At which age did you start muzzleloading?

[hawkeye1755]

Talk today with a young guy , 16 years old, at the gas station.Had my Bucks County with me.Hey not what you are thinking. The gas price is high, but not so high. Ok back too the young fellow.As he saw my rifle, he ask me aloot of things.How expensive was my gun , where i shoot,how old i was when i started and so on.
In Germany you must be 21 years old to get a licence for BP.Muzzleloading guns are free to buy.(single barrel)
So , at which age did you start with muzzleloading and who was the guy who ' set you on fire'?
Please don't tell me it was Fess Parker in Davy Crockett.
:hatsoff:

 

[Halftail]

It was Fess Parker in Davy Crockett...... :blah:
:rotf:
Naw not really,
I was somewhere around 23 years old when I got into muzzleloading.The main reason was just to simply extend my hunting oportunities and a chance to do a little competition shooting between some friends that was already "into"muzzleloaders.
Funny though out of that group(close to 30) only a very small handfull remain.

 

:grin: I was fourteen. my neighbor was a gunsmith,he taught me and I built a muzzleloader out of an old barrel and a capgun lock that fired paper caps. It worked and the next one was a real gun. I have been at it ever since.. Bob

 

[roundball]

Age 45...the Knight MK85 campaign blitz back in the 80's got me an extra week of deer season...then I got interested in muzzleloading for muzzleloading sake.

Fast forward...and I'm so hooked now that I'm learning to Turkey hunt and going after one of those tough-to-get birds with a Flintlock mind you...not the fine Remington 1187 matte-finish 3" semi-auto with superfull screw in turkey choke laying oiled in it's case at the house...nope...a .20ga Flintlock jug choked[url] smoothbore...in[/url] the rain...is that commitment or what!
:thumbsup:

 

[Goldhunter]

Somewhere around 8 was when I first shot my dad's .50 cal. and went to my first Rondy. Got my first kit from my grandfather when I was 16. Been shooting ever since. :grin:

 

[jderrick]

I started when I was 24. I'm still 24. I'd just always thought MLing was neat and finally got off my bum....

Wo in Deutschland wohnen Sie? Meine Mutti kommt aus Muenster....

 

[***Sean***]

My first BP gun was a replica 1858 remington.

Just wanted one. Never shot one before. I got it as a high school graduation present. After that my dad and brother got one too. Started out with a .22's. I must have been 9 or 10. So been shootin off and on for about 30 years. Just picked my guns back up about 3 months ago, after putting them down for 12 years....What was I thinking Now some weeks I go to the range twice a week.

 

[graybeard]

About age 50, nearly 25 years ago. I had always been a shooter. Got exposed to a couple of black powder guns, bought a CVA "Kentucky" caplock and have been shooting BP ever since. Now own four muzzleloaders, including the CVA. graybeard

 

[soggy]

:hmm: ... Twenty years ago when I was 38. I was helping a friend arrange a moose hunting trip to Newfoundland. I was susposed to go to his house, but he called and asked me to meet him at the local black powder club ......... He got his moose, and I got hooked on a great hobby. He has long ago finished eating that moose but I'm still enjoying shooting muzzleloaders. :rotf:
Soggy

 

Well, I first shot a muzzleloader when I was about 16--a friend had a .58 Civil War musket--but I really did not "get into" MLing until I was in my early 20s. MLing was just a sidelight until I was in my mid 30s, when I got really serious about it. My career forced a hiatus in MLing for a few years and I was in my 50s before it became my main concentration--and I got back into reenacting then, too.

 

[barebackjack]

Bout a month and a half ago, so 25. Im hooked and already got a second rifle on the way. If a hadnt just bought a new Matthews bow Id be adding a flinter to the gun case as well, but I gotta pace myself.


Boone

 

[boar]

I got my frist one in 1982, I was 43. Built a 54 TC Hawken,Cap lock. Got it to hunt deer .Have 20 some now. Dilly

 

[50 cal gal]

I am new to the game. I started at 38, and am 40 now. A couple of friends turned me on to the fun; Gerald and Jim. Gerald convinced me to try it and Jim set me up with everything I needed for my first shoot. I've been hooked ever since. Took my son out for his first muzzleloading experience last week. He's been looking at muzzleloaders online since.

 

[Buffalo Bones]

Started in 1959 at age 18. I found out that they were not just museum pieces. The owner of a local curio store told me that he built muzzleloaders. Went to his house and saw his guns and his personal collection of original
longrifles. It made a very lasting impression on me. No cure so far.

 

[Walks Alone]

Almost 40 years ago while still in high school. Dang, got another class reunion soon.

 

[Patricknwohio]

I was 12 or 13 years old when I got my first Muzzleloader a CVA Kentucky Rifle .45 Cal Perc. My Uncle had an original .32 Cal Perc. Squirrel rifle and after seeing him shoot it a few times I wanted my own. I hoed beans all summer to earn the money for the CVA. 33 years later I now have several muzzleloaders, and have gotten my brother and my 2 nephews interested in muzzleloaders.

 

[F.G. Ford]

I've been at it for fourty two years.
My father wouldn't let me take out his 1911 colt........so I got my own colt 45 ...a Walker..yep thats right an original Walker it was like new. Paid $150 Canadian....that's $18.00 US, in case you didn't know the conversion rate.
I had it for twenty years, then sold it at a Rochester NY gun show.
Since then I've had anything and everything that will take powder and ball.
That's my story!
Old Ford

 

[lasmail]

I began to buy gear in my early 20's, but, my interest started as a boy. My dad and my uncle had took an original flintlock out to the woods and used smokeless powder in. The rifle exploded forcing bits of iron into my dad that remained there until his passing. He later placed some of the silver inlays into a .22 rifle. He and another uncle of mine took an octagon steel rod, drilled it out and made a percusssion smoothbore. they used a grease fitting to hold the cap. I used to hear these stories and play with the one they made. I would use caps on it and play. My dad made me a powder horn and I used a leather purse for a possibles bag.. I had lots of FUN! I later bought a CVA kit and killed a deer. I then bought a Dixie tennesee Mt. rifle and later got a custom rifle and custom smoothbore. I use my rifle exclusively (weather permitting) and have taken 38 deer with it as well as groundhogs. I would recommend using flintlocks to anyone!

 

[Bill Bryan]

I was in high school in my late teens(40 years ago) when I saw a kentucky pistol kit for cheap. Still got the pistol and about 7 other bp rifles and pistols.
Trying to make my flintlocks shoot smaller and smaller patterns keeps my mind off of work.

 

Thirty years ago this year, I was 23. It was Davy Crockett and Dan'l Boone, as portrayed by Fess Parker, who piqued my interest. Dad gave me my first 22 at age 5 and I've been squirrel hunting ever since....but Dad had no interest and still has no interest in muzzleloaders. When I was a kid there was a man up the street who made and shot muzzleloaders but Warren died when I was pretty young so I never got to hang out with him. 1976 was the bicentenniel of the Declaration of Independence and I just decided that it was time I knew something about muzzleloaders. There weren't a lot of ML shooters where I lived so I was pretty much on my own hook. I read a lot, shot a lot and learned a lot along the way. Eventually I learned there were other fella's out there who liked to shoot them and got hooked up with some of those guys. In that area at that time I suppose we all learned together. Those were grand days.

Over the years muzzleloading has ebbed and flowed as I developed interests in other old firearms. Mostly Sharps rifles, single action revolvers and Winchester lever actions, but muzzleloaders were never far off the front burner. When we moved back to Missouri from Wyoming I developed an interest in our local history and reenacting an earlier era than the Mountain Man I'd been playing for 20+ years.....soooooo....out came the longrifles, some longhunter apparal was purchased or made and now I do reenacting on a local level and most of my hunting is done with a longrifle of one variety or another, mostly flinters. These too are grand days.

I hope and pray the good Lord gives me another 30 years hunting and shooting with muzzleloaders.

Vic