrician and HVAC tech before a injury took me out and I've always tinkered with gunsmithing and you videos got me back into that with more "learning" in that field thanks to you that i feel knowledgeable enough to do the work i used to go to the gunsmith for

34 years old back then? Wow, and I thought I was old (22 years ago feels like yesterday almost)… great video ofc!

Log cabin is an amazing shop! I’ve just reached my black powder phase…. And it’s definitely the go-to place for all things that go boom and generate smoke!

Where did your handy helper end up? His enthusiasm to see the shotgun run and be ready for each step to get there😂

Thanks for sharing, Mark! Nice fowler. I just obtained my first flintlock, a long land pattern King's musket (1742 Brown Bess). I absolutely love it!

Thank you Mark.

I know, for 100% certain, that I gave seen this exact video here on youtube before, but in a better quality. I dont remember how I came across it, but I thought it was pretty cool to see an old video of Mark “Gun Enthusiast” Novak outside of Anvil.

Thanks for sharing this piece of history with us Mark! I hope that in another generation there are still people who can make these guns and parts! Id give my left toe to apprentice one of these old timers.

Awesome blast from the past. I’ve always wanted a flintlock Fowler like that. Maybe I’ll have to build one.

Log Cabin Gunshop in Lodi Oh. Fantastic place and a worth stop for any history or antique firearm lover

It's hard to say this without it sounding like a backhanded compliment, but I'll take a shot. You've really gotten good at tailoring your explanations to the competence level of your audience since then. And I'm not just talking about Anvil. You were kicking science ass with high-schoolers before most of us were high-schoolers. You're the kind of teacher we need more of.

Great flashback Mark. Black powder shotgun is my favorite. So much fun!!!

How cool is to have a glimpse of the past .

I live 15 minutes from the log cabin. I go there 4, 5 times a year. Wasn't expecting to hear that name in this video.

There are NOT evough Mark Novaks in the world.... we need more Men in the world.

What a Friday Treat!

Great video, thanks! Definitely enjoyed your blast from the past.

Great video, Mark. Thanks for the look back.

Wonderful, thanks for the blast from the past.

This weekend at Backwoods is the Jr US open sporting clays tournament. My son used to shoot in the youth leaga in SC. Back in the early 2010s we would have 500 kids in tournamentsvand was a great way to teach kids gun safety. He had a ball.

Same great sense of humor. I would've loved to have you as a teacher back in my school days.

Awesome stuff brother! Mark the way you teach and convey information is quite frankly addicting. As someone easily bored by a boring teacher, you keep my focus of attention! Hope to meet you one day!

Looks like that shirt made its way out of the chief's locker of the USS Key West or similar, yes? Great video and presentation.

Great video, definitely early 2000s style, well spoken even in your younger years!

Ah now i feel young again, if for just a brief moment!

Very cool video Mark! I love blackpowder anything. My first gun was an Italian replica of the blackpowder Remington 1858 Civil War era revolver (which I still own). I recently picked up a "shed find" Dutch/Belgian Liege made early 1800's Naval flintlock pistol. It was a Bannerman's special at one time (mounted to a plaque) and is totally complete but sadly frozen up. It definitely needs to be conserved and I'm not sure if I want to tackle it or let a professional handle it (hint hint). A good thing is that not a single screw on it is buggered up! Keep up with the great vids Mark!

Id like to see a future video about shooting with blackpowder, maybe even starting from charcoal.

Our club in Ontario Canada has a black powder clay league for juniors. A few years ago one out the juniors won a gold medal and another won a silver medal in Portugal.

Thanks for sharing this with us. I really enjoy and appreciate the wisdom and knowledge you share with us through your videos.

I love it, i have tried both smokeless and blackpowder and i have got to say that the latter is more fun. the experience, history and craftmanship of these old firearms made me buy a couple of antique muzzleloaders a few years ago and by this point i have a small collection of them. my favorite is the Swedish M/1815-45 .70cal musket that i fixed up to working order without taking away the patina.

Love it. I’ve been watching a lot of Anvil lately and it’s really relaxing. It feels like talking with an old friend, or the dad I never had, just learning stuff. Thanks for your work.

Falling Down !

Excellent video, thank you. In the late 1970's, one of my friends built a rifle similar to that. Heavy machine. I fired it once.

I couldn't see it for the smoke...

This was fun. I own a number of black powder revolvers and I've shot a few black powder rifles, but never BP shotguns.

So you've always had that star quality 😄

That is a beautiful flintlock, Mr. Novak. What a great vid!

I try not to look in the boxes of old VCR tapes.... Hopefully most of them have been destroyed. There is a 30s version of me teaching automotive computer controlled carburetors somewhere in the world. Nothing good ever comes from "Can you show us how to ______" But, some of us have taken the bait for most of our lives......lol

Even younger Mark was an information encyclopedia.

loved this Mr Novak , you were definitely born to teach and it would be great to see some more black powder stuff :)

When I was still a junior shooter at a rondy they were doing some shooting with black powder cartridge shotguns and a guy let me shoot his Miroku Brown Bess. Breaking birds with that thing made me feel like the greatest shooter that ever lived lol! Fast forward a couple decades and I've got a whole fleet of smoothbores. Ten minutes of putting a kid on a gun can change their whole trajectory.

Outstanding sir this took me back into time thank you very much six stars

If you love what you're doing, it's hardly working. Ya just gotta take care not to neglect the bottom line. Like freedom, food, shelter and clothing are not free. Thanks, Mark. I have not yet disliked a single one of your videos. Bravo zulu.

Cool, thanks for sharing! I definitely second the motion on giving the flintlock thing a try. I just got involved in flintlocks this year, kind of got bored with cartridge guns and leery of digging any deeper into the powder and primer magazines. My self-introduction was to bring a wallhanger back to shooting condition as a learning experience, then bought a really high quality mountain rifle kit and completed that, then built a left-handed 20-gauge fowling piece/trade rifle from a board, a free barrel, new L&R lock, and flat mild steel stock. I also learned how to make my own sporting grade black powder from scratch and more recently have been teaching myself how to knap decent flints from local chert. While I primarily shoot home-cast, tightly patched round balls with it (historical/hysterical "correct" nazis need not respond!), as a matter of practicality I also have been making paper shot cartridges and fine-tuning patterns with the one -trip-with-the ramrod-concept, I think I've got all that dialed in pretty well for this fall's dove season, looking forward to giving it a go.

Absolutely fantastic video. I love how formal you were then.

Thank you so much for all you do.

Fun video Mark, thanks for sharing it with us.

That chicken wing! Throwback for sure .

Thank you Mark, excellent walk down memory lane. There are a few channels on YT keeping the old BP ways alive. From making your own powder to building muskets and rifles.

Bet you STILL HAVE Her!! I'm one older and built my 1st BP in 77 with paper rout monies and she is still shooting GREAT Looking Great Now You Did it, I want to build a nice light on the swing English Fowler maybe a stoner and capper.

Thanks Mark, as always educating and entertaining!

It's so cool that you've been to the log cabin I love that place

Amazing Mark as ever, thanks for showing us the past.

Great video Mark! Love those ''black powder'' guns! My wife loves shooting them as well. Thanks for sharing with us! From Sophia, N.C.

Love this joint. I too love cigars and old steel. After this going down to sight in a new to me 1947 Winchester 75. Installed a Weaver K10 which is almost period. Regards from Appalachia

So who is the kid?? 🤔

Great old video, Mark! I wish we could find the time to get out to CTLR one day. Oh, if you are only 56, how did you get 10 years smarter than me when I am 10 years older than you!😂 Oh, r buxton here.

MOUNT PLEASANT,S.C. I lived there from 1970-72,Mathis Ferrry road ,Navy Brat.

LOL. I was probably in SWAT school around the same time. It was also filmed with a shoulder-mounted VHS potato. LOL

Fun video Mark!

!!!! No one word about Piccatini, Red Dots , JPS,Tfctical eq, no hatred towards Russians........... Thank You very mach Miste Mark.

At first it looked like you were still in the military or were you? Great stuff sir. Glad to see VHS still lives in other places...

thank you Mark!

Used my Brown Bess on birds when I wanted some excitement in my hunts, tons of fun

Thanks for this one in particular Mark. I have been considering making a flintlock for some time. Lately, I've been looking at Jim Kibler's kits (for a first-timer like me).

Thanks guys, enjoyed it!

Well done. I enjoyed this video a great deal.

When i was a kid i modified my cap gun, basically turned into a percussion revolver, used crushed match heads for powder and shot airgun BBs at cans.

That was a great video, thanks for sharing it with us.

Nice watch on a rainy Saturday morning . Cheers.

Too cool! Thank you, Mark

Great video. I am going to have to get me a black powder shotgun and a Civil War rifle replica rifle as soon as I can move to a free state as I feel restrictions coming where I currently reside. They just enacted a number of bans. Once those don’t work (they never do), they will enact more and more, curse them. Please share as many of these older videos with us as you have.

Sherman, fire up the way-back machine!

Brings back memories, thanks man.

Small Bellied Mark is a rare catch 😂

Thank you Mark I really injoy watching this video.

Great to see, Mark. x2 Black powder shotgunning is an experience. I've taken mine out to the trap field a few times and while I never score well, it still gets a lot of interest.

Great video. Thanks Mark.

Excellent video as usual!👍👍

Loved this freaking video.

Cool find. Thanks for sharing!

Brilliant! I shoot black powder here in the UK. It's great fun.