Muzzle loader

Sam06

I like them, in fact I like shooting Black Powder Guns of all types but my favorite is a Flintlock Rifle. I have several of them, percussion too but all are a "Traditional" type gun.

I have hunted and competed with them over the years and even though I don't big game hunt I always take one out and shoot some squirrels with it.

I have a 45 cal I built when I was a kid. My Dad helped me and it turned out good. Its a Lyman with a 1-66 twist barrel and it shoot a roundball about as good as I can shoot. Its a Flintlock and with 80 grains of FFg it will shoot the eye out of a crow at 50 yds. I killed my 1st Turkey with it in GA and shot an Antelope in Idaho plus a few small blacktails in WA.

But My Favorite is a 54 cal Flintlock I built in the 90's from a kit I sent away for. I worked on it off and on for 4 years, took my time and did it right.

I also have a T/C 54 cal Percussion and a Indian trade rifle in 58 cal(Flint).

I wish there was a club to shoot at around here where they had Black Powder shoots. We had one in North GA and we shoot every month. You brought something for the winners and put it on a table then the winners would choose in the order they placed........man it was fun.


I know this is going to PO some here but I don't like inlines and scopes. There should IMO be a "primitive" Hunting season that allows only Traditional BP rifles, Bows without cams and spears or maybe an Atlatal. It could be 2 weeks either sex.

I like Idaho's definition of a Black Powder/Primitive hunting gun.

Here it is if you want to look at it:
https://idfg.idaho.gov/hunt/weapons/muzzleloader

What do ya'll think and do you enjoy muzzleloaders?

buschmaster

last time I went to the range somebody had a percussion muzzleloader rifle and pistol a few lanes down. that THUD sound they make is quite pleasant actually. lots and lots of smoke. I would like to have one sometime to shoot for a while then sell it again. just to do it.

SCOUT5

For me it comes down to do we want people hunting or do we want more hoops than many have the ability, time, or money for. You always have the choice to hunt with what equipment you desire. So if a flint lock is what a person wants to use they can, no one is stopping them. Basically deer season can only fall within so many weeks of the year to protect birthing does and fawns and other concerns of public property use etc.. Do we want to set aside 2 or more of those weeks with very strict parameters and limit access for new hunters or people with limited means, financial and otherwise? A simple example would be an aging hunter's eyes and iron sights.

A lot of people would like us to only hunt with the equipment you listed, or even a shorter list, as in no powder of any kind, and that doesn't include those that don't want hunting at all. Again no one is stopping them from hunting with what they want are not at all. I remember telling a guy from Kentucky he was lobbying against his own self interest and didn't have enough sense to know it. As a member of a bow hunting association he had assisted in successfully keeping crossbows off the list of legal archery equipment. he didn't even want compound bows, because "real hunters don't need training wheels" I explained to him that keeping new hunters out of the woods was not going to be beneficial to the long term future of hunting and that no one was stopping him from using the equipment he wished to use and it was people like him that would destroy hunting just as fast as the anti-hunting crowd. For hunting to continue it needs new blood and creating more obstacles was not the way to get it.

So, while I understand your point of what you consider primitive hunting to be I do not agree with limiting people's participation. Rather make it what you choose for you. I think hunters need to not be so critical of each other. I know we all have our preferences and there are lines almost all of us will not accept, but, IMO, under that bar we need to be more accepting and less critical.

diver-rig

SCOUT5 wrote:

For me it comes down to do we want people hunting or do we want more hoops than many have the ability, time, or money for. You always have the choice to hunt with what equipment you desire. So if a flint lock is what a person wants to use they can, no one is stopping them. Basically deer season can only fall within so many weeks of the year to protect birthing does and fawns and other concerns of public property use etc.. Do we want to set aside 2 or more of those weeks with very strict parameters and limit access for new hunters or people with limited means, financial and otherwise? A simple example would be an aging hunter's eyes and iron sights.

A lot of people would like us to only hunt with the equipment you listed, or even a shorter list, as in no powder of any kind, and that doesn't include those that don't want hunting at all. Again no one is stopping them from hunting with what they want are not at all. I remember telling a guy from Kentucky he was lobbying against his own self interest and didn't have enough sense to know it. As a member of a bow hunting association he had assisted in successfully keeping crossbows off the list of legal archery equipment. he didn't even want compound bows, because "real hunters don't need training wheels" I explained to him that keeping new hunters out of the woods was not going to be beneficial to the long term future of hunting and that no one was stopping him from using the equipment he wished to use and it was people like him that would destroy hunting just as fast as the anti-hunting crowd. For hunting to continue it needs new blood and creating more obstacles was not the way to get it.

So, while I understand your point of what you consider primitive hunting to be I do not agree with limiting people's participation. Rather make it what you choose for you. I think hunters need to not be so critical of each other. I know we all have our preferences and there are lines almost all of us will not accept, but, IMO, under that bar we need to be more accepting and less critical.

+1000

Sam06

I understand the get folks out hunting argument and the limited time but it just kind of galls me when I see some guy with an inline shooting 2400 and a scope with a sabot bullet. He may as well have a SS rifle.

Just my opinion.

I like Flintlocks and when tuned properly they have a faster ignition than a percussion gun.

I have used pyrodex but I always returned to BP because it shot better.

Appreciate the input and by no means am I downing your choices

I don't really hunt anymore so I don't have an iron in the fire, that said I wish more states would define a muzzle loader better.

RobOz

Pa still has a Flintlock season for deer. It has changed a little over the years but it is still somewhat traditional.

Brookwood

I too enjoy doing all of my hunting with old style traditional muzzle loaders. Taking game with a flintlock rifle I built, using a lead projectile (Round ball) that I cast myself just makes me feel good!

The woods look the same as they did 250 years ago and when out there, I almost feel a closeness to my ancestors that I could not attain any other way. Just my version of a time machine I guess.

Bubba Jr.

Sam if you want to make a trip to Ohio, we have a muzzle loading season.

Here's a link to the info. http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/wildlife-home/post/ohio-s-deer-muzzleloader-hunting-season-is-jan-2-5

Edit: Linked a better source for info.

arraflipper

Years ago we had a little club that all shot black powder rifles or pistols. There were a few other clubs around, that had shooting matches also. Usually it was choice of what everyone put on the blanket, and a few added donations. Lots of fun and real inexpensive to shoot. I still have a few rifles all of them percussion I had a flintlock, but couldn't get over flinching when the powder touched off. Hopefully I can use my smoke pole again this year to shoot a deer.

nononsense

Times have changed and so has the equipment we are legally allowed to use in some states. I fact, many shooters would be precluded from hunting at all if rifle scopes or pistol scopes were not allowed.

I see modern inline muzzle loaders as a boon for those of us who hate that regimen of cleaning a black powder muzzle loader. A couple of shots, go clean. With the use of smokeless muzzle loaders I can shoot a dozen times and more before I even have to consider just running a brush down the bore. Using a scope and decent rest, accuracy can be nothing short of superb:



Here is a close up of that same target:



I witnessed this personally.

Best.

SCOUT5

Cleaning is one of the reasons for me buying a smokeless muzzle loader. I like to hunt and I only have so much time to invest in it. It takes a lot of time to keep a smoke pole clean and running right, time I would rather spend hunting. Due to the knee surgeries and limited time I've yet to find the loads it likes and get it dialed in. I do plan on having it ready to go for next season, and I may yet do it this year. I plan on picking archery back up next year as well, but I'll use my compound bow as I just do not have the time to stay tuned up with my re-curve.

I would like to hunt with a flint lock and a long bow, be nice to have the time ( and eyes) to really enjoy it.

Brookwood

Cleaning a traditional muzzle loader takes me about a half an hour to 45 minutes. It is very important to clean them after you are done shooting them. For deer season, I load my intended rifle and keep it loaded until I get a shot at a deer. No cleaning until I take that shot. Many swear you have to shoot, clean, and reload everyday. That is bunk and a myth IMO. As long as you keep the gun out in the cold where you are using it, no condensation from temp. variations will mess up your load. I can keep a loaded rifle for the entire season which goes a full month and a half. Kept in an unheated garage when not out in the field. Never had any misfire or barrel rust problems filling my tag at season end!

ltcdoty

New York State is considering the limiting or banning of in line muzzle loading rifles during muzzleloading hunting seasons.

bambihunter

Many don't know but inlines actually were invented around the same time as sidelocks.

My sentiments are that most hunting laws should be accessible and sporting. Leave it up to the individual hunter how much of a handicap they want.

I have taken over 50 deer with a CVA .50 Mountain Rifle. 32" 1 in 66" percussion firing round ball. I finally retired it some years back after the barrel was shot out (I bought it quite used in 1990). Now, I own several of those, and several Remington 700 MLS (on in each caliber; .45, .50, .54). Which one I grab largely depends on the amount of time I have in the field. If I've only got a few days, I generally take the inline. As some have said, it isn't so much that they are better but they are an absolute breeze to clean. With a 24" barrel on my inline, I will maybe reach out 75 yards whereas with sidelock I'll generally limit it to less than that though. In years past when I was more steady on my feet I spent most of my time on the ground stalking and for some reason 40 yards seemed to be the magic number. As my eyes started to struggle with iron sights, I put fiber optic sights on my inline. Then, the Kansas law relaxed some and I finally was able to use the 2x7x32 scope I had bought with removable scope mounts (to use the muzzleloader during rifle season). It is amazing what some of the latest generation inlines can do though.