I am just curious as to what got ya'll started in Muzzle Loader hunting? Whether it was because of your homestates restrictions of the firearms, being able to hunt different seasons, or whatever the reason is I would like to know!

Post stories or pics if you feel the need to!

Justin

More time to hunt with a rifle. I have enjoyed shooting a muzzleloader since a friend got me started when I was a young man.

quote:

Originally posted by Swede44mag:
More time to hunt with a rifle. I have enjoyed shooting a muzzleloader since a friend got me started when I was a young man.

I will 2nd that!

quote:

Originally posted by Swede44mag:
More time to hunt with a rifle. I have enjoyed shooting a muzzleloader since a friend got me started when I was a young man.

I have to agree, that is the biggest reasons I started also. Also another reason for another gun or two in my collection.

I got a ML pistol for chistmas when I was very young. From that I got a rifle and started to hunt rabbits. I went a long time without hunting with a ML then about 14 years ago I got the bug again. It started with deer hunting, then elk hunting, back to deer hunting. Now I still am into hunting as big as ever with a ML but now I am into long range target shooting with my son.
We shoot 16oz water bottles out to 150 yards, milk jugs out to 250, and the iron buffalo is a 15x15 piece of steel we shoot out to 300 yards. We use traditional rifles, woth peep sights. Ron

In Missouri there are special hunts you can apply for in the summer months. Some are ML hunts. This is like a bonus hunt for me and that is what got me started.

Awesome guys keep them coming!

A good friend and former Knight rep. Steve Borsa gave me my first Knight Disc rifle in 2000 and offered advice any time I needed it until his untimely death in 2005.

The 1972 movie "Jeremiah Johnson" planted the seed. I bought my first blackpowder gun - a .50 caliber Hawken-style caplock of Italian manufacture - in 1974.

I started simply to stretch out my hunting time every year. At the time, we only got one week for gun season, and the extra 4 days of muzzleloading let me spend some extra time in the woods with a gun. I bow hunt as well, but still thoroughly enjoy hunting with guns, and any excuse to be in the woods is a good one.

I started because of the extra 10 days of ML season here in Wi. But now its a disease
REdclub

I started as a way to get more of a challenge. I have rifles that can get it done from just about any range, but I wanted more of a challenge and it also gave me more days to hunt as well. It brought the fun back to shooting.

I got my first muzzleloader when I was 11 years old. There were not special muzzleloading season then but my caplock was far more accurate then my shotgun with Foster slugs. I hunted in a shotgun only zone but they did allow muzzleloaders to be used in that area I hunted. So I hunted with my muzzleloader because I could shoot it more accurately and father as well.

I started due to extra days to hunt.

We used to have more strict rules but, the laws have evolved with technology.

I started with a 45cal MLer, a patched round ball over real black in a hawken type set-up with fixed sights(a TERRIBLY ineffective Mler). Then, I progressed to inlines, sabots, scopes, 209 primers, etc.

MLing has become much more advanced and very lethal on game.

Reloader

I hunt for meat as I am a cancer surviver and I try to stay away from commercial meat. I had poor luck with deer in Arizona and the Mule deer here are a little too gamey for me. I tried to get drawn for elk with no luck. I finally decided since I had a couple of black powder pistols that maybe I could get drawn if I had a rifle. I bought a T/C Scout and got a cow elk first year out. Now I am hooked. To date have an Omega (sold the Scout and bought it), then a Traditions Pursuit which I traded for an NEF huntsman, a T/C Hawken with a .54 and a .50 barrel, a Lyman Trade rifle flintlock, and a White on order. Not a bad start I think. Oh by the way just put in for elk this year so am now waiting for he draw.

Was going to the range every day on the way to work to shoot my varmit rifle tuneing for the weekend. Then one day I got there a bit early and here were these guys making a hell of a smoke screen. Shooting my rifle was like shooting in a fog out. I went and watched them and was talking to them, found out we worked for the same firm but different areas. Got an invite to shoot with them the next day useing one of theirs. My brother who had been with me went and bought a T/C Hawkins the next morning so to shoot with them. I as usal held off for a few months since I do like puffing crows at a couple hundred yards.I got a T/C Hawkins rifle kit for christmas that year 1976. I hunted with that Hawkins till 1992 when I just could not see the leaf sights front bead and target any longer. I bought a T/C plains rifle which was drilled and tapped for a scope, Yea I could shoot a smokepole again.
My wife bought me a new Remington 700 54 cal for christmas 1999 cause she knew I like my Remingtons and kept looking at them. The 54 was all they had at the time.
fall of 2005 I was whining to her about having such a hard time finding sabots local. She said I had the wrong rifle she guessed. I told her I knew how to fix that. We went and bought me a Remington 700 in 50 cal. No I do not think cleaning them is a awful chore. I recently installed a peep site on the Hawkins and shooting it is so much fun again. HUM wonder what took so long.

Al

Thanks guys,

I've been throwing around the idea of getting an Omega. Will the Pyrodex pellets create the traditional smoke out that blackpowder rifles are known for? I wouldnt want to use the loose stuff but I think the pyrodex pellets may be an easy way for a centerfire shooter and reloader like myself to get into the game.

quote:

Will the Pyrodex pellets create the traditional smoke out that blackpowder rifles are known for?

Nope, not near as thick and it doesn't smell as good. Still Pyrodex pellets are better than not trying a muzzleloader at all...

I would assume that the three plus weeks of hunting time did it for me. If I can be out hunting with a gun,I don't bow hunt,I will be there.

I got a Knight BK 92 to play with in '93 and had a heck of a lot of fun just shooting the gun. It was as accurate as could be. I never saw a single deer hunting with it for three years. That sort of turned me off. I then bought the Encore.

I shot a nice buck the first time I pulled the trigger on a deer with a muzzleloader. I shot another deer about two minutes later. I cannot remember how many I've harvested since then.

The $375 I spent on my brand new Stainless Encore way back when was the best $$$ I have ever spent.

Many a smoke pole shooter started shooting smoke poles well befor pellets were on the market. I know as I was one of about ten who used to gather at the range and smoke it up years ago. It is so simple to get a powder measure a can of BP pour it in the measure and pour it down the barrel.You can make a spout with a center fire case soidered on a lid then just cap it with a pieace of tubing melted shut at one end. I know that isn't so easy to do when hunting. For hunting people use a number of things to have premeasured loads handy, 35MM film canisters, when film was still used by the common folks, Small pill bottles, test tubes, shot gun hulls,I use a section of TP with a powder charge rolled inside it.

Omegas are nice rifles just check the trigger guard for finger fit. And if it is cold during your ML season be prepared to find some type of glove that will fit.

Al

Thanks Al for the advice on the Omega! I am going to go try one on so to say and see how I like em in a few weeks.

What got me started was looking over some longrifles that my uncle had made. All made by hand, flintlocks, percussion, fowlers, double shotguns, rifles, etc... Absolutely beautiful works of art. I finally shot my first whitetail last season with a T/C Scout .50 cal with a patched roundball and I'm now building a few rifles of my own. In the works is a Dickert style longrifle, 42" 45 cal barrel, full-length curly maple stock. Also I have the parts for my future elk rifle, a .58 caliber 32" barrel for an english sporting style rifle. Next year or possibly the year after I'll be out west with that one hopefully thumping an elk. It's another facet to shooting and pretty enjoyable.

If you can stand to wait till May T/C is supposed to release the new trumph for sale then. One thing they are tooting the horn about is the redesigned bigger trigger guard, 1/4 turn breach plug removal also
They have it on the T/C web site now.

Al

I also was interested in the old movies like Jeremiah Johnson and The old Danial Boone show from the 60's. But living my whole adult life in Alaska I could never find a practicle reason for a muzzel loader so I never had one( we don't have special M/L seasons there).
For the past 2 winters I've been spending hunting season on the inlaws farm in southern Indiana where a M/L is the most effective weapon leagle for deer.
I bought a lyman stainless deerstalker .54 with the peep sight and have been impressed with the accuracy I get with it. The problem I find is that At 47 I've started my lifelong interest in traditional muzzle loading rifles at a time when my eye's are just starting to fail and I'm doing it with whitetail deer that as you all know requires shooting in low light conditions.
I bought a inline C.V.A. and put a scope on it for the second half of the season but it dose make me happy to report that the one deer I shot this M/L season was with the Lyman.
My plan is too take it home to Alaska next month and hunt a black bear with it.

I can remember back in the late 40's my neighbor had a flintlock that he would lets us kids shoot every once in awhile.
Didn't mess with them much untill our state started haveing a muzzleloader season,then I got a cheap 45 caliber kit and put it together myself.Don't remember what year that was but have been lucky with a muzzleloader ever since.Have taken one to four deer each year since then except in 1991 my wife had a bad stroke and I didn't get to muzzleload hunt or reg rifle hunt that year,but did take one with a bow that year before her stroke.
Love to hunt with rifle,muzzleloader or bow,getting some age on me now so hope the seasons keep coming as long as possible.
Was very lucky this past season,got a 7 pt with a bow,three with a savage muzzleloader and two with a reg rifle.
Wish all you fellows and ladies the best in all your hunts.

Honestly, it was growing up watching a tv show called Daniel Boone. Loved the show as a kid and always wanted to "imitate" ole Dan'l....smokepole was the way to go.

What got me started was simply a SALE!

A family owned sporting goods store in my hometown was no longer going to carry Knight, so they sold what they had left at half price, so I bought a 50 cal.

2 weeks later, I was in Tucson, AZ and visited one of their stores, which is a chain. This particular store was selling ALL muzzleloaders and supplies, components, everything for half off, even up to 60% off.

They had 2 T/C Firehawks left (remember those? wood stock, stainless metal). I bought 2, one 50 cal, one 54 cal)...the 50 was for my brother. I bought a ton of crap there and my brother and I got started.

It had nothing to do with extended hunting seasons, special ML dates, or the like. My brother killed 5 deer in North Alabama with his that following fall. It took me about 3 years before I ever killed anything with one.

I think I got 3 new muzzleloaders for roughly $150 more than what one would have cost at regular price.

quote:

Originally posted by JKeith:
Honestly, it was growing up watching a tv show called Daniel Boone. Loved the show as a kid and always wanted to "imitate" ole Dan'l....smokepole was the way to go.

Those of us old enough to remember Fess Parker as Daniel Boone were probably also influenced by Jed and Jethrow target shooting out by the cement pond on the "Beverly Hillbillys".

I got started by going on a late Utah mule deer hunt in '93 that was muzzleloader only, so I needed a ML rifle. I got into the Gun Digest to check what was availble in the market, and I liked the Ultra Light Arms rifle because it had an aperture rear sight and a good trigger (a Timney) along with a Lilja barrel.

None of the other rifles shown in GD had comparable features, so I bought the ULA M90. I am still shooting it when I need an iron-sighted .50 like for Colorado last year.

jim

Got a cheap 44 ML rifle in 1967 and have been doing it since, except for a short stint in vietnam. I tried, but they (the brass) claimed the rate of fire was too slow Now do most hunting with a flinter, JJ Henry English pattern, and a number of others including a cape gun I made from an original 20 ga double, by lining the right barrel with a 45 sleeve.

When was it, back in the early 90s when black powder hunting really took off? I bought a T/C White Mountain 54 Cal. and used it to shoot my first buck, a 6-pointer.

I got started because it meant an extra week or two of hunting in Tennessee. Also, hunting magazines were beginning to pay a lot of attention to black powder and it was something that I had always wanted to do.

Landrum

I posted once before about what got me started hunting. Actually my first black powder experience was with an original Remington Model 1858 New Army pistol. I found it in a box of chains in the garage. It used to belong to my grandfather (long since dead). Someone had exploaded the cylinder and it was discarded as scrap. I was about 12 at the time so I ground the cylinder down so that it would turn and fixed the broken hammer screw with a nail and shot caps out of it for some time. When I got out of the service at age 22 I gathered up a bunch of replica parts and with a lot of work made the pistol capable of shooting as designed. I shot it with real black powder and found it to be a lot of fun. I did not get really serious again until I was 60. Now I can't stop buying the rifles.

Civil War reenacting got me around black powder guns. I used a 1863 Springfield on my first b/p deer, then an 1855 Enfield but now I have a TC Renegade Hunter & an Austin/Halleck inline. I recently acquired an 1856 Austrian (Confederate import) but I won't fire that one as it is far too nice for it's age. Would like to get a Parker Hale Whitworth and take it to Africa for Plains Game. Good hunting, LDK

When I started hunting in the late 70's your choices in Ohio's gun season where a smooth bore shotgun or a muzzleloader. After a couple of years of using a shotgun I got a T/C Renegade. Since then I've probably used a muzzleloader more.

I started out to be able to hunt the extra 2 weeks that we had with ML'er after the CF and bow seasons. If you didn't get a deer in the first seasons there was ML'er to still give you a chance.

After I started (first was a sidehammer-iron sights-lead conicals-and percussion caps) after several upgrades I ended with a scoped inline bolt-barnes sabots-and 209 ignition. Fun thru the entire progression with lots to learn and play with.

What really impressed me was the drop in hunter # from bow and CF with large sections of woods and bog now to yourself. Its kinda cold by December and you might be listening to trees pop and braving well below zero temps, but its a great time to be in the woods enjoying such peace and solitude.I look forward to it now....

woods

When I was growing up in Minnesota my dad, a history teacher, had told me all sorts of stories of the voyageurs, fur traders, trappers, also of the 19th century soldiers and their weapons. It had just sat in the back of my mind, until years later a friend of mine let me shoot his T/C Scout in 45 cal. I was hooked, and picked up a T/C Renegade in .50. There are newer, cleaner, flatter shooting muzzleloaders, and they are impressive. But I like my regular old front-stuffer, pouring loose powder from a powder measure and ramming a lead conical bullet down it, then seeing if I can hit anything. I might get a Great Plains rifle next.

quote:

Originally posted by Buglemintoday:
I am just curious as to what got ya'll started in Muzzle Loader hunting? Whether it was because of your homestates restrictions of the firearms, being able to hunt different seasons, or whatever the reason is I would like to know!

Post stories or pics if you feel the need to!

Justin

Someone gave me a cheap Italian 44 ML "KY" rifle back in 1967, and it got much worse from there . Don't even recall who it was, but I'm still grateful to him... 40 years later . It puts hunting back in hunting and has a flavor that is unique . I now compete in ML shooting sports and it's the most challenging shooting I've ever done.

Solitude in the woods! Pretty crowded here in Massachusetts during shotgun season.

In 1976 I got caught up in the Bi-Centenniel fever and bought a .45 cal Yorkshire rifle. I lived in NOrthern Minnesota at the time and rabbits were thick. I used that rifle on numerous rabbits, a few grouse,and one 2 1/2 year old Hereford steer. I moved to WAshington state in 1982 and around 1986 or so Washington came out with special seasons for blackpowder guys. I was probably the first to buy that license. I also moved up to .50 cal and then to .54 cal. We have virtually no small game hunting in Western Washington and that is what I miss. Ain't nothing better than banging rabbits with a smokepole.