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Traditional muzzleloaders

2K views 29 replies 10 participants last post by  Krusty 
#1 ·
How many guys or girls shoot or hunt with traditional muzzleloaders out there? Just curious what kind of smoke pole you use?
 
#3 ·
I built a 50 caliber Hawkins percussion rifle from Thompson Center about 30 years ago. I don't think they offer them any more.
It was a fun project. The shop I bought from let me go through the boxes they had to find the best looking walnut stock.
It turned out pretty good, and was a memorable event loading it and shooting it for the first time! Probably should go shoot it again soon.

I highly recommend taking the time to build one.
 
#5 ·
I was surprised at the accuracy with mine too.
It shot surprisingly straight with just a lead ball out to 100 yards, although I don't recall how much powder I was using.

I was amazed to see what a "modern" muzzleloader looks like these days.
They've gone pretty high tech, just like everything else.
I was drawn to building the one I have more because of the traditional look and feel of them - damned heavy to carry across the
continent BTW! They were however the height of technology in their day to be fair, and to keep it in perspective I suppose.
 
#7 ·
I've built several, bought several. Currently I shoot two flint rifles, one Kentucky, and one Hawken; in addition to a double bbl shotgun, two 1860 Navy pistols, one Shenandoah that I rebuilt, one Hawken kit, and one modern inline. Everything's .50 except the Kentucky and the Shenandoah.

David, google Billy Dixon and the 2nd Battle of Adobe Walls, 1874. this is black powder shooting, and it will give you an idea just how accurate they can be. the Quigley movie, with his Shiloh Sharps in 45/110-those shots aren't at all too far for that sort of weapon. Personally, I've driven spikes with my Kentucky at 50 paces offhand, and the inline gives me two-inch groups with sabots out to 120 yards benched.

A percussion isn't difficult to clean after shooting, but you really want to get one with a "hooked" barrel. This will allow you to easily detach the barrel from the action, and makes it easy to clean. What I do is put a pot over the fire to boil, and when it's hot, dump some soap in it, remove the nipple and the inspection screw from the powder drum, stick that end of the barrel into the pot, take the ramrod with a mop on it, and run it up and down the barrel until the water comes out clean. Since the water's boiling when i start, once I remove the barrel it's so hot it dries almost instantly, both inside and out. I'll run more patches in it, a bronze brush, more patches, until they come out completely clean, then shine a light into the powder drum while looking down the barrel. I expect to see something bright and shiny. Then it's oiled patches until I feel the inside of the barrel's completely coated in a very light film of protective oil. Rust is THE enemy of BP shooters, either Goex or another real black powder, or the powder substitutes. it's imperative you ensure the barrel's clean, and dry.

Another thing I've learned is that powder substitutes like Pyrodex or 777 will NOT ignite in a flint gun. The ignition temperature of those is about 200 degrees higher than black powder, and you'll end up pulling your projectile with a worm.

A kit is a great way to get started, but you can also get ready to shoot weapons from places like Cabela's, Sportsman's warehouse, and the like. Pedersoli makes superb reproductions, but they're not cheap. Traditions weapons can require some extra work to finish properly. If you'd like to see some exceptionally fine examples of traditional gunsmithing, Track of the Wolf carries ready-made guns, but I'd stay away from their "kits" unless you have good woodworking and metalworking skills. Traditional flint guns are truly works of art, but they DON'T come cheap!!!
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/487/1/AAP-168
 
#11 ·
David, google Billy Dixon and the 2nd Battle of Adobe Walls, 1874. this is black powder shooting, and it will give you an idea just how accurate they can be. the Quigley movie, with his Shiloh Sharps in 45/110-those shots aren't at all too far for that sort of weapon. Personally, I've driven spikes with my Kentucky at 50 paces offhand, and the inline gives me two-inch groups with sabots out to 120 yards benched.
Thanks for that - very interesting.

BTW, I loved the movie.
"Is everyone in this country as butt ugly as you three?"
 
#8 ·
I walked/fished into a time warp once.

I was fishing the Yakima many years ago and had moved upstream quite a ways where I climbed up a steep bank with the intent to cross the large meadow I knew was there to access the next good run upriver.
As I crested the top I was instantly transported back to 1807. I witnessed my first rendezvous. Quite impressed!

I've always wondered if they still have them there ( or was it all just a dream that I'd had...?).
 
#10 ·
I'd luv to get out to one of those Rendezvous'!
I have a Knight Ultra-Lite I bought a couple years ago, really like it, only 6 or 7 lbs believe it or not. I had a Traditions Hawken .54 for a long time and that worked fine, but I will keep my Ultra-Lite thank you very much... ;-)
But hey, I like em all as they extend the opportunities and give a guy who's having a tough season a final chance to bring home the bacon, or backstraps. ;-)
 
G
#12 ·
I would highly recommend that if you go the percussion route that you buy a silent ball discharger, mine is made by Thompson center and uses co2 cylinders. this way you can avoid having to pull bullets by the worm screw method, and believe me you will be doing this a time or two when you first start out with muzzleloaders. As Alex stated proper cleaning is a must as is a oil free bore when you load them.
 
G
#14 ·
Its more than a pain in the ass, its dangerous , my late father who was a chemical engineer ,witnessed me trying to pull a bullet with a screw and near lost it. come to find out as a kid he was unrolling firecrackers & pouring the black powder into a 50 cal case then tamping it down with a pencil, this went fine until the powder exploded due to compression. His comment was " when that thing goes off , its going to be a bloody mess as that ramrod passes through you and I doubt if we will be able ever find the ramrod again" so after looking at all the scars on his hand from his little boo, boo, I don't pull bullets unless forced too. I also know that after hunting all day on a cold day if you place your gun in your warm truck it will condensate enough water in the bore that the gun will not fire, especially when you have a big elk standing thirty feet away from you
 
#15 ·
It doesn't appear that Thompson makes that device any more, although I saw a couple listed on E-Bay; I believe acquiring/fabricating the necessary adapter/adapters could pose an issue, but it sounds like a slick & safer tool. Cabalas makes/made one but it didn't have the positive reviews that the Thompson did. Reckon I'll stick with metallic cartridge firearms & continue my aversion to muzzle loaders, lol. I never was partial to being in the vicinity of the muzzle of a firearm while attempting to pull a stuck ball; the only time I was faced with this, I was able to pick the touch-hole clear, trickle-in a little fine powder, & get the piece to discharge.
 
G
#18 ·
Be warned these silent ball discharges are to be use outside with the gun pointed in a safe direction only, there's is a cabin in the Nile game unit where a buddy sent a round ball through the the roof with one. I believe traditions still makes one , but they are not without thier hazards !
 
#17 ·
I built a cabela's kit (made by pedersoli) some years ago, it's harvested it's share of venison. It's a .54, fires very nice roundball groups at 50-100 yards with 100 grains of FFG or Pyrodex (pyrodex is easier to clean), but will not hold a sabot or conical on a target at all. That's OK by me, the roundball does whatever I've asked it to do.

I've an old pistol, and a 12 gauge shotgun as well...the shotgun is just a PITA, a film can for the powder, a wad, then a film can for the shot, then a card, then a cap, then, maybe, boom. Repeat. Need big vest. But it's fun once in a while.

The new ones, they're just poor rifles for my money. Gotta be sidelock.
 
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#22 · (Edited)
When I was stationed at Fort Bragg I apprenticed with a gun maker in Fayetteville. He did the whole thing, from making his own barrels and locks to browning the barrels, case hardening the locks and doing all sorts of fancy inlays in the wood. I did most of the inletting in the stocks, inlays of patch boxes and wire inlays in German Silver, Gold and Brass.

With his help I built a couple of Pennsylvania Rifles, both flintlock. One was a .32 caliber for small game, rabbits, squirrels and such. The stock was tiger maple with a deep forest green vegetable dye to give it some color, browned barrel and brass for the patch box and wire inlays with a case hardened lock. It was a gorgeous rifle and you could bark a squirrel at 50 yards, no problem. The other was a .50 caliber with similar appearance except the maple was dyed with a reddish brown dye. That was my deer gun and it worked well on the NC deer.

Unfortunately, my ex-wife got them in the divorce and she promptly sold them for a fraction of their worth for beer money.
 
#28 ·
I have a .54 cal Lyman trade rifle that I killed three bull elk with. I no longer use it and would sell for $75. I had the sight and trigger worked over by Don Holman, who used to build flintlocks from scratch.
 
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#29 ·
Thank you all for talking me out of buying a muzzle loader. :)
don't make a snap decision based on aversion, Krusty! They're a ton of fun to shoot, but there's a little more maintenance than you get with a modern firearm. My flintlocks are more difficult to clean than my percussion rifles, but that's all. With a flintgun, as i mentioned, you need to shoot black powder rather than the powder substitutes, but if you choose a percussion ignition system, especially with a hooked breech, cleaning's easy and quick. With pre-measured Pyrodex pellets, you have a readymade amount that's just "drop in"; put a little bore butter grease on a patch, and ram the ball home, cap and shoot!

For a lot of us though, it's rewarding to carry powder in a traditional horn, which many of us make ourselves. it's a "do it yourself" attitude, with a fair amount of artwork thrown in, on both the rifles and the horns! They're fun, exciting, and challenging to shoot! And can be very accurate!
 
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