Nevada Department of Wildlife Bans Blackhorn 209 - NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Responds!

Following is an e-mail sent to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners in regard to the Nevada Department of Wildlife ban on the use of Blackhorn 209 during the muzzleloader only seasons and hunts in that state...

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Dear Nevada Wildlife Commission;

What does the State of Nevada have against nitrocellulose...or Blackhorn 209?

The manner in which the Nevada muzzleloader hunting regulations attack this powder, by brand name, shows extreme prejudice - and likely violates interstate commerce laws. The Nevada Wildlife Commission needs to give all of this very serious thought, and truly question those responsible for such a stand against a revolutionary new muzzleloader propellant that is now taking muzzleloader hunting by storm across the country. Should there be any personal bias involved, it could end in some extremely costly legal litigation.

The manner in which the agency and the commission allows several powders, by brand name, to be used during the muzzleloader only season, then bans the use of another powder, by brand name, is extremely discriminatory - especially since the powders, including Blackhorn 209, all share the same technical classification - as determined by the U.S. Department of Transportation - and the United Nations.

Over the past 12 months, the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website has had more than 1.7 million visitors, and they are now reading about how the Nevada Wildlife Commission and the Nevada Department of Wildlife are wrongly robbing Nevada's muzzleloading hunters of the opportunity to go afield with a superior muzzleloader propellant. Here's a link to a report published Sunday, February 3, 2013.

http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-2.html

I would be very interested in hearing from any of you in defense of such non-serving muzzleloader hunting legislation. The end of this week, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING will issue a release, addressing this issue, that goes out to much of the media there in Nevada, and to the national outdoor media and to the shooting & hunting industry.

Toby Bridges

NORTH AMERICAN

MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

2013 SHOT Show Did Not Offer Much In The Way Of New Muzzleloader Hunting Innovations

     As far as anything excitingly new for the muzzleloading hunter, the 2013 SHOT Show was the most lackluster I've attended, and since the first of these shows in January 1979 (St. Louis, MO), I have only missed three.

     One very shining exception was a brand new rifle being introduced by Traditions Performance Firearms - the .50 caliber VORTEK StrikerFire.  This is an extremely slick new break-open design, held in this photo by company president Tom Hall.  While this new approach eliminates a hammer that protrudes up behind the firing pin of the receiver, it still offers all the convenience of an exposed hammer...but with an added element of safety and even more convenience.

     The internal firing mechanism is "cocked" by pushing the StikerFire System button forward with right or left thumb (the rifle is truly ambidextrous).  Once cocked, a trigger block safety mounted on the trigger housing allows the rifle to be safely carried until a shot is taken.  To "uncock" the rifle, one simply pushes the (silver) release button shown at right.  It's that simple.  (Opening the action also de-cocks the rifle.)  The advantages of this system are a snappier lock time and the ability to mount a scope lower and closer to the axis of the bore, which tends to equate to more consistent accuracy.

     The new 28-inch barreled design weighs in at just 6.25 pounds, and will surely be a dream to carry in the field.  We are slated to receive one of the very first test guns in May, and will run a complete report on this before the end of that month.  Starting retail price will be $489, for a black synthetic stock with a tapered, fluted and CeraKote finished Magnum Chromoly barrel.  The rifle offers other new features as well, which we will fully detail on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website when we publish the test report in May.  Don't miss it.

     For updated info on this rifle, go to - www.traditionsfirearms.com

IS THE T/C OMEGA ON THE WAY OUT?

     Thompson Center Arms' website still proclaims... "T/C’s OMEGA™ Will Revolutionize the Way Hunters Think About Muzzleloaders for Years to Come" ... However, I can't help but wonder if the company is already doing some serious downsizing.  The Omega was not even displayed at the 2013 SHOT Show.

     In fact, the only models on display were the Triumph...the Impact...and the Encore Pro Hunter.  There was nothing that "muzzle-loaded" that was truly new.  To put it nicely, T/C's huge booth was mostly void of guns, with easily 90-percent of the display devoted to center-fire rifles.  The 2013 SHOT Show was the 35th of the annual "Show of Arms", and as I pointed out earlier, I've missed just three of the shows.  One thing I've noticed in the past has been when a rifle that's loudly touted as one which "Will Revolutionize the Way Hunters Think About Muzzleloaders for Years to Come" is suddenly absent at the SHOT Show, it generally means the model is being phased out.

     Personally, I've found the solid design of the Omega to produce the most consistent accuracy of all the T/C in-line designs.  If I could shoot and hunt with only one T/C rifle...it would definitely be the Omega.  I, for one, hope that the ommission of the rifle at the SHOT Show was just an ill thought out mistake.

     We were made privy to a couple of new bullet concepts, which we will be testing and reporting on later in the year.  Also, there's a new in-line rifle making operation bringing another innovative break-open inline model, known as the Redemption, to the market.  Those behind the new venture are primarily former T/C management that either chose not to move from the Rochester, NH area when T/C's Smith & Wesson owners decided to relocate the company to Springfield, MA...or who were downsized out during the move.

     While the company, known as LHR Sporting Arms, was not displaying at this year's SHOT Show, several muzzleloading writers I ran into shared that they would be doing test reports on the new rifle.  Prior to the SHOT Show, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING also corresponded with the marketing manager of the company, and hopes to bring you a report as well.

     For more on the rifle and the new company, go to - www.lhrsportingarms.com

     It hurts me to say that, with only a few exceptions, the muzzleloading industry has become extremely lame.  Right now, less than 20-percent of the companies offering muzzleloader hunting products are keeping the industry alive - the other 80-or so-percent seem to be just along for the ride.  -  Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING       

Looking Into 2013...

I did not spend a lot of time on this blog through 2012.  All of my effort was put into rebuilding the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website, at www.namlhunt.com .  Late in July 2011, my former website hosting service (Homestead/Intuit) apparently decided that a muzzleloader hunting website was not appropriate for them...and without any reason or notice simply pulled the plug - losing nearly six years of research and writing. 

As angry as I was at the time, I've now come to realize that they actually did me one huge favor. 

2010 was the all time best year for the website published at www.hpmuzzleloading.com, with some 350,000 users during the course of the year.  Fact is, 2011 was on track to slightly top that...until the anti-hunting greenie gang at Homestead shut the site down.  August of 2011 was a hectic one for me as I scrambled to find a new, appropriate and better hosting service - which I did with FatCow.  The last week of that month and all of September was spent getting a new start under a new and more appropriate web address.

It took a couple of months for many of you to find the new site, but once you did, thankfully you kept coming back on a regular basis.  I quickly learned that FatCow does a much better job of getting article/report topics published into the internet search engines - and by the end of December 2011, monthly traffic was up around 35,000.

Well, as we moved into 2012, traffic just kept growing...topping 100,000 for the month of July alone...more than 200,000 in each of October and November...and nearly reaching 300,000 for the month of December.  In all, some 74,000 unique visitors used the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website 1,553,000+ times during 2012.

And I would like to thank the folks at Homestead for making that happen.  If you had not pulled the plug on the site...it's doubtful that traffic would have topped 400,000 to 450,000.

What has kept muzzleloading hunters coming back has been the wide range of great muzzleloader hunting articles and reports.  All of those newly published pages can be found at -

http://www.namlhunt.com/2012-articles-reports.html

We've gotten a great start on the 2013 Articles & Reports menu as well.  In just the first week of this new year, three new pages have been published...with one or two more scheduled for the month of January.  In all last year, we added 50 new pages.  We really are not planning to top that number this year...but we do expect to bring you the same great variety of muzzleloader hunting topics through the coming year.  Here's a look at the start of the new lineup -

http://www.namlhunt.com/2013-articles-reports.html

One of our primary goals this year is to better utilize this blog...to get many of you sharing information right here. 

It's going to be a great year...visit us often...here and on the website.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

www.namlhunt.com

  

Where Can Muzzleloader Hunting Go From Here?

On Thanksgiving morning last fall, I was hunting a long and narrow hayfield along the Musselshell River in the breaks country of central Montana.  From a knoll that rose a good 40 feet above where the field narrowed to just over 200 yards, I watched as a doe ran past a huge cottonwood, which I had lasered at 227 yards.  A few minutes later, a 5x5 buck followed the same exact route, passing within just a few yards of that tree.  Taking a rest on a collapsible tripod shooting rest, I placed the 225-yard cross-bar of the multi-reticle muzzleloader hunting scope on the shoulder of the buck...and eased back on the trigger.  The modern No. 209 primer ignition fast-twist .50 caliber in-line rifle belched - and a 110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209 powder pushed a saboted 300-grain polymer-tipped spire point out of the muzzle at 1,970 f.p.s., with 2,583 f.p.e..  At about 225 yards, that bullet drove home with right at 1,300 foot-pounds of knockdown power...and that buck went down on the spot.

So, where can muzzleloader hunting performance go from here?  This new NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING report takes a look at what likely lies ahead...

http://www.namlhunt.com/longrangeml2.html

Should There Be Separate "Traditional Only Muzzleloader" Seasons?

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

Want A Look At The Next Likely Trend In Saboted Muzzleloader Hunting Bullets?

Top Photo Above - Those of you who shot with saboted .44 (.429-.430" dia.) bullets during the late 1980s and early 1990s probably realized quickly that the .50x.44 sabots and bullets of that diameter did not produce the best groups. Three-shot groups of that period with that sabot-bullet combination, on a good day, rarely stayed inside of 4 inches.

Center Photo Above - Shown at the right side of this line up is the Harvester Muzzleloading green .50x.44 Crush Rib Sabot and the 300-grain Hornady .430" diameter XTP jacketed hollow-point bullet. Note the different degrees of sabot opening exhibited by the recovered sabots. More powder and higher velocity continues to more completely open sabot sleeves.

Bottom Photo Above - At 2130 f.p.s., the 300-grain .44 XTP, paired up with the green .50x.44 Crush Rib Sabot, produced excellent 100-yard accuracy with a Knight Rifles .50 caliber Long Range Hunter - like this sub 1-inch three-shot cluster.

For a look at the most common problems associated with loading and shooting saboted .44 caliber bullets out of a .50 caliber rifle, and how to overcome those problems - go to the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING report at the following link -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlbullets4.html

Also...Discover the advantages of a slightly smaller diameter bullet...and what likely lies ahead for today's modern muzzleloading hunter.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

Eleven States Still Discriminate Against The Muzzleloading Hunter

Following is an e-mail that went out yesterday (12-28-11) to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Attached to that e-mail was a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, filing a discrimination complaint against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, for the manner in which that state wildlife agency forces the aged hunter with weakened eyesight, and those hunters with a natural sight impairment, to jump through hoops in order to "qualify" to use a riflescope during the muzzleloader season. Eleven states still enforce such discriminating regulations.

The battle to win fair and equal muzzleloader hunting opportunities for ALL muzzleloading hunters is far from being over.

The letter to Secretary Salazar can be read at the link in the following e-mail message.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING




December 28, 2011

Dear Idaho Department of Fish and Game;

It's time to get this ball rolling along again. Muzzleloader hunting has stalled some over the past couple of years, and that's partially due to backward muzzleloader hunting regulations, such as those enforced by IDFG, that tend to hold back interest.

The attached letter to Secretary Ken Salazar addresses one of the biggest problems plaguing the muzzleloader seasons.

Your agency is one of 11 state wildlife agencies that continue to discriminate against muzzleloader hunters who cannot see open sights well enough to use them. Since 2006, the DOI/USFWS forced IDFG and ten other state wildlife agencies to make special provisions for those hunters with aged or impaired sight to undergo medical examination, complete an application, sent with a letter from the physician/optometrist, and apply for a permit exemption from the restriction that prohibits muzzleloading hunters from using a riflescope.

The Department of the Interior's anti-discrimination policy specifically says that the agency cannot provide funding or financial assistance to any organization or agency which requires ANY U.S. CITIZEN to "qualify in a different manner" in order to participate in any opportunity.

The requirement you now have in place for those with older or impaired sight most definitely discriminates against these hunters. IDFG is in violation of that policy...and so is the DOI/USFWS when it continues to provide federal tax dollars to IDFG.

More on this issue published at: http://www.namlhunt.com/mllegislation2.html


Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

www.namlhunt.com