Traditional Muzzleloaders?

DarrinG

DarrinG

Six Pointer
Who else here enjoys/shoots and hunts with traditional muzzleloaders? Its become an addiction to me, right up there with my traditional bows. I really enjoy the "pop---BOOM" and the smoke roll of my sidelocks and real black powder. I've shot conicals and such but nothing holds my attention like a patched round ball. I picked up my first traditional smokepole back in the winter (a Thompson Center Hawken percussion 50 cal., made in 1977) and now have a CVA 50 and a Traditions 32 caliber for small game. I love the sight and smell of a shot just fired almost as much as watching an arrow fly from my recurves.
 
Longrifle

Longrifle

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I still enjoy playing with them too! I keep a CVA Kentucky .45 and a TC Renegade with a couple of extra barrels in .50 and .54 in the safe. Just found out recently that my BIL has a mint condition TC .45 Hawken safely tucked away. We're gonna have to talk about that one....
 
roundball

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
DarrinG said:
Who else here enjoys/shoots and hunts with traditional muzzleloaders? Its become an addiction to me, right up there with my traditional bows. I really enjoy the "pop---BOOM" and the smoke roll of my sidelocks and real black powder. I've shot conicals and such but nothing holds my attention like a patched round ball. I picked up my first traditional smokepole back in the winter (a Thompson Center Hawken percussion 50 cal., made in 1977) and now have a CVA 50 and a Traditions 32 caliber for small game. I love the sight and smell of a shot just fired almost as much as watching an arrow fly from my recurves.
Click to expand...
Best thing since sliced bread...hunted Flintlocks exclusively for a quarter century :)
 
DarrinG

DarrinG

Six Pointer
Roundball, I believe my next rifle purchase will be a flintlock of some sort. I'm enjoying these percussion rifles now but would like to venture into the flinters in the future also. I'm enjoying working up loads for them and trying different patch materials and lubes, etc.
 
roundball

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Tipmoose said:
The first deer I ever took with a ML was with a 50 cal TC Hawken.
Click to expand...
TC's flagship rifle for sure...Thompson/Center Arms was the driving force behind getting traditional muzzleloading reintroduced across the country...reasonable quality, reasonably affordable equipment...ML seasons began springing up across the country...70's/80's and some 90's were good times for TC and the country.
 
roundball

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
DarrinG said:
Roundball, I believe my next rifle purchase will be a flintlock of some sort. I'm enjoying these percussion rifles now but would like to venture into the flinters in the future also. I'm enjoying working up loads for them and trying different patch materials and lubes, etc.
Click to expand...
Easy to get hooked on them for sure...especially the Flintlocks :)
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Plenty of flintlocks on the used market.

Pennsylvania still has an exclusive flintlock only hunting season which props up the limited commercial manufacture of the guns
 
woodmoose

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
DarrinG said:
Who else here enjoys/shoots and hunts with traditional muzzleloaders?
Click to expand...


I do

mostly flintlocks now, but have (and still play with) caplocks,,,,,everything else is modern to me,,,,

now don't get me wrong,,,love modern firearms as well,,,,in fact saving my pennies to get a fellow to make me a long range piece,,,,

as with bows (I shot and hunt with long bows, recurves, compounds, and an Excalibur),,,it's all about what I am hunting and where,,,,,then I chose my weapon,,,,,,,
 
surveyor

surveyor

Old Mossy Horns
Built a percussion.

Built some underhammer.

Building a flintlock.

Think I'll do an underhammer flintlock.

The older I get, the older I get.
 
adkarcher

adkarcher

Six Pointer
Shot them for years on woods walks, went back to hunting with it last year. Took a nice doe with it, first in quite a few years old school. Meant much more to me than any of the in-line kills I had. What was even cooler is the fact that my father cast the round ball I used!
 
JJWise

JJWise

Twelve Pointer
I’m going to do my best to get a percussion or flintlock this year. My home state of WV just decided to have an extra season in January for tradition equipment- longbow/recurve and percussion/flintlock. I have a recurve and would love to compliment it with a traditional muzzle loader.
 
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Mallard Cutter

Six Pointer
DarrinG said:
I don't want to step on toes, but I'd like to see a traditional muzzleloader season here, even if it's just the first week of BP season, then open it up to the modern inline guns. Probably never happen though, but would be nice.
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I'd love to see that also , but I doubt it ever happens
 
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DarrinG

DarrinG

Six Pointer
It seems what started out as primitive weapons seasons are no longer "primitive" weapons seasons. Technology has progressed to the point it has invaded even the old-school stuff/seasons. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not against inline muzzleloaders use for hunting, but it's taken away the nostalgia of even having a separate black powder rifle season, for me anyhow. I'd love to see our BP season be for traditional muzzleloading guns but I realize that will probably never happen.

I recently bought a .32 caliber sidelock that I'm working up a load for with a patched round ball and Goex black powder. I'm hoping it becomes my new squirrel getter!
 
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CRC

Old Mossy Horns
I suggested to the WRC since hunters want 2 weeks or more of blackpowder season (huge opposition to going back to 1 week) that one week should be iron sight percussion, flint or match lock.

I bet that would really upset NC hunters!

There would be lots of opposition for sure.

Still why not make the current late archery only antlered only deer season in WNC legal for those firearms as well?
 
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roundball

roundball

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
No question the allowance of modern technology into what were supposed to be primitive weapons seasons has destroyed the original intent & purpose of them. A very few states held fast but most states apparently didn't even understand or evaluate the evolution / impact of the modern center-fire like "muzzleloader"....simply figured if it loads from the muzzle it was OK.

Same thing for archery...original intent & purpose was the same as for traditional muzzleloaders...to recognize and keep alive the notion of primitive bow hnting, but it too was overrun with all sorts of modern high-tech gear.

The good news of course is that you can hunt primitive muzzleloaders ( or bows ) right on through all the hunting seasons if you want to, not just those seasons originally established for primitive weapons. You do lose the benefit of having quieter woods / less human traffic which helps with the closer range limitations of primitive weapons, but at least you can hunt with them...
 
D. Buck Stopshere

D. Buck Stopshere

Six Pointer
If you want to meet fellow traditional black powder shooters around the state, there are about seven black powder clubs in NC.
It might mean a two hour drive to get there, but we welcome anyone who is interested in either starting out or has been in the hobby awhile. Granted, some areas around Elizabeth City or Roanoke Rapids will find a three hour drive not worth the trip. I can't blame anyone for making that trek. To find a club around you, go to the NMLRA website and click on "Program", then scroll down to "Charter Club", and click on "View The Charter Club Directory", then "North Carolina". You do not have to be a NMLRA member to use this service. The club in the Fayetteville area has folks that drive over from Durham and Jacksonville monthly.

Buck Buchanan
Field Rep - NC
NMLRA
 
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D. Buck Stopshere

D. Buck Stopshere

Six Pointer
I believe "Roundball" has got the best "picture" of what started, happened, and slowly became "the present". I remember traveling with members of our muzzle loading club down to Elizabethtown back in the '70's to assess a new three day hunting season for "frontstuffers". It was to take place on the last three days of bow season, and of course, bowhunters were a little bit (?) peeved at that notion.

I sincerely belive as usual, the driving force in all this is money. Manufacturers in the mid '80's inquired about Tony Knight's new rifle, the MK-85. The late Fred Lambert of the old Mountain State Muzzleloading Supply in WV and I were discussing it at the National Matches at Friendship IN. in 1987. Fred said, "by the turn of the century, the inline rifle will have 80 to 90 percent of the muzzleloading market." I told him, "Fred, that's impossible....it won't happen."

I have nothing against inline muzzleloaders. I have shot inline muzzleloading Yazel pistols since 1988 in competition. However, the loading of measured Swiss black powder, patched ball and percussion cap remain in the shooting endeavor. Kind of a compromise.

Money, of course, drives the market and traditional firearms do not attract the public like an inline rifle does. Most of the public wants a simple procedure for loading and sighting in. Two 777 pellets, a CVA Powerbelt, a 209 primer in the T/C Encore, and now one is "good to go". Now, of course, the drive is for maximum velocity (four pellets in the Remington 700 ML) and long range, 200 to 300 yards. None of this is objectable, its just a glimpse of where the market is focusing.

We also need to look at the fact we are in dying sport. The sale of hunting licenses keeps decreasing, which would mean the market is shrinking. The Progressives may yet put us in lockstep with our old mother country (UK) in regard to regulation and availability. I keep telling my liberal friends if guns are taken out of circulation, the 11% excise tax funds will disappear. Will hikers, campers, kayakers, & nature lovers take up the slack in funding conservation?
 
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cloningerba

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
I love rolling smoke. My first smoke pole kill came from a .50 cal white mountain carbine. I’ve been hooked ever since. Muzzle loader season is my favorite every year. I’m excited thinking about it now.

Anyone know where I can get a nipple for that gun? My grandfather blew his out of his gun some how...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
adkarcher

adkarcher

Six Pointer
I have bought off EBAY for nipples and other parts before. There are a couple of muzzleloader suppliers on there.
 
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