Muzzleloading

Roper

Roper

Idiot Savant, still
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Okay, so are there any of you out there that are into muzzleloading? Like I don’t have enough guns and stuff I have this strange interest in it all of a sudden. I have a friend that lives in Britain who’s only options are muzzleloaders. He has several colt revolvers that he enjoys. For some odd reason, I’m thinking even farther back than that, flintlocks. The classic lines of a Flintlock pistol has a drawing to me for some reason. I have no idea what the market might be out there for original pieces. I would imagine they’re fairly expensive. But I am aware that they are kits that you can put together yourself. I’d be interested either online or off-line yakking about the idea.
Roper
 
You can buy new flintlock guns - some aren't really that expensive (relative to other fire arms). Heck, Sportsman's warehouse sells them.
 
I gave up hunting with black powder 10yrs ago after doing it for 30yrs. Started with a 50cal hawken and went to an inline when they became legal. Happy to share what i learned about weather on guns, the guns, and what you put down the barrel.
 
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Interestingly, I was talking to a few muzzlerloaders that drew a permit in the area I was in and they said that muzzlerloaders are pretty successful and their harvest rate is pretty high. One of the guys had an incredibly modern version, not at all what I would have expected to see.
 
Best part of muzzleloaders are the seasons. You get some good big game seasons.

They are not super expensive. I have a CVA Optima. It was less than 500 bucks. It is a nice gun.
 
I built a percussion 50 caliber Hawken from a kit about forty years ago. It was a fun project, and it was a blast (pun intended) to shoot although I never hunted with it.


I was initially drawn to it by the traditional and historical aspect of it, but as others have already mentioned, it seems that it’s developed into completely untraditional and very technical equipment now, complete with modern sights, plastic gunstocks, advanced powders and more. It kind of took the allure of it away for me. If it was regulated to the use of truly traditional gear, I’d be more enthusiastic about hunting with it. I know I could still use what I have but I stopped hunting big animals a long time ago.

A traditional muzzle loading shotgun might be fun for grouse though!
 
Greg Armstrong said:
I built a percussion 50 caliber Hawken from a kit about forty years ago. It was a fun project, and it was a blast (pun intended) to shoot although I never hunted with it.


I was initially drawn to it by the traditional and historical aspect of it, but as others have already mentioned, it seems that it’s developed into completely untraditional and very technical equipment now, complete with modern sights, plastic gunstocks, advanced powders and more. It kind of took the allure of it away for me. If it was regulated to the use of truly traditional gear, I’d be more enthusiastic about hunting with it. I know I could still use what I have but I stopped hunting big animals a long time ago.

A traditional muzzle loading shotgun might be fun for grouse though!
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I transitioned to a recurve bow just for that same reason.
 
Roper:

I hunted muzzleloader for quite a while. I built a Cabelas kit .54 cal percussion Hawken, which I’ve been fortunate to take several deer with. I also have a 12ga sxs shotgun, and a .50 cal pistol.

Building a kit is a lot of fun, and shooting it once finished is kinda like catching a trophy trout on a fly you tied with bird feathers from a bird you harvested. Do it.

My hawken is plenty accurate to 100 yards, or as far as I can see with open sights, with patched round ball and measured load of pyrodex. It can’t shoot a conical for shit, I figure it doesn’t spin a conical well. But I can put roundball on target, and meat in the freezer.

You can’t go wrong, it’s fun!
 
Make sure you clean it every month as BP is very caustic, my gun seized up in only 6 months with only 3 yrs of use. Even after a very thorough cleaning and whipping down and using bore butter in the barrel.
 
Guy Gregory said:
Roper:

I hunted muzzleloader for quite a while. I built a Cabelas kit .54 cal percussion Hawken, which I’ve been fortunate to take several deer with. I also have a 12ga sxs shotgun, and a .50 cal pistol.

Building a kit is a lot of fun, and shooting it once finished is kinda like catching a trophy trout on a fly you tied with bird feathers from a bird you harvested. Do it.

My hawken is plenty accurate to 100 yards, or as far as I can see with open sights, with patched round ball and measured load of pyrodex. It can’t shoot a conical for shit, I figure it doesn’t spin a conical well. But I can put roundball on target, and meat in the freezer.

You can’t go wrong, it’s fun!
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Damn, that’s inspiring. Maybe I should reconsider and hunt with mine after all.

Can you tell us more about the muzzle loading 12 gauge ?
 
If you are gonna build a kit gun beaware that the metal parts in most kits are not blued. Cold bluing is not the greatest rust inhibitor. Black powder, and substitute powders, leave a residue that is very corrosive.
 
Few of my close friends hunt during muzzle load season, they're using modern inline rifles. It kind of appeals to me because generally the weather is good during that season.

I to am curious about the black power, traditional flint lock or cap lock rifles. I have my Dad's flintlock hanging on my wall. Beautiful custom rifle. My dad bought it, if I recall in Chelan or Winthrop during a business meeting, and he some how saw it for sale. It's never been fired since Dad owned it.

Was down at the range and saw a gent shooting a kit hawkins he build. I think it would be fun to go that route too.
 
The shotgun? Well, the first thing you need to know is it's 75/25 the damn thing goes off at all. It's likely to fire significantly later than when you pull the trigger.

The guy who showed me how to load it did it this way: Place measured amount of powder in the barrel, tamp. Place wad, or 2 cards, into the barrel, tamp, making sure the wad is flat on the powder. Place measured amount of shot in barrel, tamp. Place card, again, over shot, tamp, making sure the card is flat on the powder. You mark your ramrod at proper depths so you can keep track. It was really handy to have film canisters (remember those???) with measured amounts of powder and shot prior to loading. Nowadays there's youtubes and such I'm sure with better information.

Mine is a sweet, light percussion double barrel 12. CVA I think, I haven't dug it out of the safe for a while. I've fired each barrel exactly once, at clay pigeons. It swings nice, and it needs to, because you've got to stay with the swing longer than you're used to with a cartridge gun...it goes off slowly (if it goes off at all....), and over time. Once fired, you should run a patch down it, and then repeat the loading process. My nephew had one he hunted with, and let me tell you if you've ever got into a big covey of quail you'll find yourself trying to remember which holder has powder, which shot, which pocket the wad and cards are in, what you've put in so far, with birds all around and finally stopping and dumping out the whole mess in a cacophany of blasphemy,....I haven't laughed so hard since. Rest his soul.

So for practical hunting, a muzzleloader shotgun is for most of us a curiosity, something to fire now and then. It will teach you to hold your swing ....

I've put 100's of rounds through the rifle, and roundball goes where it's aimed. 220 grain roundball is fine for deer at muzzleloader ranges. I've no real respect for the inlines, for chrissake, shotgun primers and conicals? Get a .45-70 cartridge gun why dontcha. Flintlocks are cool, but for hunting add an additional bit of uncertainty about ignition. Most muzzleloading units are late in the season, and generally either sex. You trade that for the worst weather of the year and the likelihood of fouling your piece so it doesn't fire. I always covered my percussion and nipple, and taped over the end of the barrel trying to keep snow and ice out. I got several stories of the one that got away, still.
 
Guy Gregory said:
The shotgun? Well, the first thing you need to know is it's 75/25 the damn thing goes off at all. It's likely to fire significantly later than when you pull the trigger.

The guy who showed me how to load it did it this way: Place measured amount of powder in the barrel, tamp. Place wad, or 2 cards, into the barrel, tamp, making sure the wad is flat on the powder. Place measured amount of shot in barrel, tamp. Place card, again, over shot, tamp, making sure the card is flat on the powder. You mark your ramrod at proper depths so you can keep track. It was really handy to have film canisters (remember those???) with measured amounts of powder and shot prior to loading. Nowadays there's youtubes and such I'm sure with better information.

Mine is a sweet, light percussion double barrel 12. CVA I think, I haven't dug it out of the safe for a while. I've fired each barrel exactly once, at clay pigeons. It swings nice, and it needs to, because you've got to stay with the swing longer than you're used to with a cartridge gun...it goes off slowly (if it goes off at all....), and over time. Once fired, you should run a patch down it, and then repeat the loading process. My nephew had one he hunted with, and let me tell you if you've ever got into a big covey of quail you'll find yourself trying to remember which holder has powder, which shot, which pocket the wad and cards are in, what you've put in so far, with birds all around and finally stopping and dumping out the whole mess in a cacophany of blasphemy,....I haven't laughed so hard since. Rest his soul.

So for practical hunting, a muzzleloader shotgun is for most of us a curiosity, something to fire now and then. It will teach you to hold your swing ....

I've put 100's of rounds through the rifle, and roundball goes where it's aimed. 220 grain roundball is fine for deer at muzzleloader ranges. I've no real respect for the inlines, for chrissake, shotgun primers and conicals? Get a .45-70 cartridge gun why dontcha. Flintlocks are cool, but for hunting add an additional bit of uncertainty about ignition. Most muzzleloading units are late in the season, and generally either sex. You trade that for the worst weather of the year and the likelihood of fouling your piece so it doesn't fire. I always covered my percussion and nipple, and taped over the end of the barrel trying to keep snow and ice out. I got several stories of the one that got away, still.
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Wow! Thank you for that thorough (and very entertaining) reply to my question!

Sounds like a lot of fun in spite of the uncertainty .
 
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