My muzzle loader

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Attached are pictures of a .45 cal muzzle loader that I bought many years ago. It was built by a man named Harry Durant. I used to shoot against Harry in matches on two differant ranges. Sadly both ranges are long since closed. He ran a small gun shop at Knotts Berry Farm. While the rifle is very crude in it's construction it is a fantastic shooter. I am attaching pictures of a group I shot about four years ago. The first shot is a little to the right and the next five can be covered with a quarter. The group was shot off the bench at fifty yards using 40 grains of FFF and a .58 cal linen patched round ball. The rifle has a set trigger that Harry called a rollover trigger. It really looks crude when removed from the gun but it is one of the best triggers I have ever used and I have owned some very goods ones. The rear sight was installed by me and came off a Winchester model 52. I wish I could shoot my muzzle loaders more often but it is so far to the range we are forced to use, I don't want to spend half my time loading and cleaning. As they say about these guns, you work a lot and shoot a little.

[richhodg66]

That's a good rifle. Congratulations on that group. I enjoy muzzle loaders and hunting with a hawken, but you're correct, they are a lot of work.

[405]

Very nice group there! I imagine it takes a large hammer to drive a .58 cal patched ball down a .45 cal bore :)

For hooked breech rifles, cleaning is so easy I don't quite understand the "work" part of it. For tanged breech varieties just a little more time. No brass or cartridges to deal with just load and shoot! Also, don't understand comparing the "work" of a muzzleloader compared to the cost of driving a vehicle to and from a range? Cost of gas plus depreciation plus maintenance plus insurance. Of course there's the option that some have- step out the back door with an SKS and shoot mag after mag of "cheap" ammo at rocks and beer cans for no apparent reason.:veryconfu

[GOPHER SLAYER]

You are right 404, I meant to say it was a .458 cal round ball.

[wgr]

tell us about that sight set up please

[Bagdadjoe]

Very nice group there! I imagine it takes a large hammer to drive a .58 cal patched ball down a .45 cal bore :)

For hooked breech rifles, cleaning is so easy I don't quite understand the "work" part of it. For tanged breech varieties just a little more time. No brass or cartridges to deal with just load and shoot! Also, don't understand comparing the "work" of a muzzleloader compared to the cost of driving a vehicle to and from a range? Cost of gas plus depreciation plus maintenance plus insurance. Of course there's the option that some have- step out the back door with an SKS and shoot mag after mag of "cheap" ammo at rocks and beer cans for no apparent reason.:veryconfu

That's exactly it! My neighbor generally likes to shoot several mags after sunset...maybe he likes the muzzle flash. Oh...40 round mags of course. I can't figure out what his backstop is, there's only about an acre behind them.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

WGR, you asked about the rear sight on my muzzle loader. It is a Lyman #48made for the 52 Winchester. It has a large dovetail which of course matched a slot in the rear receiver bridge of the 52. A friend of mine milled a matching slot in the mount you see in the picture. I bought the sight from him when he was thinning his collection. I even bought a Winchester five power scope from him for 25 dollars because it had a bent sight post. I straightened it with long nose pliers. Sadly, I no longer have it. Unlike Harry Durant who made the muzzle loader my friend was a fantastic machinest. When I bought the rifle it had Lyman #85 sight on it. The gun club we belonged to would buy the 85s from surplus for five bucks each complete with mounts. How I wish I had bought a box car load of them. This rifle is a great offhand shooter even though it has a heavy oct barrel. What makes it even better is the fact that that it must have been made with me in mind since it fits me to a 'T". When I wrote about the work involved with shooting these guns, I of course was talking about the cleaning between shots. If you want to shoot the best scores, I found that is the thing to do. When you go to a public range as I now am forced to do and they call a break every fifteen minutes it doesn't leave a lot of time for shooting. Couple that with fact that you loose a lot of time answering questions from peaple who have only seen these guns in movies. When I shot in matches we fired five shots and had plenty of time to clean between each shot. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on. Anymore questions, fire away.