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I never felt that my accuracy at normal ranges has much of anything to do with the rifle I happen to pick up that day, assuming the inherent accuracy of the rifle is about the same. The shot is the shot.

At extended ranges, where I'm being more intuitive about the drop, then my familiarity can make a significant difference. But I rarely shoot out that far.

For archery (traditional), it can make a much bigger difference. But shooting fundamentals aside, the entire sighting method is intuitive at all ranges, for the most part. But I'll credit that to the sighting system (gap) rather than the shooting fundamentals.
 
Back in the late 80’s, the mountain man club I belonged to held their annual shoot. Just prior to the shoot, I had picked up a CVA mountain rifle kit at a local sporting goods store that was going out of business for $75. I put it together in a day (and it looked like it too), but I was in a hurry to shoot it as I didn’t want to have to borrow one from my friend again. With a week to spare before the shoot, I went out every night after work and shot it. I filed the front sight until I had it dead on at 50 yards. With the exception of one or two gongs at a distance further than that, the remaining ones were 50 yards or less. Long story short, I ended up winning the shoot and a nice, new Lyman Plains rifle. As I could never match the accuracy of the CVA with it, I ended up selling it as I was a newly married college student. That ugly, quickly thrown together CVA could just plain shoot! Down the road a few years, I ended up parting with it and moving on to something I thought was bigger and better, but 35 years later, I’d give anything to have it back.
 
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I have always been a 2 gun person. A a smoothbore and a rifle. I got away from rifle shooting the last 9 years and only shot smoothbore. Now I am shooting both again. The only probelm is remembering the trigger pull from 1 to the other
 
Ok, so, this little test went quickly out the window. I should have known better. I like too many types of muzzleloaders to be tied down to just one. Especially like the one below. A Chambers .62 caliber smooth bore.

35 yards, just plinking, off hand
60 grains of Wano 3f
.600 home cast lead round balls
Spit lubed jute tow wadding over powder and over ball

It’s just hard to beat a well made flintlock smooth bore. Fun to shoot, easy to maintain, versatile and very easy to clean.
 

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Banjoman said:
No, this is not another ‘if your house was on fire, which gun would you save’ thread. This is more observation and rambling than anything else.

I’ve had this thought bouncing around in my head (and there’s plenty of room in there for it to bounce) for a while now. That is, to concentrate on shooting just one muzzleloader in order to become more proficient with it. Like some other shooters I have different styles of muzzleloaders with different barrel lengths, different stock shapes, different sights, different calibers, different weights, etc. All of these differences make a difference in how accurately you shoot.

One thing that got me thinking about this was my career with Uncle Sam. For the majority of that time I carried one type of weapon. Same thing, all the time and to this day I can still disassemble and assemble one in the dark with my eyes closed. Always shot expert with it too. I became intimately familiar with that type of gun.

I also saw over on ALR a post where a member said that we nowadays have too many guns and therefore aren’t as proficient with them as we could be. They talked about folks from back in the day probably had just one muzzleloader that wasn’t as good as what we have today. But because their lives depended on it, they became familiar with that one guns intricacies and quirks and became excellent shots with them. I paraphrased but you can go read it.

So, here’s the thought I’ve been entertaining. I plan to shoot just one muzzleloader for several months just to see if my accuracy improves and I believe it will. The gun I have chosen is a Traditions .50 caliber, percussion, Kentucky rifle.

Why this gun when I have more expensive guns? First, this gun fits me better than the others. I can close my eyes, shoulder the gun, open my eyes and the sights are lined up with my eyes. The weight and length of the gun feel right to me. It’s also an accurate gun.

So there it is. We’ll see how it goes. Comments welcomed.
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If I have to run and gun to save me and my family, as much as I love my ml’s, the M4 and my Glocks 17 & 26 are coming with me. They will do exactly and dependably what I need done in any situation I will run into. The ml’s are lovely toys I use to jog my mind to a place in times past when the world that I thought was comparably hard but good.
 
Dear Banjoman
Well I follow your thinking & I like your style of writing but I wouldn't know the clock stuff or what an M4 looked like( but guess it would be ugly )But then I was shooting two matchlocks yesterday . high cyclitic rate of one every now & then. '
New Hamster ' I think I went to a Rondesvous there once .
Regards Rudyard
 
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Rudyard said:
Dear Banjoman
Well I follow your thinking & I like your style of writing but I wouldn't know the clock stuff or what an M4 looked like( but guess it would be ugly )But then I was shooting two matchlocks yesterday . high cyclitic rate of one every now & then. '
New Hamster ' I think I went to a Rondesvous there once .
Regards Rudyard
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Most likely, just had another one in Msine put on by the Ancient Ones club.
 
Here’s an update.

Since I first posted this back in April, I have shot the Traditions Kentucky .50 percussion more than any other muzzleloader. I couldn’t stick entirely with just one though. Had to shoot some others a little too.

But, I was able to become more proficient with this gun (no surprise really) and now am able to consistently hit a gallon jug at 100 yards with the stock open sights using 60 grains of 2f, cotton patch, beeswax/ vegetable oil lube and either a .490 or .495 round ball. I realize others here can and do shoot better than that but it was a fun test. Any time spent behind a muzzleloader is fun.
 
Banjoman said:
Here’s an update.

Since I first posted this back in April, I have shot the Traditions Kentucky .50 percussion more than any other muzzleloader. I couldn’t stick entirely with just one though. Had to shoot some others a little too.

But, I was able to become more proficient with this gun (no surprise really) and now am able to consistently hit a gallon jug at 100 yards with the stock open sights using 60 grains of 2f, cotton patch, beeswax/ vegetable oil lube and either a .490 or .495 round ball. I realize others here can and do shoot better than that but it was a fun test. Any time spent behind a muzzleloader is fun.
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You prouved the adage" Beware of the man with one gun" he might just know how to use it ! Gallon jug is figure of a deer . I've never seen a' Traditions' .but it cleary works for you Muzzle loaders are fun . I gather there are some suppository sorts load from the' Back end ' ! Clearly dodgy affairs Never catch on . Regards Rudyard
 

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