In-Line .50 - what's yours?

[huntinlever]

Anticipating next year, and having no clue on makes of the last several years, I was wondering what you use for an in-line deer woods gun. Probably scoped, as much as I hate it. Under $500, if possible. I've fired a few flintlocks and loved them but won't be hunting with anything other than an in-line.

Maybe more generally, what to look for and what to avoid in an in-line?

FWIW, fan of Hal Blood, rewatched an Ontario deer hunt with a scoped Encore Pro-Hunter, with 100 grains Triple 7 and 250 grains Shockwave bonded. Probably dated I imagine.

[panhed65]

My inline is a T/C omega, a good rifle but not made anymore. really accurate.
Barry

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have a cva optima, and have always liked it. Simple, functional, and accurate, I paid $319 for it a couple years ago. My sister asked me to get one for my BIL. They redesigned the ramrod to make them cheaper. What a joke! This kind of ruined it for me.

[Midohhntr]

I have a Traditions Vortek ultralight, paid around 300 for it 5 or so years ago. I like it, it has the Cercoat finish on it with a black stock, even with a scope it’s light to carry.
Also have a Savage 10 ML-2 but they’re no longer made.

[BLAHUT]

I have a wolf magnum, very accurate, after you finger it out, I use 3 different Lee molds in .50 cal, pure lead, 300+gr to 500+gr bullets,
blackhorn 209 powder, at about 1200FPS, only mag primers, didn't change breach plug, 5 shots one jagged hole, at 100 yds with iron sights, am now putting a scope on it.

[MarkP]

Knight Big Horn and Little Horn (50 cal) LGS had them on clearance a few yrs ago for $199 /ea. SS black comp stocks 209 priming system. Only fired the Little Horn, I got it set up for my daughter. I put on Leopold QD mounts so I can take the scope off when I clean it and flush it with hot soapy water.

[FergusonTO35]

Traditions Pursuit XLT bought used on Gunbroker for around 2 bills. Added Williams fiber optic sights, feed it the Lee 429-200-RF in a shot over 80 grains T7. Haven't taken anything with it yet but my buddy took two deer this year with those boolits in sabots and knocked 'em dead no problem.

[Gtek]

Omega, Omega, Omega, a NICE used one! 90 measured of T7 and a red Sabot/tip 250. Yes I still love my caps and pans but this thing is a Laser with that stinking quick load muzzle.

[gc45]

Mine is a Remington in 45 cal, does it count? Very accurate too.

[megasupermagnum]

You will see a number of suggestions for the CVA and Traditons guns. I really don't understand the draw to them. They do work. They will fire. Some actually shoot good. It's kind of luck of the draw with them. Quality is all over the map. One guys will shoot near MOA, and 3 others can barely keep theirs on paper. The higher cost ones I really don't understand. If you are going to pay $800+ for an inline rifle, buy a Knight. None of these Spanish imports hold a candle to a Knight. They have the trophies to prove it.

If you are willing to buy used there are some really good ones under $500. Pretty much anything from Thompson Center is good. An Encore is likely over $500. An Omega is likely under $500, and those are really good quality rifles. The Impact is a bargain that also shoots quite well. Knight also has some great used rifles such as the bighorn and BK92.

For new we lost a lot with the closing of TC. Even still, Knight still makes the Vision which is well under $500. If you wait for the sales, a lot of their bolt actions will be under $500.

As for things to avoid, I'd avoid the more oddball inlines that existed before about the 90's. Things like the H&R huntsman and TC scout rifle do work, but they are not perfect. There were a lot of goofy designs then. I'd also avoid most things that require a plastic carrier for a primer. It might not be a deal breaker though, as you can usually get a different breech plug to convert them. I would avoid the odd calibers like 52 and 58 caliber. 58 is a standard caliber, but bullets for that are going to be round ball or conical. 50 and 45 calibers are going to be your bread and butter. I'm unsure of the status of 54 caliber inlines. They used to be somewhat popular, but nothing compared to 45 or 50. I don't think I would worry too much about twist rate. Almost everything is going to be in that 24:1 to 35:1 range. They will all have shallow rifling best for bullets or sabot shooting.

There's nothing dated about an Encore with 777 and a Shockwave sabot and bullet. Inlines have pretty much standardized on such loads and been that way for over 20 years. The only thing that is kind of more recent is Blackhorn 209 powder, but that's over 10 years old now too. There are a number of western states that require certain things such as an "open" ignition which is why you get some oddball guns trying to cheat the rules.

[Shawlerbrook]

I also have a TC Omega that was a special run for Jerry’s Sport Center back around 2000. Sadly both TC and Jerry’s no longer exist.

[FergusonTO35]

Older Knights can be purchased very cheaply on GB and pawn shops, and they still compare favorably to newer ones. An inline caplock can shoot very well, and right now caps are alot easier to find than 209's. Yes, a caplock will shoot T7 no problem, both of mine do. The various Knight "inspired" guns from CVA and Traditions can be purchased under 100.00 in very nice condition and some of them shoot really good. In any event it's good to have a functional backup or loaner rifle.

[NSB]

I’ve owned a lot of different muzzleloading rifles over the last fifty+ years. Quite a few of them were/are in-lines. At the moment I have a Savage ML2, an TC Encore, and my most recent is a CVA Optima. All three of these guns will shoot five shot 1moa groups on a good day, and don’t do any worse than 1.5” on an “average” day. This is because I spent a lot of time trying different bullets, sabots, and powders (charge weights). The CVA Optima cost the princely sum of $350 on sale and came with a one piece base/ring combo, stainless Bergara barrel, and a synthetic stock that’s actually pretty decent (no flexing). I bought the CVA because I was out at the range and observed one of our local fire chiefs and a buddy of his shooting new ones they each just got. Both of them were shooting sub two inch groups with the first load they tried. I asked them about the guns because I knew nothing about them. When they told me they paid just over three hundred dollars for the guns I mentioned “I might get one”. The chief said he’d order me one on the spot because he could get a first responder discount. Three days later I got the CVA delivered to my door. I did order a Spin-jag ramrod for it since I use one on all my muzzle loaders, so this brought the price up to just under four hundred total. It shoots super good groups, has an out of the box trigger pull of just under two pounds, and my first deer with it this years was a trotting buck at a measured 128 yards. I honestly have to say that this gun is a better buy than my TC Encore and my Savage ML2. It shoots as good and costs about a third the price. I can’t find any fault with the CVA Optima so far. I don’t let my ego stand in the way of common sense. They might be cheap, but they perform fantastic.

[freakonaleash]

The certainly take the primitive spirit out of the muzzleloading season.

[metricmonkeywrench]

I'm siting on a 2010 CVA Buckhorn that i traded a 220v window A/C unit for and a new out of the box CVA Wolf gotten at a huge discount from the wally world clearance isle, both in .50 cal running 209 primers of course. I am not a ML hunter they are more relegated to range plinkers. I have a pair of moulds I'm toying with with so-so results so far as the barrel twist seems more suited to Sabots and of course their sort of costly Powerbelt bullets. As the Buckhorn is older it lives off Pyrodex RS or whatever pellets I happen to pick up on clearance. The Wolf has been fed a steady diet of 80-100g of BH-209.

The biggest thing I think is the barrel twist- what do you plan to shoot for bullets and the rest will likely follow.

[TomAM]

TC Encore. The extractor is very handy for sticky caps, and different barrels can be used during the off season.

[TomAM]

Sorry, sticky primers.

[white eagle]

Just got rid of my 50 T/C Encore for a knight Peregrine 40
man is that sweeeeeet I shoot BH 209
waiting for Tom to design a mold for it
hopefully soon

[FergusonTO35]

The certainly take the primitive spirit out of the muzzleloading season.

I agree, however back in the day people could hunt whenever they wanted to and as much as they wanted to. Where I live, we have a total of 11 days to hunt with a muzzleloader whether it's a smokeless powder centerfire or a matchlock. I do in fact hunt with my sidelocks but it's nice to be able to up my chances of success a bit when I want to. I would love to see a special season for true primitive muzzleloaders, in fact I don't think it would upset things too much to let people hunt with them during bow season on private land. We can already use 400 fps crossbows for nearly all of archery season.

[centershot]

Back in 2006 I was lucky enough to win a .50 caliber Remington Genesis, stainless steel with a composite stock & forend. What a tack driver! This area was "shotgun-only" area, but muzzle loading rifles were allowed. That Genesis was my deer rifle until CF rifles were OK'd about ten years ago. I have nothing but praise for it, accurate, easy to maintain, easy to clean, it is the single most accurate rifle I own! From the bench, it will shoot groups at 100 yards with all shots in one jagged hole! I know they're out of production now but you can find them used for cheap, you wouldn't go wrong owning one!