• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Why are smokepoles so awesome?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

UplandHunter

32 Cal
Joined
Jul 13, 2024
Messages
17
Reaction score
27
Location
Idaho
In your opinions, what is it about fielding a traditional muzzleloader that adds so much thrill and makes an outing so much more meaningful?
 
I think it is because it takes us back to where our success depends on us and not a pile of gadgets to make the whole process easier.

I felt the same way when I ditched the wheels on my bow and went back to my roots as a traditional archer. In 96 I ditched the fiberglass for solid wood bows and arrows that I made myself to make things even more challenging.
 
I think it is because it takes us back to where our success depends on us and not a pile of gadgets to make the whole process easier.

I felt the same way when I ditched the wheels on my bow and went back to my roots as a traditional archer. In 96 I ditched the fiberglass for solid wood bows and arrows that I made myself to make things even more challenging.
That is a dang good answer. I too believe that there are way too many people trying to buy their way into performance and trying to avoid the learning curve of becoming a true rifleman or archer.
 
Why? Because they represent this country's foundation and history. To stay alive, there was no 'pray and spray', you learned to shoot straight and true and make the first shot count, otherwise you and your family starved or got scalped, mauled or otherwise. Like Eric said, for those of us who hunt stick and string as well, it's pretty much the same deal. You learn your weapon's capabilities ans shortfalls as well as your own.
That notwithstanding, shooting, hunting and collecting these pieces connects you with generations past and the trials they faced.
 
T
I think it is because it takes us back to where our success depends on us and not a pile of gadgets to make the whole process easier.

I felt the same way when I ditched the wheels on my bow and went back to my roots as a traditional archer. In 96 I ditched the fiberglass for solid wood bows and arrows that I made myself to make things even more challenging.
thats awesome stuff. Although I cannot ditch the wheels just yet. As long as my shoulder hangs in....
 
I always loved old stuff. Something about simple technology excites me.
I love old sailing ships, and would love to have a model t
Everything about the ml period, from cooking to construction just is fascinating for me
My dad grew up on a farm during the depression and grandfather was a professional hunter, who after getting married learned auto mechanics
He had a strong do it yourself attitude
Dad told a story about busting an axel on his wagon, feeling all was too worn he built a new one off his own timber fell but nor sawn up for firewood
My dad passed that attitude of just do it on to me
I smoke a pipe, and ml is much the same. No peopled cigarettes no too expensive cigars, just wood and smoke and your own two hands
I enjoy the whole of ml, loading shooting and cleaning, and just the looks of them in my room
 
I always loved old stuff. Something about simple technology excites me.
I love old sailing ships, and would love to have a model t
Everything about the ml period, from cooking to construction just is fascinating for me
My dad grew up on a farm during the depression and grandfather was a professional hunter, who after getting married learned auto mechanics
He had a strong do it
 
My favorite part about it is when I take my T/C Hawken to the range. There's a diverse group of folks there. Mostly modern sporting rifle shooters, with a few precision rifle shooters, a few handgunners, and then there's me all the way at the downwind end of the benches. When the cap snaps, the 2F goes off with a huge smoke cloud, and you hear the ball smack paper at 100 yds, people just look over at me and say what the heck was that? Sure does turn heads. And I can chuckle at the AR-15 guy that has countless jams as I just ram another load home and fire it. My Hawken has been 100% reliable thus far IF I do my part. Cant fault the gun for the one failure to fire. That was all me.
 
I used to watch the cable hunting shows but can't stand them now. When I saw a guy in a 5K plastic elevated "blind" watching a pile of corn with an unmentionable thingy mounted on a lead sled type rest talking about how great his "hunt" is, I actually felt sorry for him. He is missing out on so much, the wind in his hair, listening to every sound around him and sorting out the light step of an approaching deer from the squirrels, the sound of the acorns hitting the ground, the squirrels barking when they spot a deer much further than you can see, so much.

I walk a 3-mile public exercise trail through the woods, I get excited about what I see and hear along the trail, nature's symphony, there is nothing better. I am puzzled by the other people who walk there, at least 3/4 of them have ear buds and are completely oblivious to what is going on around them, very sad.

On the other hand, if the grocery stores closed because of a national disaster, I would be good for at least 6 months and possibly a year because I am an ant and not a grasshopper. The air bud people would be dead in a couple of weeks.
 
The experience of touching off one of my N.W.s is pretty amazing and the history of them is pretty incredible ...
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20221214-221201.png
    Screenshot_20221214-221201.png
    687.7 KB
Started shooting at age 10, 42 years ago. Started hunting at 12. Burned out on long distance shooting by 18. Made the “mistake” of digging out my greatgrandfather’s BP cartridge rifles and surplus ammunition in high school. 1873 Trapdoor .45/70 and 1876 Winchester .45/60, both with pre-1930s rounds. Bought a caplock “horse pistol” kit in college.
Last year inherited a pair of plains style rifles. Already had a cap and ball revolver that I hunted with.
Gave away my modern deer rifles. Looking for a nice flinter kit now, preferably a plains style. Have restarted making my own powder, using willow charcoal, after a 30 year hiatus. Driveway gravel here makes excellent sparks.
Why? More fun than shooting modern.
 
Back
Top