Muzzleloading has certainly changed a great deal since I bought my first .45 caliber percussion Kentucky round ball rifle at the ripe old age of 15. When the performance and capability of that rifle and what I'm shooting today are compared...there is no comparison...other than both load through the muzzle. We now have muzzleloader big game seasons in EVERY state but one - and that's the state where I now live... Montana. In most of those states, the muzzleloading hunter can participate in those seasons shooting just about as modern or as traditional a rifle and load as the individual hunter wants.
There is now a fear among many that the traditional side of muzzleloading is in danger of being totally lost. Do you share that fear...and do you feel there should be separate "Traditional Only Muzzleloader" big game seasons established to try and save that side of our sport?
For more on this, go to http://www.namlhunt.com/traditionalml-2.html
Please leave a comment on this topic - whether you shoot and hunt with a traditional muzzleloader or a modern in-line muzzleloader.
Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING
www.namlhunt.com
"And that is where the patched round ball falls short...way short once out around or slightly past 50 or 60 yards."
ReplyDeleteBut you say. "Scope or no scope, the average shot taken at big game is still under 100 yards."
I always keep my shots well under 50 yards and never have a problem. This is supose to be a medium range sport i think thats why many people say that scoped inlines should only be allowed in the general rifle season. Im from PA and we have the separate seasons Oct 16 one week any kind of muzzleloader late season Dec 26 three weeks flintlock only. I live and hunt in this state all my life and i talk to alot of other hunters and they all say the same thing they want to keep the late season flintlock only. Its a great challenge with the flintlock. We need to educate people more on both sides of the sport not just the modern one. There is nothing wrong with a taditional only muzzleloader season we have it here in PA sense 1975 and its still going and as a result we have interset in both sides of the sport not just the modern one which is what we need in all states. Lets not make this sport so one sided.
Bear Claw...
ReplyDeleteI have three very traditional 1850s style muzzleloaders...all with fast twist rifling for shooting a big, heavy conical bullet - and all are fitted with an 1855 style scope that allows me to punch 2 to 3 inch groups at 200 yards.
Such percussion rifle rigs became very common during from about 1845 to around 1870.
You said, "This is supose to be a medium range sport i think thats why many people say that scoped inlines should only be allowed in the general rifle season."
Why aren't the scoped percussion bullet rifles allowed during the "Traditional Muzzleloader Only" hunts?
Toby
Im not trying to argue with you here i just dont think that they were as common as you may think they were. I pretty shure that the vast majority of all traditional muzzleloaders of the time im talking percussion as well as flintlock dating well before 1845 and after were open iron sight rifles. Im not saying i agree with the no scope laws im just trying to get a better understanding of why they are not allowed to be used. I think they just want the season to be different then the general rifle season and that means haveing to get closer to the target which i dont think is a real problem as you said and i agree with you "Scope or no scope, the average shot taken at big game is still under 100 yards." I was in Manitoba, Canada last August took a 350 pound black bear with a TC Renegade 50 cal caplock rifle open sights i used 100 gr of goex 2ff and a 295 powerbelt hollow point my shot was 30 yards and it performed very well nice double lung shot.
ReplyDeleteBear Claw...you need to thumb through Ned Robert's book..."The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle". By the end of the "Percussion Era"...which went well past the 1860s and into the 1890s...riflescopes were fairly common.
ReplyDeleteThe "Telescopic Rifle Sights", as scopes were originally called, were originally custom made to match the shooter's eye sight or vision, much like eyeglasses - and generally cost more than the rifles they were mounted on. They became more affordable with the invention of Wm. Malcolm, in 1855 - the adjustable eye-piece. He was the first to put riflescopes into produciton, opening his operation in Syracuse, NY in 1855.
They grew in popularity back then for the same reason they are popular today - it allowed older eyse to stay in the game...and allowed far more precise shot placement.
At the NRA Show in St. Louis back in May, I spent quite a bit of time with a collector who had his collection of early scoped muzzleloaders on display...close to 100 of them. Through the years, I've owned three such rifles from the 1840s and 1850s - a scoped Nelson Lewis rifle...a scoped Billinghurst rifle...and a scoped Morgan James rifle.
Traditional muzzleloading is a heck of a lot more than shooting a flintlock and a patched round ball.
This article is really great and informative! I was thinking about purchasing a gun for my grandpa right before hunting season starts. We always go hunting together in the fall, and that is really special to me that we go annually. I was wondering though, are these guns compatible with black powder bullets ? My grandpa is really picky about the bullets he uses. He says that its a "good luck" thing. I get the feeling though that he has just been using black powder bullets for awhile and just doesn't wanna modernize!
ReplyDeleteTaylor...which "black powder bullets" are you refering to?
ReplyDeleteToby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING
I think each his/her own. If they want to use traditional or modern its their choise. It wasn't to long ago the traditional bow hunter complained about the compoundbow hunter, now they're complaining about the crossbow. We have enough problems from the anti gun/hunting groups to squabble about what type of gun we choose. Personally I use both traditional & modern muzzleloaders. Isn't the point to meet around the camp fire after a succesful day of hunting.
ReplyDelete