Is Traditional Muzzleloading fading away?

[Good Cheer]

Yup, after decades of muzzleloading I still love TC's and some Italian imports. Got one custom hand made flinter in 1981 and have no yin for another very expensive piece. The modifed TC's are just fine.

[Sixgun Symphony]

I remember being able to purchase a 1lb can of Goex blackpowder for $7 at any gunshop. The regulations got very strict and I suspect it's stealth gun control by regulatory agencies. It's very hard to find these days.

[Fly]

I remember being able to purchase a 1lb can of Goex blackpowder for $7 at any gunshop. The regulations got very strict and I suspect it's stealth gun control by regulatory agencies. It's very hard to find these days.

Well it's more about insurance than anything from what I,m told.I talked to
a gun shop owner as to why he dropped bp altogether.He said it was in case
of a fire, it had to be contained in some type of way.

Plus his insurance rates would rise to the point, it just was not worth the effert.
It is said BP get's such a bad rap.Some of you know I make my own.But larger
amounts for fire works are kept in a underground storm shelter & locked, for
ATF reasons.
Fly

[OnHoPr]

MZLR deer season coming up for me in December. Depending on harvest, I will put the 209x50 barrel on the TC or 12/1 and start testing and sighting in. I just put all my BP stuff in two boxes and was thinking that it would take darn near two days to test and sight in for a 120 primers with using two or three cleaning patches between shots and checking targets. Then I seen the ole ball & patch in the box and thought I could shoot that many boolits in two hours having fun shooting plastic bottles and clay pigeons. The side hammer is a lot more fun IMO and at average woods ranges it is very effective.

[Fly]

(The side hammer is a lot more fun IMO and at average woods ranges it is very effective. )

You got that right!Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Fly

[Dirty30]

I agree with #16. There are a lot of people who watch outdoor programming and have to have the latest and greatest. I wish that black poweder seasons would specify side locks and front loaders. Lets be honest, if you're shooting shotgun primers, pyrodex, sabots, plastic stocks and scopes.....you're not shooting BP. These companies didn't make muzzleloading better, they made a completely different product. Forgive me for being so opinionated on the subject, but I really believe that a guy shooting an inline, and me shooting a flinter (I built myself) are not doing the same thing at any level whatsoever.

[Boerrancher]

I own an inline with a nice scope and the whole nine yards. I took it to the range once, shot it enough to zero it, tossed the rest of the pellets, and sabotted bullets and 209 primers in an ammo can and have not touched it since. It hangs on a rack in my work room. With that said, I don't consider it to be primitive in any way, any more so than a wheelie bow and carbon arrows. I bow hunt with my copperhead snake skin backed hickory self bow, with wooden arrows I made form scratch with fir sticks, stone broadheads, and turkey feathers. To me that is archery, just like side lock muzzle loaders are true muzzle loaders. Just like the wheelie bow with sights and carbon arrows takes much of the hard work out of archery, so the inline does with muzzle loading. To me hunting is the ability to get right there with the animal up close and personal. If you are not doing that you are not hunting, you are just shooting a game animal, which is fine if that is all you are capable of doing due to lack of time, skill or both. Just don't consider yourself a primitive hunter if you are using a wheelie bow and carbon arrows, or an inline with a scope, powder pellets, and sabotted bullets.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Plastikosmd]

Love the flash of a flinter

[Bullet Caster]

The only BP rifle I own is a Pedersoli .50 flintlock. I love the way this rifle shoots. I've only shot patched round balls out of it and I had one conical saved that I was going to try, but threw it into the pot with all the other lead. After talking to Waksupi and Ajax on chat I came to the conclusion that I'd never intoduce a conical to my muzzleloader. Why? I don't know but I like to think that eventhough my Pedersoli is not an historic weapon it is modled after a Pennsylvania rifle of the 1850's. I consider myself a traditionalist. Whenever I take it to the range with my buddy, I always get kidded about causing so much smoke. I only use black powder in it eventhough I acquired some pyrodex not too long ago. When I run out of FFFg pistol powder I'll use it in my cap 'n ball revolver, but only then, and when it's gone I'll go out and try to find some more BP. I used to re-enact with a bunch of Civil War buffs and I think that I should be able to find some black powder through my old association with these Civil War buffs. They always seem to be able to find enough BP to keep them going. I have not hunted with my flintlock but it will be my go to weapon ITSHTF. I've still got to get me a .490 round ball mould. So with me muzzleloading is far from dead and I've tried to get my nephew into the holy black, but he is one of the "now" generation and doesn't want to do anything that may be hard. But I keep telling him that muzzleloading is an art of shooting and takes more precision than just loading up a mag and shooting. We'll see what happens when I get to old to shoot my muzzleloader and hope his interest will wax in the sport and not wane. BC

[subsonic]

I'm on the fence. In Missouri, we have areas with WAY TOO MANY DEER! But of course they are the more urban areas where hunting is very limited or prohibited. Where hunting is allowed, most places north of where I live have PLENTY of deer for a meat hunter. Some of the guys that only want the antlers might moan, but there are plenty of legal bucks for them too. South of where I live, there are less deer. The general consensus is the it's due to the lower income areas and that "deer season" is whenever they need some meat. Dept of conservations will tell you it's due to the habitat and lack of farms. Google Earth will show you where farms are.

So "competing" with others with better equipment seems like a silly argument. There are plenty of deer if you can get a decent lease or have decent property of your own. The shots here are generally so close that equipment is not really an issue. I handgun hunt during normal rifle season and do not feel handicapped at all. If you are a terrible shot and need fast reloads, you might have an argument.

For me, M/L season is just more time to spend in the woods. I got my Encore barrel a few years back because it was a cheap way to get into ML hunting (had a frame) and at the time I actually thought there was a slight advantage. Easier to clean, more range, more accuracy, etc.

After living with the thing for a few years, I would suggest that a traditional sidelock might be easier to care for (or at least more honest about what it needs), is just as effective, has basically the same effective range when equipped with iron sights, and is probably more fun to hunt with. After thinking long and hard, the only advantage I see to the in-lines is that you can more easily mount a scope on them for lower light hunting and allowing better vision when picking a shot through brush.

And while people cringe at the thought (including me!), I strongly beleive that scopes reduce hunting accidents. Where bubba might have tossed a few rounds into the brush when he saw something move, he will now pick up his rifle and look through the scope into the brush. And while I'm definitely not crazy about having a loaded rifle pointed at me, it sure beats having a rifle fired at me!

I know a few guys that have gone from in-lines to traditional rifles for the same reasons I am contemplating it. My only hold-up is that I already own an in-line and will have to plunk down cash for a GPR. And the ease of mounting a scope on my Encore.

[mooman76]

Whether to use primitive type M/Ls or inlines for a M/L season can't really have just one right or wrong answer. It really depends on the area and state you live in. Out west you have wide open spaces and deer are limited to a degree. Back east deer are thick and are getting harder to control so what you shoot doesn't matter as much. Illinois doesn't even have a rifle season and the deer are thick there, so when M/L season comes around it doesn't matter as much there and there is less advantage than out west.

[2571]

Bought a used TC New Englander this Fall for $41. Nothing wrong with it.

Can you imagine doing that in 1970's?

[Fly]

I'm on the fence. In Missouri, we have areas with WAY TOO MANY DEER! But of course they are the more urban areas where hunting is very limited or prohibited. Where hunting is allowed, most places north of where I live have PLENTY of deer for a meat hunter. Some of the guys that only want the antlers might moan, but there are plenty of legal bucks for them too. South of where I live, there are less deer. The general consensus is the it's due to the lower income areas and that "deer season" is whenever they need some meat. Dept of conservations will tell you it's due to the habitat and lack of farms. Google Earth will show you where farms are.

So "competing" with others with better equipment seems like a silly argument. There are plenty of deer if you can get a decent lease or have decent property of your own. The shots here are generally so close that equipment is not really an issue. I handgun hunt during normal rifle season and do not feel handicapped at all. If you are a terrible shot and need fast reloads, you might have an argument.

For me, M/L season is just more time to spend in the woods. I got my Encore barrel a few years back because it was a cheap way to get into ML hunting (had a frame) and at the time I actually thought there was a slight advantage. Easier to clean, more range, more accuracy, etc.

After living with the thing for a few years, I would suggest that a traditional sidelock might be easier to care for (or at least more honest about what it needs), is just as effective, has basically the same effective range when equipped with iron sights, and is probably more fun to hunt with. After thinking long and hard, the only advantage I see to the in-lines is that you can more easily mount a scope on them for lower light hunting and allowing better vision when picking a shot through brush.

And while people cringe at the thought (including me!), I strongly beleive that scopes reduce hunting accidents. Where bubba might have tossed a few rounds into the brush when he saw something move, he will now pick up his rifle and look through the scope into the brush. And while I'm definitely not crazy about having a loaded rifle pointed at me, it sure beats having a rifle fired at me!

I know a few guys that have gone from in-lines to traditional rifles for the same reasons I am contemplating it. My only hold-up is that I already own an in-line and will have to plunk down cash for a GPR. And the ease of mounting a scope on my Encore.

Man I hear you BUT!I say to you this.You have Muzzle Loading season to just
harvest more deer.You already justifided that by your own report.

But You don't understand what this post is even about.Don't take this wrong.
But we traditional guys are more about the hunt than the meat.We want
Muzzle loading season to be what it was meant to be.( You really know what
I'm talking about) Do You? That's OK too.There's room for all.

But this may blow you away, but I have always hunted modern season
with a muzzle loader.

To each there own Fly

[subsonic]

Doesn't blow me away. I know some folks that do the same during regular gun season, and as I said, I hunt with a handgun when I could have a rifle, so I also know what you mean about it being about the hunt.

As long as we can do what we want, and it's not causing problems, what's the difference?

I should have taken a couple of pics at my stepson's YHEC meeting yesterday. 11 kids shooting MLs. 2 in-lines, 1 flint, the rest caplocks.

If they made in-lines with roundball rifling things might be different though.
Rules state max powder charge 60gr by volume and boolit weight max 385gr. Max caliber .54 Shots at 25,50, and 75yds. No scopes. I have never seen a .36 show up, but it seems like the way to "game" it.

[grullaguy]

One thing I find interesting is that on a gun trading site I frequent, inline rifles often stay up for weeks and months. However, anything of the same value, with a side lock or an octagonal barrel, usually gets snapped up in the first day.

People that frequent that site obviously prefer the traditional styling. I know I do.

[Dirty30]

I think to a certain degree that traditional muzzleloading is incumbent on those of us who do it, to sell it to others. My uncle got me into it when I was about 14. This summer I built a halfstock .50 cal for a good friend of mine and he fell in love with it after the first shot. He killed an antelope with it and now it's an obscesion. I'd like to get a prety good crew of guys together who hunt with smoke poles, I just need converts first. I wish it was as easy to turn people on to the Holy Bible as it is holy black. The world would be a better place if there were more of both.

[Boerrancher]

I wish it was as easy to turn people on to the Holy Bible as it is holy black. The world would be a better place if there were more of both.

You have that right. I am not a Bible Thumper but I have no doubt the world would be a much better place if more people took what was in it's pages to heart. The same with the Holy Black. I Fell in love with black powder when I was a kid, even made and shot my own in everything from front stuffers to cartridges. I am a traditionalist as I have stated before, I don't mind the inline hunters during ML season. Here in MO there is no real advantage except for the scope. My complaint is the people using the inline and calling it "primitive" hunting. When your primer, be it a cap or 4fg is exposed to the elements, and you carry your powder loose in a horn or flask, and shoot cast or swedged lead, then you are primitive. As I keep proving with my stone knives and stone hunting points, Primitive does not mean ineffective, it only means the first. Heck If I could afford one I would make a match or wheel lock to hunt with, just for the fun of it.

Best wishes,

Joe

[DODGEM250]

I will certainly agree that "traditional" MLing is not popular as it used to be, BUT then again, we didn't have "inlines" 15 years ago that we could afford. The traditional hammer / flint guns are hard to sell these days obviously, but, it's not due to price or accuracy, I feel its simply due to "dependability", which I am experienced with, meaning, I shot my hammer 15 times in a row to sight in the new scope with not a single misfire and when the time came to pull the trigger on a Doe, it failed when I needed it most. My inlines have never failed, BUT, I also respect the challenges of hunting with a traditional rifle much more than a modern inline. I will NEVER give up my hammers for any inline.

I do shoot my inlines during Deer seasons, but, that's like shooting a shotgun to me. I prefer the traditional challenges. If you succeed with a traditional ML, you have then, and only then, done something to be proud of.

[marwin95]

I don't want to be a pessimist but traditional every thing id fading away. Have you walked into a regular sporting or shooting stote and asked for their traditional archery or traditional muzzleloading or traditional anything section? It is sometimes difficult to locate more than one operating web site on some traditional "whatevers".

BUT I've got mine---so who cares what they think!

[Fly]

I don't want to be a pessimist but traditional every thing id fading away. Have you walked into a regular sporting or shooting stote and asked for their traditional archery or traditional muzzleloading or traditional anything section? It is sometimes difficult to locate more than one operating web site on some traditional "whatevers".

BUT I've got mine---so who cares what they think!

Yea your so right about that.I think subsonic took my post the way
I wanted him to.Like he said, he is not breaking any laws & each
should enjoy the hunt as they see fit, as long as it hurts no one.

I got into black powder not to hunt with, but to live shooting the
way it was in the 1700,s & 1800,s.There is just something about it
that draws me to it.

But that just me & I say to each there own.But remember what
this tread is about & that's the future of our ole smokepoles.

Fly