I am considering a gift percussion rifle to my 10yo nephew...

[Sixgun Symphony]

I was looking at the Traditions Deer Hunter .50 caliber percussion rifle because it is a small carbine, something that he could use for deer and feral pig in Florida. But I really don't like the fiber optic sights that come standard.

What is a good percussion rifle, youth sized, with traditional sights?

I may go assemble a kit to get decent fit and good oil wood finish and browned steel. It would also be good to keep costs down as I will send it with shooting bag, horn, and necessary accoutrements.

[Harter66]

I have a neat little rifle that's probably exactly what you're looking for , it's called a Frontier rifle . Its a short rifle (carbine really) that resembles the Hawken style . Straight wood stock , screw tab breach , single wedge , brass trim and butt plate . It is an imagined cheap but solid 1840ish land rush feed the family type rifle . They were initially cheap enough to be a solid 50 cal PRB truck/starter/fall in the mud wash it off in rocky bottom creek gun . Mine shot a Minie' about as well as it did a PRB with my 50 yd 3" off hand technique . Its a CVA I have .

[Eddie2002]

Harter66 beat me to it, the CVA Frontier rifle with the 24 inch barrel would work fine, I picked one up a few years ago just because the price was right and it had a browned barrel which I'm a sucker for. The lock isn't very high quality and looks like it is the same as found on the CVA Kentucky pistols but it fires every time. I think the CVA Bobcat is the same rifle but with a plastic stock and different sights.

[mooman76]

I also had one. They were a good cheap rifle, I believe $100 back then about 30 years ago. It shot both REALs and PRBs real good. When I showed up to a shoot, everyone made fun of my little gun until after the shoot and I took 2 events. Whish I had never sold it. A friend kept after me until I sold it to him.

[Sixgun Symphony]

The CVA Frontier rifle is exactly what I had been looking for, but it has been out of production for awhile and I can't find a used one for sale. So I purchased the Traditions Deer Hunter rifle from MidwayUSA with the necessary accoutrements. I don't like the sights, but it is an entry level muzzleloading rifle. In five years I will buy him something better, perhaps the Pedersoli Pennsylvania Rifle.

[LAGS]

The sights on these rifles can be changed to suite you likes or needs, or His likes.
So far the Traditions kits that Have put together have worked Good, and will probably be a good starter rifle either in finished rifle or a kit.
The Pedersoli Scout or Cub rifles like I just bought will work fine for smaller shooters or beginners.
A little more expensive than the Traditions but are better quality and with proper care could be handed down to His Son.

[Sixgun Symphony]

Dixie Gun Works has the Pedersoli Cub rifle for sale in .36 caliber. I was wondering about using 180gr, 200gr cast .358 bullets normally used for revolvers. But I decided to stay with .50 caliber for PRB on feral pigs.

[GregLaROCHE]

I guess it depends on the youngster, but .50 cal for a twelve year old sounds a bit much. You don’t want him ti get recoil shy. I’d go for the Pedersoli Cub to start with and work up from there.

[Jedman]

I haven’t followed what’s being made in muzzleloaders for a long time but I once owned a Hopkins Allen under hammer buggy rifle with a 20” bbl. in 45 cal. It was light about 5 pounds very slim and handy and with a round ball and 70 grs. Of fff I killed a pile of deer with it out to 75 yards.
I got lazy and got into smokeless muzzleloaders about 10 years ago and sold it thinking I wouldn’t miss it but I do.

They are not easy to find but if I were starting a youth out deer hunting , that gun or something like it would be my choice. The 45 round ball is a efficient killer with well placed shots and very low recoil.

Jedman

[Texas by God]

You're a good uncle. Fifty grains of FFFG and a patched round ball will kill a close range deer just fine with less recoil than a 20gauge shotgun.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[Sixgun Symphony]

I guess it depends on the youngster, but .50 cal for a twelve year old sounds a bit much. You don’t want him ti get recoil shy. I’d go for the Pedersoli Cub to start with and work up from there.

It would be too much recoil with conical bullets, it will be fine with patched ball over 70gr of FFG. The recoil is more like a push rather than a kick.

[Sixgun Symphony]

You're a good uncle. Fifty grains of FFFG and a patched round ball will kill a close range deer just fine with less recoil than a 20gauge shotgun.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

Were hunting feral swine, 70gr of FFG is more like it. Recoil will be manageable with patched ball rather than conicals.

[Sixgun Symphony]

I haven’t followed what’s being made in muzzleloaders for a long time but I once owned a Hopkins Allen under hammer buggy rifle with a 20” bbl. in 45 cal. It was light about 5 pounds very slim and handy and with a round ball and 70 grs. Of fff I killed a pile of deer with it out to 75 yards.
I got lazy and got into smokeless muzzleloaders about 10 years ago and sold it thinking I wouldn’t miss it but I do.

They are not easy to find but if I were starting a youth out deer hunting , that gun or something like it would be my choice. The 45 round ball is a efficient killer with well placed shots and very low recoil.

Jedman

It has been about twenty years since I last seen an underhammer rifle. Is anyone still making them?

[mooman76]

The only ones I have heard of are either custom made or you build yourself.

[yeahbub]

I believe underhammer rifles or kits and parts are still available from Deer Creek Products in Waldron, Indiana. I'm not sure if they have a website but they can be reached by phone, 765 525 6181.

[dondiego]

I believe underhammer rifles or kits and parts are still available from Deer Creek Products in Waldron, Indiana. I'm not sure if they have a website but they can be reached by phone, 765 525 6181.

I bought my last underhammer kit at Pecatonica so they are still out there. I have also bought several on Gunbroker.

[rfd]

Was a time when offshore muzzleloaders were both dirt cheap and plentiful, but that ship has long since sailed a one way trip. About the cheapest available I've seen today is the Traditions Frontier .50 percussion in kit form for $399. There's a reason these kinda "kits" are called "screwdriver kits" as that's about all it takes to make it ready to go bang without a finish to the wood. I've stuck together Many of these offshore kits, they're fun to build and shoot. Since it's a muzzleloader you can go down to as low as 30 or 35 grains for starters, if recoil might be an initial concern with a .50 bore.

Since almost all offshore trad muzzys have patent breech plugs, there are pluses and minuses to that kind of plug. They're s'posed to allow for faster ignition, but I personally think that's not at all true after Many decades of using trads with both offshore patents and classic onshore flat face plugs. Since they have that ante-chamber, powder can be poked into them to fill up and blast out a dry ball. You'll never dry ball? HAH! It's not "if" it's "when". Patent breech plugs can be a pain when addressing fouling control since the first bore size patched jag sent down the tube after a shot will push BP residue right into the chamber. Some of us have learned to use a .22 or .30 brush draped with a patch to get into the chamber and swab it out - this is Mandatory for final cleaning of the gun after shooting and you'll know why if you neglect to do so.

I have a love-hate relationship with the offshore guns simply due to their damn patent breeches. So I just ordered another, an Investarms Gemmer-Hawken flinter in .50, as a kit of course. I don't like percussion and prefer flint ignition - do consider flint, there's some good kits still around today for sale!

[BunkTheory]

that deerhunter is a good gun, only a few things to do to keep it reliable. and whats this recoil thing...

[ogre]

It has been about twenty years since I last seen an underhammer rifle. Is anyone still making them?

The Gun Works makes them in English or Hawken style: https://www.thegunworks.com/custprodgun.cfm?ProductID=4532&do=detail&Cat2Option=yes

[LAGS]

@ Sixgun
Pecatonica River makes the Underhammer Kits in two styles

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Never mind the recoil! With a muzzleloader - just put less powder in. I have a tiny .50 that I started all my kids on that we call "the Mouse Gun". We typically load it with 30 grns of FFFg under a ball. Accuracy is fine at 25 yards. They're kids! I'm not interested in having them shoot at 100 yards.

That said, small bores are great kids guns too.

[Sixgun Symphony]

@ Sixgun
Pecatonica River makes the Underhammer Kits in two styles

Thanks much!