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Help For A Novice
Stylishxone767
Member Posts: 513 ✭✭✭
I am very interisted in purchasing a black powder rifle for deer hunting. Unfortunatly, I dont know much about them at all. I have looked at a few differant rifles online and in the store and dont know which one I should look towards. I am looking for something reliable and accurate enough, but it does not have to be fancy with all the bells and wistles. I do not have boat loads of money to spend. What should I look towards for a good beginer rifle?
Comments
Get a Thompson Center Hawken or a Lyman Great Plains rifle and shoot patched round ball and black powder.
The .50 patched round ball is a proven deer killer. Of course you are limited to around 100 yards or less.
The TC Hawken probably retails for $500 today, new.
Because of all the interest in inlines, the market is flat for used Hawkens or Great Plains Rifles.
You could pick a real nice used one up for $200
If the previous owner didn't clean it properly, the barrel will be ruined.
Even if you should get one with a bad barrel, you could buy a new barrel from Green Mountain for $150 or so that just drops into place.
But if you are careful you can get one with a good barrel. Check the area around the lock and see if it looks clean. If it is rusty and nasty, take a pass.
Then you need to inspect the bore. Get the proper sized cleaning jag and run a clean white patch down the bore. See if it goes down smoothly. See if there is rust on the patch, not a good sign.
Get a bore light and inspect the bore for pitting.
Really, if you find one with a bad bore, but the stock and lock are in good shape, offer the guy $100, which is all that it is worth.
Then get a new GM barrel and you are all set up, a TC Hawken with a brand new barrel for $250. Green Mountain barrels are more accurate than the TC barrels, because GM makes either a fast twist barrel for sabots, or a slow twist barrel for round balls. The TC barrel is a compromise twist which shoots either projectile pretty well, but not with deadeye accuracy.
I don't know if GM makes aftermarket barrels for the Lyman.
Shooting a percussion rifle with black powder and round ball is exactly what our ancestors were shooting in 1850. I really enjoy going into the woods with such antique equipment. Believe me, that little round ball will knock a deer flat with a good lung shot.
On the other hand, if you have to have a scope, google up a Knight Wolverine, you can still find them on close out for $150 to $250, a great classic inline muzzleloader.
Just wanted to chime in and throw in with Allen. Percussion is harder to clean, less reliable if you don't take the right precautions and muzzle velocities may be a hundred or so fps slower than with inline primer guns. All that said, I wouldn't shoot anything else. I'm pretty sure they're legal in every state that accommodates primitive arms hunting. Seem to remember reading that all states have gone to flint lock or percussion!? And with iron sites they are as authentic an experience as there is.
I'm hunting this year with a Thomson Center Renegade I've had since 1976! It's surely had around 10,000 rounds shot through it. The barrel bore is pitted from being ridden hard and put up wet. The first test shot this season hit a 1" dot at 75 yards with 90 grains of FF powder and a 220 grain patched round ball. As did the next 2. All cutting the hole of the other.
How much more can you want or expect from a firearm? It will easily through and through ANY game in North America from 100 yards in and makes a 1/2" hole going and coming. 1760 fps a and 1600 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. And about a 6 1/2" drop at 150 yards when sited in for 100 yards. Not quite as good as a 200 grain 30 '06, but then the 30 '06 doesn't make a 1/2" hole.
Whatever you buy Stylish, buy the best quality you can afford and shoot the bullets the barrel is cut to shoot. That's the most common mistake novices make. Riffling twist, exact bore diameter and depth of lands and groves are all cut to accommodate specific kinds of ammo by the manufacture. DON'T substitute! If you just do that, just about any decent rifle will be accurate. Oh, and clean that thing. Black powder is a water magnet! ;~)
chiger,
Pop the barrel out of the stock and off you go.
To clean my inline, you have to get this special tool and unscrew the breechplug. It is twice the trouble to clean compared to the Hawken.
My first was a T/C Omega 50 and I use it for deer hunting. I think for hunting that the in-line gun is the way to go. But do check out the regulations in your state.
My second is an Italian made Hawken ... it is a pretty nice gun.
My next one is going to be a Hopkins & Allen underhammer!
chiger, I must say that I believe the TC Hawken is easier to clean than my inline.
I'm with you Allen. I just pop the old Renegade barrel off and take it in the shower with me. But a lot of people don't like the ideal of showering with their old girl at all. Well...not that old girl! ;~)
A lot of people don't like cleaning guns they can't shove a rod down the bore and look through. And to some the plug tool is a small price to pay. And to tell the truth, that plug comes off a heck of a lot easier than the breach plug on our TC's will. Man, they're a real pain.
But I agree with you. Guess I should have said that to some it's harder. And any perceived inconvenience over cleaning is FAR outweighed by the feel and authenticity of shooting a TC Renegade, Hawken, or Seneca rifle to me. They become like an extension of your body after a few shots. They aren't just another modern firearm!
chiger,
Try to find a Muzzleloading club near you. You'll get lots of opinions as here but you'll learn first hand.
I also have a T/C Hawken that I found in a local pawn shop. I got it on a trade but the bore is badly pitted. Easy enough to fix if I could find the time and money to buy a Green Mountain barrel to go on it.
They are out there, I'd suggest a basic side lock percussion to start out with. Something in .50 caliber.
Bode
If you will be hunting, WHAT will you be hunting? For almost any North American big game, .50 cal. is the way to go. I bought a .54 cal Cabela's Hawken a number of years ago (on closeout - I got the last one they had in the warehouse in Sidney) because I wanted to go after Elk. .54 just does not have the selection that .50 cal does. EVERYONE makes .50 cal stuff. Having said that, I would encourage you to go with an inline if you are purely after meat in the freezer. It is hard to beat 209 primers, pelletized powder, etc. By the way, make sure you get a chrome-lined barrel, or a stainless barrel. That should prevent a lot of the pitting and other mess folks are talking about here. You should be able to get a decent gun, NEW, for under $200. I am seeing tons in the shops right now. Why spend $150 on a new barrel and go through all that hassle?
On the other hand, if you want to do other stuff, like the Mountain man Rendezvous, you will want to go with a sidelock or even flintlock. It takes Cahones grande to hunt with a Flintlock! Civil War re-enactments? You could go with a .75 cal Zouave or something equally obscure... Money no object? Get a Sharps (go to Sharps.com)! You will have to hunt during regular rifle season, but you will be a stud! Ok, that was not helpful I know. But it is fun to dream...
Just figure out what you want to do with the gun and go from there. There are LOTS of great guns. Get something, and get STARTED! Worse case, you buy a second gun later and loan your first gun to your buddy so he will go hunting with you during blackpowder season. Also, it is ALWAYS good to have a backup gun. Ask me how I know...