I've had a lot of success hunting with my .50 cal Thompson Omega using 3 Hodgon Triple 7 50/50 pellets and 245 grain Power Belts.

I've heard a lot of criticism on here about the Power Belts even though I've had some pretty solid results.

This season, I'm going off on my annual muzzle loader hunt in the midwest and I'm thinking about going "Old School" with a true black powder classic firearm.

Amazingly enough, I've been so spoiled on my Thompson, I am not very familiar with some of the better traditional muzzle loaders on the market.

My bigger question is can someone tell me if there is a traditional muzzle loader that I can fire slugs over balls?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I would like to make my purchase in the next two months or so.

Jimmy

quote:

Originally posted by SkyJacker:
This season, I'm going off on my annual muzzle loader hunt in the midwest and I'm thinking about going "Old School" with a true black powder classic firearm.

Amazingly enough, I've been so spoiled on my Thompson, I am not very familiar with some of the better traditional muzzle loaders on the market.

My bigger question is can someone tell me if there is a traditional muzzle loader that I can fire slugs over balls?

The first of several questions is: Do you want to look a little old school or do you want to improve your hunting experience by deliberately handicapping yourself by using traditional equipment? If your answer is the former then a modern sidehammer caplock with a compromise twist that acommodate conicals and roundball is the way to go. T/C http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/mzTraditional.php Lyman http://www.lymanproducts.com/lymanproducts/index.htm Pedersoli http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/FuciliCategorie.aspx?lang=en or Euroarms http://www.euroarms.net/euroarms_netcompany_file/FRcompany_profile.htm will be happy to set you up. The Whitworth Volunteer is a rugged miltary-style rifle that tosses a heavy conical in case you're looking for a rulebeater. If you intend to hunt whitetail with a roundball buy nothing smaller than a 50 (and a 54 is none too large). If you want to go traditional then you have decide whether you want a caplock or flintlock? Rifled or smoothbore? Sights for and aft? Roundball or conical? Military or sporting? Do you want a gun appropriate to your geography during the black powder era? In the southeast you have many interesting options beginning with matchlocks. Once you start down this path it becomes harder to buy off the shelf. Some of us build our own or commission a builder to assemble a gun from parts. Sources for parts, semi-custom assembly, and finished guns sold on commission include http://www.longrifles-pr.com http://www.northstarwest.com/ http://www.therifleshoppe.com and http://www.trackofthewolf.com
Bob's Black Powder Notebook will help guide your deliberations http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/

Thank you very much for all of your help and info. This will be fun.

Indeed it is fun but don't look down your nose at a round ball gun. Much more effective and accurate then you can imagine.

A good off the shelf percussion rifle is a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. It also comes in flintlock and it comes with your choice of a slow twist for roundballs, a medium twist for slugs or balls, or a fast twist for sabotted bullets.

Or put your own barrel on there and shoot a very traditional 450-550 gr paper patched bullet using an 18" twist .45 barrel. So many many ways to go.

Brent
PS. www.trackofthewolf.com sells these along with many other custom and semicustom and orginal rifles etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
A good off the shelf percussion rifle is a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. It also comes in flintlock and it comes with your choice of a slow twist for roundballs, a medium twist for slugs or balls, or a fast twist for sabotted bullets.

As much as I've enjoyed my hunts with my GPR flintlock .54 I'm no great fan of its deeply hooked buttplate. It's a popular rifle though so maybe I'm in the minority. Their Trade Rifle has a less aggressive butt and comes standard with the comprimise 1:48 twist. A cousin of mine runs one in percussion and quite likes his.

I think the Lyman is the most accurate off the shelf gun you can buy.

Get yourself a .54 caliber Renegade, some Hornady 425 grain great plains bullets, load her up with 90-120 grains of FF black powder and go hunting . You may never go back to New school. Good luck and have fun.

Skyjacker,

Over the last 27 years I've had a TC Hawkens .45, (2) TC Renegade .50s (gave mine to my wife to use and she in turn bought me another), and a Lyman GPH, all flinters. Without checking, I think they are all 1:48 twist. All shoot various styles of maxi balls very well. Currently I am hooked on the Powerbelts, superb accuracy and devastating on deer.

Here are a couple pics from the GPH with powerbelts. Targets are on a 1 inch grid.

50 yards:


100 yards:


Nordrseta,
I hear ya on that curved metal buttplate. Like to punch a hole through my shoulder. Here is what I did to it. Cut it off, put on a recoil pad, inlaid some wood where the buttplate came on top of the stock, refinished the whole stock, and put on a peep sight to help my old eyes. I was surprised at how pretty the stock was under that factory finish.



Clearly I am not a traditionalist, want nothing to do with it, just love the fun of hunting with a flintlock.