January Question Of The Month

Dave wants to know..."Where can I find parts for the Austin & Halleck Model 420 rifle?"

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter...Summer-Fall 2013

It's been busy here at NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING since we published our Winter-Spring issue of this newsletter back in March. We've had a lot of shooting to do this year, which got a little tough here in Western Montana as we had one of the hottest summers on record, with a record number of days into the mid to high 90's.  Still, we managed to get it done, doing all of our shooting early in the morning, when temperatures were right at 50 degrees.  Generally, we would get in about two hours of shooting before the temperature topped 65 - and that's when we would load up and head back to the office.

We had two new rifles to wring out, the .50 Traditions VORTEK StrikerFire and the .50 Redemption from LHR Sporting Arms - and through summer and early fall we managed to put about 500 rounds through each. Our early report on the Redemption can be found at http://www.namlhunt.com/mlrifle8.html .  And our first report on the VORTEK StrikerFire can be found at http://www.namlhunt.com/mlrifle9.html .  That's the VORTEK StrikerFire in the photo above right.

Deer and elk hunting seasons have been underway here in Montana for about three weeks, and I've gotten in 9 days of hunting - passing on three whitetail bucks.  Two were small 4x4's, and one was an equally small 5x5.  All had, at most, 14 inch spreads.  So far, I've seen just one bull elk...headed up a ridge almost two miles away in the last 15 minutes of daylight.  I put in two more days on that ridge and never saw him again. Early next week, a hunting partner and I are headed over to the Missouri Breaks to spend 7 or 8 days hunting big mule deer and river-bottom whitetails.  Hopefully I'll be able to share the details of a successful hunt on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website before the end of the year. In addition to hunting deer, I also plan to do some fall turkey hunting...and busting a few pheasants with a muzzleloading shotgun.

The website has grown...a lot...since last year.  In fact, as this is written, this year we've added 61 new pages...and intend to add 4 more to the 2013 Article-Report menu before the end of the year.  Between now and the first of the year, we're also working to upscale the look of the site a bit as well.  To help the nearly 150 or so pages currently found at www.namlhunt.com to download quicker, we're also making the navigation of the site less cluttered by publishing a series of navigation pages, eliminating the huge drop down link menu that often took 20 or 30 seconds to download. Here's a look at how we've simplified the 2013 Article-Report page -


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

The 2012 Article-Report menu has already been re-constructed in the same manner, and before January 1, 2014 the 2011 article and report menu will receive the same treatment.

If you've spent much time on the website over the past couple of months, then you've surely noticed that we are providing more coverage for the older style traditional muzzleloaders.  Our goal is to ALWAYS keep on providing the same great coverage of modern muzzleloading as we have in the past, and to expand our coverage of the traditional side of our sport.  Muzzleloading at all levels has gotten way too fragmented. There is still way to much bickering between modern minded muzzleloading hunters and purist traditional muzzleloading hunters.  Here at NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING...muzzleloading is muzzleloading - and we will represent both sides of the sport.

Our industry also needs to do some serious organizing.  As a rule, most muzzleloader oriented companies are now doing little to nothing to promote and build muzzleloader hunting opportunities.  Here's a look at that problem...and how the muzzleloading industry needs to model itself after the archery industry...or we just might begin losing way too many muzzleloader hunting opportunities -

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

If you are successful in your hunts this fall and winter, send us a few photos and details of your hunts so we can share them with others.  Traffic on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website has gone through the roof.  For the 12 month period from November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2013, the website was called upon 3,057,315 times by the muzzleloading hunters of North America - 419,766 times in October alone.

Thank you for helping make the site Today's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information.  - Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING


                                                LEGISLATIVE ALERT!

A Petition has been filed to legalize Blackhorn 209 in Nevada.  The State of Nevada is the ONLY state to ban the use of this modern top-performing muzzleloader hunting propellant by name. Take a few minutes to send the Nevada Wildlife Commission a message - that muzzleloading hunters need to make those decisions...not a board made up of affluent residents appointed by the Governor who do not hunt with a muzzleloader...or who, very likely, have never even shot a muzzleloader. 

Legalization of the powder will be a topic of discussion at the December 6th commission meeting.  If you have not already, send an e-mail in support of this black powder substitute.  For more details and a link and an e-mail address where you can comment - Click Here.



    

Legislative Alert! Petition Filed With Nevada Board Of Wildlife Commissioners To Repeal Or Amend A Ban On Blackhorn 209!

The State of Nevada is the ONLY state to ban the use of this modern top-performing muzzleloader hunting propellant by name. Take a few minutes to send the Nevada Wildlife Commission a message - that muzzleloading hunters need to make those decisions...not a board made up of affluent residents who do not hunt with a muzzleloader...or who, very likely, have never even shot a muzzleloader. For more details and where to send your e-mail, go to the following link...

                         http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-10.html


                                        Get Involved...Send An E-Mail!

Publishing More Traditional Muzzleloader Hunting Articles

Through the remainder of 2013, and all of 2014, it is the goal of NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING to publish at least one traditionally oriented muzzleloader hunting article each and every month.  A September feature on hunting small game with small bore rifles is a good look at how the website will present the traditional side of this old shooting sport.  That article can be found found at the following link -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlsmallgame2.html

Another traditional muzzleloader hunting feature will also lead the menu of October articles and reports.  That article shares the challenges of shooting and hunting with flintlock smoothbore muskets and Indian Trade Guns.  It shares a deer hunt with a bit of muzzleloading history - the very first of the North Star Trade Guns  ever produced - plus takes a look at the tremendous variety of smooth-bored long arms produced through the ages...and the modern reproductions of quite a few of those models.
To read that article, go to -

http://www.namlhunt.com/mlhunt7.html

Every NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING traditional muzzleloading article will be a combination of muzzleloading history and personal "hands on" experience.

The host of this website, Toby Bridges, has often been accused of being "Anti Traditional Muzzleloading", due to the great amount of coverage given to today's modern in-line rifles and top performing loads. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Bridges has written hundreds of magazine articles on traditional rifles, and has thoroughly covered those guns in 10 books he's written on muzzleloading - including the book shown at left - "Custom Muzzleloading Rifles", published by Stackpole Books in 1986...which was also the first year he shot and hunted with a Knight MK-85 in-line ignition rifle.

He is as experienced and knowledgeable about the older style front-loaded rifles as anyone in the World - and is also considered the top authority on loading...shooting...and hunting with today's modern in-line muzzleloading rifles.  He enjoys playing both sides of the muzzleloader hunting game.

Bridges himself has built several dozen traditionally styled "custom" muzzleloading rifles - including the two fine rifles shown on the cover of this book. One was a big .54 caliber Hawken rifle built to handle massive 120-grain powder charges behind a patched round ball, the other a short and slender lightweight full-stocked .45 caliber Kentucky rifle for his 9-year-old daughter.

Two articles already slated are "Loading & Shooting The Traditional Muzzle-Loaded Shotgun", which will primarily cover older style "non-choked" scatterguns, and another article that's a look at "The Old Masters", which will share the gunmakers of the past...and the early history of muzzleloading in America.

Through 2014, the website will also work in a few reviews of several traditional reproduction rifles that are currently being offered, perhaps spotlight a present day custom riflemaker or two, report on accessories for the older style muzzle-loaded guns, and we'll share some loading tips for achieving best accuracy and game taking performance. On this website, it is the ability of any muzzleloader and load to take game that is given priority.

The website started life as "High Performance Muzzleloading" back in 2003. By 2006, it became very evident that many out dated and backward hunting regulations were hampering the continued growth of muzzleloader hunting in the U.S. - so that year the name of the website was changed to NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING. Since then, the site's efforts have been very influential in getting many of those non-serving regulations changed.

It has been the modern side of the muzzleloading industry which has supported the fight to liberalize muzzleloader hunting regulations - so all can enjoy and participate in the muzzleloader hunting seasons. The fact is, close to 90-percent of all muzzleloading hunters today hunt with the modern in-line rifles and loads. That's why the coverage of muzzleloading on the website has swung so heavily in that direction. What the website hopes to accomplish through stepped up coverage of traditional muzzleloading guns and hunting with them is to share the enjoyment and challenge of that side of our sport - to encourage more of the 3- to 3 1/2-million muzzleloading hunters in this country to use traditional muzzleloading equipment for at least some of their muzzleloader hunting. - NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING 

       LOOKING FOR TRADITIONAL MUZZLELOADING SPONSORS

If you manufacture or market products specifically for today's traditional muzzleloading hunter, these pages on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website are more than likely the absolute best place to advertise or promote those products. Currently, traffic on this site over the past 12 months has topped 2.7-million. This month (September 2013) alone, muzzleloading hunters  referenced the website more than 300,000 times. We are right now very much on track to top 3-million site users for all of 2013.

You cannot reach that many muzzleloading hunters anywhere else. Our sponsorships are extremely reasonable, providing links to your website and inserting your banners or logos where appropriate. Or, we can custom fit a page around your magazine style advertisements. For more details, or to inquire about getting a traditional muzzleloading product review on this website, drop us an e-mail at the following e-mail address. 

 

 

                                                    namlhunt@gmail.com                                           

 

                                                                                                                           

 

Getting The Most Out Of A Multi-Reticle Muzzleloader Hunting Scope

There are several different riflescopes now on the market which feature a reticle having multiple cross-bars, cross-plexes, cross-hairs or circles, offering built-in holdover for shooting at longer ranges...well, long range for a muzzleloader anyway.  Do they work?  Most certainly, but to fully benefit from using such a scope, today's muzzleloading hunter needs to know a thing or two about setting up a rifle and load in order to tap the full benefit of such optics for today's top performing muzzleloading big game rifles.

Here, we will be using the TB-ML muzzleloader scope from Hi-Lux Optics to provide pointers which will allow the muzzleloading hunter to sight in the primary crosshair at 100 yards with an accurate combination of powder...charge...sabot...bullet...and primer...then rely on three lower cross-bar plexes for placing shots at 200...225...and 250 yards.  The reason why we've chosen this scope is that the TB-ML model was developed out of all the shooting conducted for all of the information packed muzzleloader performance articles and reports that are published on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website.  We know that the locations of the longer range plexes were not determined through calculation...but rather through placing thousands of rounds downrange... because we did that shooting.

Take a look at the TB-ML reticle in the drawing at right.  Note the three shorter cross-bars below the center crosshair.  The locations of these "aiming points" were determined more by velocity and bullet ballistic coefficient than any other factors.  The reticle was developed using  a .50 caliber rifle loaded to get a saboted 250- to 300-grain bullet with a .210 to .250 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle at between 1,925 f.p.s. and 2,000 f.p.s.  If you are saying to yourself that such a wide range of bullets and velocities cannot all print "on" exactly the same at all these ranges...you are absolutely right.  But, for hunting, they don't have to.

                              

The rifle shown in the photo at the top of this post actually belongs to a very good friend, and this summer (2013) I tweaked his load and scope to make it a deadly 250-yard big game rifle.  However, it is exactly like one of the rifles I now tend to shoot more often than any other - the .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK model.  And like all four of my VORTEK test rifles, this one is also topped with one of the Hi-Lux Optics 3-9x40mm multi-reticle TB-ML muzzleloader hunting scopes.  The load it tends to like more than any other is 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 behind the saboted 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet and black Crush Rib Sabot, both produced by Harvester Muzzleloading.  At the muzzle of this 28-inch barreled No. 209 primer ignition in-line  rifle, the load is good for 1,952 f.p.s., generating 2,535 foot-pounds of energy.  On a really good day, when conditions are ideal, and the shooter is up to it, the rifle and load will often punch a great sub 1/2-inch cluster at 100 yards, such as that shown here.

More typically, the groups I shoot are more like 1 1/4- to 1 1/2 inches, measured center-to-center.  While little things like 20 to 30 degree warmer or colder temperatures...shooting at 2,000 to 3,000 feet different elevation...or say a change of the humidity by 30- or 40-percent can cause the exact point of impact to shift a 1/4 to 1/2 inch from day to day, the fact remains that such accuracy will still take any big game animal with a center chest cavity hold at 100 yards.

Through the course of a year's worth of test shooting, I punch a lot of standard paper targets...and often get a little bored.  One enjoyable way to get in some beneficial shooting, especially when shooting with a multi-reticle scope, is to play around with cardboard cut outs that simulate somewhat life size shooting at game.  The above piece of cardboard is roughly 18 to 19 inches from top of what would be the back to bottom of the chest cavity.  It also measures right at 40 inches in length - relatively closely simulating the body size of a whitetail buck.

That 10" diameter paper plate also roughly simulates the so-called "kill zone" of a whitetail.  In other words, any reliable bullet design that can be put into this area with AT LEAST 800 F.P.E., and which is capable of transferring that energy to the target, will cleanly bring down a mature whitetail or mule deer buck.  Keeping hits in that "zone" is the key...and this is where the multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes can be key to being successful.

The 9 shots inside the kill zone shown on the cardboard silhouette at right include 3 shots at 200 yards (3.1 inch spread)...3 shots at 225 yards (3.6 inch spread)...and 3 shots at 250 yards (4.7 inch spread).  The proper hold-over cross-bar reticle of the Hi-Lux TB-ML scope was used at each range...and the three overlapping groups have an extreme spread of 6 inches (center-to-center). 

All 9 of these shots would have effectively put down a 200+ pound buck.  At 250 yards, a 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullet (.250 b.c.), that left the muzzle at 1,952 f.p.s., would still be flying at around 1,300 f.p.s. at that distance, and would hit with 1,125 foot-pounds of retained energy.

The 260- and 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold bullets were the bullets shot most during the development and refinement of the TB-ML scope, shooting 110 grains of FFFg Triple Seven.  The charge got the 260-grain .220 b.c. bullet out of the muzzle of a 27-inch barreled Knight Long Range Hunter model at 2,018 f.p.s., and with the rifle sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar would print right at 2 inches high at that distance.  The same rifle, loaded with 110-grains of FFFg Triple Seven and the .250 b.c. 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold was good for 1,909 f.p.s. at the muzzle.  Again, sighted 1-inch high at 100 yards, then using the 200-yard cross-bar reticle, at 200 yards the heavier and slower bullet would print on the average 1 inch below point of aim. 

Due to the lower b.c. of the lighter 260-grain bullet, somewhere between 150 and 200 yards, it begins to slow faster than the higher b.c. 300-grain polymer-tipped spire-point.   Using the 225 yard cross-bar at 225 yards, the 260-grain Scorpion PT Gold will print pretty much "on", while the 300-grain version of the same bullet prints about an inch high.  Out at 250 yards, the 260-grain bullet hits the target around 2 1/2 inches below point of aim - the 300-grain bullet averages nearly 2 inches above point of aim.  Still, when it comes to maintaining "minute-of-whitetail", all of this is a moot point.  On more than one occasion I have conducted similar tests, shooting three shots at each range (using the proper cross-bar) with each bullet (with rifles sighted to print 1 inch high at 100 yards), and the extreme spread of all 18 shots rarely opens to more than 6 inches.

With a center chest cavity hold on deer sized game every one of these shots printed inside the "kill zone", and would have taken game.  Since developing the TB-ML scope with Hi-Lux Optics, I've only had to rely on the longer range cross-bar reticles a half dozen times to take game for the table.  However, I have used the scope on several different rifles to bust some 200 to 250+ yard coyotes, groundhogs, and other predators or vermin.  My longest shot was on a coyote that I had lasered at 256 yards.  I held just above center, and squeezed off the shot.  That yodel dog never knew what hit him.

The 110-grain charges of Blackhorn 209 I'm now shooting out of the .50 caliber 28-inch barreled VORTEK and the 30-inch barreled VORTEK Ultra Light LDR are just a bit faster than the charges of FFFg Triple Seven used when determining just where the longer range cross-bars of the TB-ML would be located.  Even so, that really has not changed the points of impact much once out at 200...225...250 yards.  The overlapping three 200, 225, 250 yard groups (9-shots) punched with my friend's Traditions VORTEK were shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,952 f.p.s., not 1,909 f.p.s. - and all 9 stayed in the kill zone.

The multi-reticle muzzleloader scopes do indeed work...and work very well.  However, no one should ever shoot at game at a range they have never shot at - no matter what some scope makers may lead you to believe.  The best advice anyone could give the muzzleloading hunter that's either new to a multi-reticle muzzleloader scope, or who is anticipating the purchase of one is to get out and shoot often at those longer ranges.

Another tip is to make absolutely sure that the reticle of the scope is perfectly squared with the bore.  If the crosshairs have even the slightest tilt (not square with the bore) to one side or the other, it will result in the shot being off to the side.  Sure, the crosshair itself is centered in the scope, and can still be sighted to print dead on at 100 yards.  But if the crosshairs are not level with a perfectly leveled rifle, then the 200...225...or 250 yard reticles will be off to one side or the other of the primary crosshair - which should be directly above the cross-bar being used. 

If it's not, then the scope is not squared with the bore.  If you already have a multi-reticle scope on your rifle, next time you are aiming with one of the longer range cross-bars, plexes or circles of your scope...note where the crosshair is on the target.  If it is slightly off to the right...your shot will go off to the right.  If it is off to the left...guess where your shot is going. 

Also, keep in mind that these scopes are still very, very useful when shooting considerably slower loads or much lower ballistic coefficient bullets.  While the so-called "200 yard" reticle...or the "225 yard" reticle...or the "250 yard" reticles may not be on AT THESE DISTANCES...they will still allow you to hold on at some longer range...and that would be up to you to do plenty of shooting to determine exactly where each prints the load you are hunting with.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

www.namlhunt.com

            
NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Special Offer For The Hi-Lux Optics TB-ML Muzzleloader Scope...

Here is a great way to save $50 on the Hi-Lux TB-ML Muzzleloader Hunting Scope...and to support the website's efforts to keep on bringing you the best muzzleloader hunting coverage on the internet today.  Just go to the following link for all the details...

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

Muzzleloading Continues To Evolve!

Have any of you NOT yet shot and hunted with Blackhorn 209?

 

While a few other so-called "black powder substitutes" have claimed to be the powder that revolutionizes muzzleloading - this is the only black powder substitute that truly lives up to the claim. This report takes a look back at the accelerated evolution of muzzleloading from the late 1830's and on into the 1860's - then shares how this modern formulated powder has done more today for modern in-line ignition rifles than any other product during the past 25 years of in-line muzzleloading.

 

http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-5.html
 

 

The article/report published at this link takes a look at the 25 to 30 year period prior to the Civil War...and how muzzleloading went through a very stepped up evolution as rifle makers and shooters refined the elongated conical bullet...fast twist bore bullet rifles...and telescopic rifle sights (a.k.a. "rifle scopes"). Muzzleloading has gone through a similar stage of evolution during the past 25 to 30 years - with the popularity of the modern in-line ignition rifles...introduction of the saboted muzzleloader bullets...and the development of several black powder substitutes.

 

This article/report features the exceptionally accurate Dixie Gun Works reproduction of the hexagonal bore Whitworth long range rifle...the well made Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics copy of a circa 1855 Wm. Malcolm rifle scope...the superb accuracy of the .50 caliber Traditions VORTEK Ultra Light LDR in-line ignition rifle...and of course Blackhorn 209. Check out all of the qualities and benefits this powder brings to today's muzzleloading hunter.

 

If any of you are attending the NRA Show in Houston, TX this coming weekend, be sure to drop by the Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics booth and say hello. I'll be working the show with them. Also, the good folks from Blackhorn 209 will be at the show as well...look them up if you have any questions about the powder.

 

Toby Bridges

NORTH AMERICAN

MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

 

 

America's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information!

 

www.namlhunt.com

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter...Winter-Spring 2013

Here is something new for NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING followers, a twice yearly Newsletter.  On or about April 15th each year, we will now distribute and publish our Winter-Spring Newsletter.  Then on or about October 15th, we'll distribute and publish our Summer-Fall Newsletter.

 

            The NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website has now become America's No. 1 Source For Muzzleloader Hunting Information.

            By the end of 2012, traffic on the website topped 1.5 million, and the audience it reaches just keeps on growing.  Over the past 12 months (April 14, 2012 to April 15, 2013) more than 2,000,000 muzzleloading shooters and hunters have referenced the website.  All indications are that by year's end, muzzleloading hunters in the U.S. and Canada will call upon www.namlhunt.com 2.5 million times.

            Why the phenomenal growth in the number of muzzleloading hunters turning to the site?  The answer is pretty easy, they cannot find anywhere else a wider range of muzzleloader performance information and "how to" muzzleloading accuracy tips, load data, technical information, history, or updated details on the latest muzzleloader hunting legislation, which can and will dictate what you can or cannot hunt with during the Muzzleloader Seasons, than what is now published on this one website.

            Currently, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING is fighting an extremely non-serving muzzleloader hunting regulation in the State of Nevada, which makes it illegal for the modern day muzzleloading hunter to use one of the most popular muzzleloader hunting powders available today - Blackhorn 209.  For more on this, copy and paste this link -

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

            Since being first published on the internet in 2003, NORTH AMERICAN  MUZZLELOADER HUNTING has done more than the NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION and the NATIONAL MUZZLE LOADING RIFLE ASSOCIATION combined to get such non-serving and often extremely discriminatory muzzleloader hunting regulations changed in order to allow ALL muzzleloading hunters to enjoy our sport.  Since 2006, that includes the legalization of riflescopes during the muzzleloader hunting seasons in Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin...for ALL muzzleloading hunters.  In 11 other states which still proclaim it is illegal to use a "riflescope" during such seasons, the federal government has since also mandated that these states MUST make special provisions for sight impaired muzzleloading hunters to use a scope - thanks to the efforts of NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING.

            There are still a few other non-serving muzzleloader hunting regulations on the books in several other states, which we fully intend to keep on tackling.

            In late summer 2011, the website went through a complete overhaul.  Beginning in late July of that year, we eliminated all older articles and reports...and started out with a clean slate.  Since then, we've built and published more than  100 information packed and well illustrated pages.  This newsletter is being put together and distributed in mid April.  So far this year, we've added 18 Feature Articles/Reports, plus added to the menu links to shorter articles, reports or news we've published on the four affiliated muzzleloader hunting blogs we also host.  NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING also has its own Facebook page. 

            The four more recent (April) articles and reports include a new page that looks at how Blackhorn 209 actually produces its best accuracy when the bore is NOT wiped between shots at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/blackhorn209-4.html ) ...

            A feature written by our new Associate Editor Dr. Jim Clary, which takes a look at the benefits of the Harvester Muzzleloading "Crush Rib Sabot" and Scorpion PT Gold bullet at...

( http://www.namlhunt.com/mlperformance.html ) ...

            A look back at one of the most widely used saboted bullets of the 1990's - the 300-grain Hornady .452" diameter XTP hollow-point at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/mlbullets11.html )...

            And how today's muzzleloading hunter can best determine his or her maximum effective range at...

(http://www.namlhunt.com/mlmaxrange.html ).

            Our goal for 2013 has been to add another 50 pages to the website by the time 2014 rolls around, and we're right on target to do just that.   In May, we plan to add several more great feature articles or reports. 

            One of the big arguments against the use of a riflescope on a muzzleloader has been that such optics were not used on "original" muzzleloaders - which is far from the truth.  Muzzleloading target shooter and hunter James R. Chapman is often credited for "inventing" and "perfecting" such telescopic sights, about 1840.  He wrote about such sights in his book, "The Improved American Rifle" - written in 1844 and published in 1848.  Those early "riflescopes" were made much like a pair of eyeglasses - for the individual shooters' eye sight.  Quite a few of the finest rifle makers of the 1840's and 1850's  also built these early telescopic rifle sights - with the help of a local optometrist. 

            A May feature to be published on the NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING website will take a good look at how the riflescope was developed hand-in-hand with the long range bullet rifles of the 1840's...leading to the establishment of the first ever riflescope manufacturing facility in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1855 by William Malcolm.  The accompanying photo shows a modern made copy of a circa 1855 Malcolm scope, mounted on a circa 1855 styled hexagonal bore .451 Whitworth long-range rifle.  The scope has been reproduced by Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics.

            The other feature scheduled for May will compare the long range trajectories of a dozen or so currently popular saboted muzzleloading bullets for the .50 caliber in-line rifles.  Check back to see if we include the saboted bullet you currently hunt with, or at least a bullet with a very similar ballistic coefficient.  Several new product test reports will also be featured through the month.

            Likewise, we plan to publish from 3 to 5 information packed Feature Articles/Reports each and every month.  While the majority of the materials presented on the website will continue to cater to the 90+ percent of today's muzzleloading hunters who have turned to the modern in-line rifles, we will also include a number of pages devoted to the muzzle-loaded hunting rifles and loads of the past.

            NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING will continue to be the leading source for everything that is Muzzleloader Hunting.  Go to the site at  www.namlhunt.com and save it as a favorite.  -  Toby Bridges, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING 
 

Watch For The Summer-Fall 2013 NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING Newsletter About October 15th. 

NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING is a free site for visitors, no matter whose rifle, scope, powder, sabot or bullet they may load...shoot ...and hunt with.  Right now, a small handful of sponsors help keep this site on the internet.  For continued growth and to insure the site stays on the internet, NORTH AMERICAN MUZZLELOADER HUNTING needs a few more members of the muzzleloading industry or the hunting industry in general to pitch in and help cover the cost of building and maintaining this website.  Muzzleloader hunting is hunting, and more muzzleloading hunters keep up with their sport right here than anywhere else.