Muzzleloaders

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Anyone hunt with or shoot traditional muzzleloaders? You know the wooden stocked, patched roundball, real black powder, and preferably flintlocked guns? If ya do, what do ya have? I have an English Fowler, right handed flintlock (I shoot left handed) in 62 caliber. It is a smoothbore. I’ve taken deer with it as well as small game because it will shoot birdshot too. It takes a .60 round ball that is between 325-330 grains and normally shoots between 60-70grains of 3F.
 
Yes! Been shooting since I was 9 and I’m 51. I have several. Lifelong hobby/interest. I have a .62 smoothbore flintlock Fusil. Best load with patched .600 RB is 70 grains of Goex BP. GREAT fun!
 
Ban muzzle loaders!!! Just kidding. Never shot one. Is there more thrill to it? The work of loading I can see amps the anticipation of the shot and perhaps makes you value your round?
 
Killed my first deer with a youth-size 40 cal. that my dad made from Hawken design qeues. Hunted a good bit more with percussion muzzleloaders but all other kills have been with center fire. I have two Colt cap and ball replica revolvers and BIL has a Remington replica that we enjoy shooting on occasion.
 
I'm tempted to revive a circa 1800 flintlock pistol I inherited. It needs a spring, mizzen? frizzen?,that is available. Its low tech has an appeal.
 
Originally Posted By: Alex_V
Killed my first deer with a youth-size 40 cal. that my dad made from Hawken design qeues. Hunted a good bit more with percussion muzzleloaders but all other kills have been with center fire. I have two Colt cap and ball replica revolvers and BIL has a Remington replica that we enjoy shooting on occasion.


Nothin wrong with caplocks, just don’t prefer them over flint. I do have a Confederate model cap & ball revolver that is a hoot to shoot though and is very accurate.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
I'm tempted to revive a circa 1800 flintlock pistol I inherited. It needs a spring, mizzen? frizzen?,that is available. Its low tech has an appeal.


I had one in .54 caliber to match my great plains rifle. Has since sold both. Flint pistol was difficult to shoot well.
 
Originally Posted By: Jooksing
Ban muzzle loaders!!! Just kidding. Never shot one. Is there more thrill to it? The work of loading I can see amps the anticipation of the shot and perhaps makes you value your round?


I fell in love at first shot! Can’t beat the thrill of seeing an explosion in the frizzen right in your face and then the boom of the main charge going off right after. Often U R not sure where the round went because of all the smoke! Nice to shoot metal gongs that move so U can see and/or hear it hit. Simplicity of shooting is fun as well. This is especially true with a smoothbore since it is more versitile. It will shoot patched round balls, loaded paper rounds, any size bird shot, swan shot, and even buck & ball loads. More fun than a rifle imo. Darn near as accurate to 50yds as well.
 
Muzzle loaders are tremendous fun. I have hunted with a .54 a good bit and even killed a couple deer with it. Percussion rifle though.

Unfortunately smoke pole seasons have gone the way of archery. Full of contraptions that meet the rules but so far from the original intent they don't even resemble the weapons the seasons were created for in the first place. And the real fun and challenge gone poor guys have no idea what fun they are missing.
 
I own 3......
Thompson Center Omega 50-cal inline
Knight Vision 50-cal inline
Traditions Shenandoah full-stock 50-cal sidehammer percussion that shoots roundball/patch
 
While I have an Italian replica Colt .44 Cap & Ball revolver, I don't shoot it much because it's a PITA to clean. But I do have 3 miniature black powder cannons. 2 are identical .44 cal. models with rifled bores I bought over 30 years ago. The other is a larger Traditions .50 cal. smoothbore that shoots a .490 dia. patched lead round ball, that I bought more recently.

These things are quite powerful if you load them up with a healthy dose of FFFg black powder, or Pyrodex equivalent. The fuse it takes is standard 3/32" dia. cannon fuse, that you can buy at most any place that sells black powder shooting supplies. The .50 cal. model weighs around 4 pounds, and rolls back about a foot when fired. But the .44 cal. models are a lot lighter, and will really take off from recoil if you load them up. I generally put an old pillow behind them to catch them.

You can see from the photos they have no sights, so any type of "long range" accuracy is pretty much a fantasy. Back when I was living in Illinois, a friend of mine invited me over one Fourth Of July. I brought one of the .44's with me. He lived on a lake, and the water was glass smooth in the afternoon. I fired it with the muzzle elevated about 30 degrees. We were amazed at how far that ball went. The lake was a good mile across, and we saw the ball splash down well over halfway across. They will easily shoot through a 2X4 with 2 pieces of that heavy black plastic lawn edging on each side. I wouldn't want to get hit with one, that's for sure.



 
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