How many here stick with traditional styles?

[Dr.Doug]

Ruger Fan-

My 8 year old brought home a Christmas list he'd made at school last week.

#1 was a .22 rifle.
#2 was a scope for the .22.
#3 was a muzzleloader.
#4 was tools.

Coulda been my list, too!

Doug

[carpetman]

Dr Doug---Your 8 year old wants a .22 riflescope. You can buy a small tube scope very cheap and usually that's about the type service you get out of them. Spend some money and get a good one,and he can use it possibly the rest of his life. Leupold makes a compact 3x-9x with EFR(Extended Focus Range)that will focus down to 10 meters. This scope was designed for spring air rifles. Spring air rifles have a double acting recoil that will wreck scopes not designed for it. Even scopes that would stand up to magnum centerfire recoil. He could not only use this scope on a .22 rimfire,but it would be right at home on a big game centerfire. I think Leupold changed their policy in that they only sell to Authorized Leupold dealers,so that some places that use to carry Leupold no longer do. So I have not kept up with recent price on this scope,for a long time you could get it for $307 at a couple of places and it actually dropped down to $240. Pricey? Not really,when this scope was selling new for $307,I never saw a USED one go less than $275 on EBAY. You do pay more when you buy but they retain and increase in value. I recently bought 3 pairs of WW2 vintage Bausch & Lomb binoculars. These things are old enough to draw social security. Not much telling what use and abuse they have been through. But you look through them,they are clear and bright and one clear circle that is clear all the way to the edge. No overlap,blurr,double vision etc. I'll give a pair to my grandson and I figure they'll come a day he will be using binoculars that are over 100 years old and still performing like I described.

[wills]

Eight year old eyes ought to work fine without a scope.

[Ricochet]

My only long front-stuffer is a flintlock Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle I built from one of their kits in 1980-81.

[Pawpaw]

Mine is a T/C Renegade, purchased brand new in 1979 for $89.00 US. I use it for hunting, informal competition and plinking. Not to mention teaching four children to shoot. Having an adolescent learn to load and shoot a muzzleloader teaches them about what makes a rifle go BANG and makes it easier to teach reloading.

[Teach]

I have two percussion Hawken replicas, both .50 caliber. The older one has a badly pitted barrel that tears up patches, either during loading or while firing, so it needs plastic sabots to be accurate. The other one will probably do OK with patched round balls. I just bought it on a gunbroker auction, so I don't have enough range time with it to form an opinion. Those two are "loaners" for visitors. My primary hunting rifle is a Traditions .50 caliber Pennsylvania flintlock, rifled for round ball only. I shoot 3-f black powder in it, with 4-f priming powder. I'd be interested in hearing any lock tunng tricks, as it's prone to flash or hangfire pretty often. I just received the gift of an original .577 Pattern 53 Enfield rifle, from a friend who purchased it at a bazaar in Afghanistan during a deployment with the Tennessee Army National Guard. he says there's plenty more of them over there, and getting a friend to ship us some won't be a problem. Mine looks good inside and out, with honest wear, but not abuse. I should have it in firing condition soon. Yes, I'd say I'm a traditionalist!
Jerry

[Boondocker]

Well I have hunted with rocklocks for about 15 years as a added season if I didnt get one in rifle. 3 doe and saw a mighty fine buck one time on a rainy day and we know what happened but thats the fun of it. Had 2 CVA's then a Deer Hunter gifted to son inlaw now a Traditions Seneca that I really like. Want to build one tho. One of these days got to get back to Dixons. You go to Dixons Muzzleloading Fair and it really gets the blood cooking.

[Hoyt]

I started in muzzle loaders with a scoped inline..still got it, then I decided spring gobbler season was gettin out of hand with all the 3-1/2" extra heavy duty, plutonium shot..etc., so decided I need to hunt them with a percussion side lock. Got a gobbler with it and then a strange feelin came over me kinda like I wanted to reach back in time and do like all the old long hunters did and hunt whatever I hunted usin a flintlock. So I built a .62cal. Virginia style smooth-rifle from Pecatonica parts. This would be my gobbler gun. The next summer I had to have a .54cal. for deer and hogs before the fall. I used Pecatonica and made a .54cal. Buck's County longrifle. Now I'm gettin my parts together for a .58cal. lite-weight hunting rifle. I'm still in the figurin stage as to which Rice barrel, what style gun, etc. to end up with a .58cal. flintlock under 8lbs. Then I want a .40cal...then.........

[Dr.Doug]

Hoyt-

I'm thinking about a smooth-bore flinter for turkeys, too. I'm leaning more toward a NW Trade Gun or maybe a Brown Bess, but I'm open to suggestions. Please tell me more about your .62 Virginia...

Thanks,
Doug

[Hoyt]

Doug..I like everything about my Virginia except the weight..it's not heavy by no means 8lbs. 2oz. but I wanted it light as possible for all the walking I do in spring gobbler hunting.
I may just redo the thing and take off more wood..although with the 36" oct to round Getz barrel I don't think I can get it light as I would like, probably got to go with thin round barrel..I may just make another one in the future..mayber 16ga.
It patterns real good has a very light smooth simple, single Hedgecock trigger,rear sight..used a Chamber's large siler lock..should have used Chambers large siler deluxe..but the large is a good sparker. I also used 5/16" Chamber's White light'n liner. #2 Pecatonica stock.
Here's a couple pictures of it and a pattern it shot at 35yds.
Pattern
Virginia

[madcaster]

I HAVE seen flintlock inline pocket pistols,look at some gun sale catalogs,you can see some as well I'm sure.
Even George Shumway had an article on a Mauser converted to an inline-he slipped up a bit there.
I detest inlines,but not so much because of what they are,but the FACT that most people seem to not realize that you can put a scope on a sidehammer,buy waterproof caps and be just fine.
So I guess it is just the failure of some to think about other angles to the problem of a better aim than inlines that bothers me.It is my opinion ONLY,you are free to think and express yourself as well.Remember we are free because of men who have fought and died for our rights,and the ones who were wounded or even just served in the armed forces.Exercise your rights!
Jeff.

[sturgeon]

My Whites are legal here in OR, ignition is open to the elements and use #11 caps, shoots lead conicals (as it was designed for), and have Lyman peeps, loads from the muzzle, and has a fondness for both swiss and 777 fffg. My personal limit with open sights and rainbow trajectory with a 460-495 gr. conical is 100yds. It is not a "traditional" muzzleloader, but it loads from the muzzle nonetheless.
No real axe to grind, each to his own. I like curly maple and brass as much as the next guy. Not all inlines use plastic or centerfire primers is all.....

[tusti]

I got an original Leman long rifle about 50 years ago along with a few others like a Remington revolver and a pepper-box. When I retired I built a couple of long rifles, both in 36 cal. and because of some nasty arthritis, I'm limited to range shooting.
tusti

[quigleysharps4570]

Do you have any pictures of the ones you built Tusti? BTW...Welcome.

[drinks]

How do you define traditional?
Firearms have been in development continually since the first, the cannon lock was likely the most long lived, the side hammer percussion the shortest lived, less than 30 years from first practical models to obsolete.
In the 30 year period, the cheapest , simplest, most undemanding route was the conversion of flint locks by the drum and nipple with a new hammer method,several other systems were developed, most direct ignition and simpler and more reliable than the drum and side hammer conversion.
Colt used inline ignition from the first, underhammer and mule ear systems were more trouble free and safer than the side hammer and drum, Moses Browning made inline repeaters on the harmonica system, I have seen a 2 shot rotating barrel rifle with inline ignition, built about 1845, even had a concealed hammer.
Why is the cheap, dirty method of converting a flintlock considered "Traditional", especially considering the very short life of the system?

[OldBob]

I have tried a whole bunch of muzzleloaders and keep coming back to the"Hawken" style caplock for hunting. For pure fun shooting its the flintlock, tuned up properly and using "real" blackpowder, the ignition is fast and a lot of fun to shoot. My go to gun for hunting is a CVA Frontier Carbine in .54, 1:48 twist,90 grs. FFG and a Lee REAL bullet, deer drop dead "right now" with this and it doesn't mess up a lot of meat. On the other hand, my round ball .50's seem to get the job done just fine also. I'm not a strict traditionalist, but I think that the new in-lines are a darn far cry from what the "primitive" season was ment to be, the other side of the coin is we have so many whitetails now that car/deer accidents are a daily occurence and the herd needs thinning out. We had a spectacular one here a week ago where 1/2 the deer wound up in the cab of a pickup right beside the driver..... I guess its the hunter and his frame of mind that makes a hunter or a slob, not the type of gun he uses.

[hpdrifter]

Have a '74 TC Hawken 50. Been wanting to get a GreeN Mountain .54 round ball barrel and use the original 50 for just Maxi Hunters, but haven't done so yet.

Building a 54 Henry rifle with both percussion and flint L&R Locks. Can't seem to get it finished for shooting my 45/70. Kinda grown acustom to the 45 recoil and have considered an inline just for the "magnum" aspect, but suspect I will be satisfied with the irons in the fire for now.

Also have a 1803 Harpers Ferry repro, not the newest 54, but the old 58; darn it and a 12 gauge double percussion. Just gave away an old CVA longrifle to a friend and have a Renegade 54 flint that needs to go.

Use holy black or pyrodex. Either requires the same clean up and I enjoy cleaning my firearms.

[waksupi]

Ok, you guys. For those who have hunted with RB, and pointy bullets, why do you consider the pointy bullets better? I've killed some pretty big stuff with RB's, and seen a lot more killed, including a few truck loads of buffalo. If a bullet is properly placed, the critter dies. I know of a total of zero people around here who hunt with the conicals, and deer, elk, and bear are the common targets. And, of the same number, zero hunt with inlines. And there are a lot of ML hunters in this area. Can you give me a quantative number, on how much tougher, or whatever, the animals are in your areas, that require on deer, more power than was commonly used on buffalo, a hundred years fourty ago?

explain yourselves! ;o)

Personal experience with both projectiles only, same bullet placement. Distance secondary factor. No quotes from magazines allowed.

[OldBob]

waksupi, I think you said it.........bullet placment matters, bullet type is not nearly as critical. I use the conicals because my .54 shoots them better, thats the only reason. My .50 cal guns are all 1:66 twist and use round balls just fine, and thats what they get, I don't feel a bit "undergunned" using them and have never had to chase down a deer I shot with them. Most of our shooting is well under 100 yds., NY places a .45 minimum cal on the rifle and even at that size a round ball works just fine, I personally believe a .36 or a .40 would get the job done without much fuss....if the bullet placement was right .

[PatMarlin]

RB's simply just do not do as wells as conicals on crack heads in S. Kalifornia Ric...

Don't ask me how I know... ...