Death of muzzleloading

[RIDE-RED350R]

I will say I have a bit of a variety, but I do have my favorites and they are not of contemporary design

Some are tools to serve a purpose, others are more of an obsession/passion that have soul

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I'll throw some fuel on the fire, did the introduction of inline rifles, pellets, sabots, etc. take away the use of traditional muzzleloaders or help bring more shooter to the traditional side of muzzleloading ?

In my experience, the inlines have reduced the number of true muzzleloaders. Too many suffered from "magnumitis" and wanted only to extend their range and hunting season. Tradition means nothing to these people. And inlines are cheap....

 

[flntlokr]

I have read books where there are photographs of people in the depression years and later ,using muzzle loaders for squirrel hunting , hog slaughtering and some competition , one thing that always struck me was the ram rods appeared to be at least 6" longer than the barrels

I always like to have a bit of rod sticking out the front (usually>2"); easier to hang on to, and may occasionally prevent something getting stuffed up the muzzle. Also holds the muzzle up off the floor of the gun safe and allows it to drain out excess fluids. also, if one happens to break the tip off, they can be re-tipped once or twice.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Tradition will live on as long as there are those who engage in it. Me with my old TC rifles don't meet criteria for 100% traditional, but in-lines have never even been remotely interesting to me because they aren't traditional enough for my personal taste.

I like my TCs because while they don't meet some of the finer points of requirements to be traditional in the highest standards, I think they still have the soul of it. Frankly, I think guys like me would be considered a traditionalist by most in-line shooters' estimation being that in-lines are so widely popular. I can't ethically take a 200yd poke at game like they can. "You still hunt with that old relic?" is a question I get from time to time. One day I may look to get a custom that is 100% historically accurate because I really appreciate and admire old world craftsmanship.

All of that said, I'm glad there are those who keep the old tradition alive down to the finest detail. I'm a fan of history and don't want to see any of it forgotten

 

[SciAggie]

Times change. People's interests change. Truly think the entertainment industry both fuels interest in historic stuff and also dampens interest. "Westerns" brought six-shooters and lever actions. "Davy Crocket" was good for Kentucky Rifles "Dirty Harry" demand for the .44 Magnum. etcl. etc. Today, it seems to be all "tactical" black plastic, etc.

Quigley Down Under got me interested in BPCR Silhouette. The friends I made in that sport led me to muzzleloaders.

 

[Flintlock]

I always like to have a bit of rod sticking out the front (usually>2"); easier to hang on to, and may occasionally prevent something getting stuffed up the muzzle. Also holds the muzzle up off the floor of the gun safe and allows it to drain out excess fluids. also, if one happens to break the tip off, they can be re-tipped once or twice.

I allow a inch maybe two but these rods are outrageous, a stumble could pull the forward pipe off and snap the rod or ???

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

In my experience, the inlines have reduced the number of true muzzleloaders. Too many suffered from "magnumitis" and wanted only to extend their range and hunting season. Tradition means nothing to these people. And inlines are cheap....

I don't disagree with that. A friend of mine hunts muzzleloading solely to extended the season and here in NY it gets you another tag to boot.

Back when I was a kid growing up in the 1980s my dad wanted a TC muzzleloader kit in the worst way, because he liked the traditional aspect of it. We were a family of 6 being supported by his income as a machinist in a wire mill. We never went hungry, but some extras just weren't feasible...but I digress. I don't know if it was Jeremiah Johnson that got Dad interested, or a couple of coworkers who built kit guns. Back then, we didn't have this internet with resources like this forum and all the information and knowledge it puts at one's fingertips. We had no knowledge of the higher end customs available. It was word of mouth, the occasional magazine ad, or simply stumbling across something at the LGS. But Dad's interest was firmly rooted in the tradition, of that I have zero doubt. When he finally got his new TC New Englander in 1995 as a gift from us kids, he loved it. In fact he carried that New Englander afield during the regular season quite frequently and left his modern firearms at home.

Wether we like it or not, and for better or worse, the evolution of in-line muzzleloading has brought more people into it. Many are motivated solely by that extra tag and extended season. Maybe some will be drawn to more traditional means over time, some won't. Different strokes. But IMO, some of them are really stretching the definition of "muzzleloader" and I remain categorically uninterested.

 

[THBailey]

FWIW, We are avid hunters and kind of backed into muzzleloading in the 1970's as the odds to draw the coveted out of state mule deer tag were much better. In most states the muzzle hunt was before the rifle hunt and they issued way less muzzle tags. Seems with the advent of the modern inlines things have changed and the muzzle tags are harder to get than rifle tags. We hunted a Utah muzzle season two years ago and almost everyone we saw carried an inline.

 

[biliff]

I doubt it because that would be a form of BREACH Loading rather than muzzleloading.

Google Nitrofire.

 

[Hawk54]

Many younger people today just don't know how to shoot well with iron sights. So much now is red dot and scopes.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Many here are on the assumption that folk just ceased to use them.

Forges were still building muzzle stuffers in the 1930s. Surplus WWI rifles, then WWII rifles put an end to making them.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

One time, in junior high, I had detention and had to do my time in the school library. It was so boring, drove me nuts.

Wandering around, I found a book on some guy named Bridger…after 10 pages…I couldn’t put that book down.

I was 1 1/2 hours late leaving detention that day. And I hid the book, so I could check it out the next day.

A month later I saw my 1st genuine real life blackpowder muzzleloading rifle, and I started saving my money.

It took me 6 months to save up the $85.00 to buy my first muzzleloader. I was 13…been making smoke ever since.

I’m very traditional when it comes to blackpowder muzzleloaders. Too each his own, but for me, personally…very traditional

 

[leadhoarder]

Many younger people today just don't know how to shoot well with iron sights. So much now is red dot and scopes.

Yeah I shoot a lot with open sights. Muzzleloaders, leverguns, falling block. I prefer a good peep sight but I like buckhorns too.
Most everyone else at the range is unwilling to shoot without a scope and a rest.

 

[Erwan]

One time, in junior high, I had detention and had to do my time in the school library. It was so boring, drove me nuts.
Wandering around, I found a book on some guy named Bridger…after 10 pages…I couldn’t put that book down.

And now you are one more one black powder addict, to bad...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I returned home in late 1954 and the nexr year, at Easter, joined the First Australian Muzzle Loading Gun and Rifle Association (herein after FAMLG&RA); yes, that was really their name.air.
The leading light was Lyn Caldwell a New Zealander who had made the first rifle completely made in NZ.
It was a flintlock of .38 caliber and superbly accurate. He made it about 1941.
There were people still using ml guns before WWII, so I’d guess they never entirely went out of use.

Some of our members seem to think that the OP's question was merely in The USA, and forget they were used around the world. Even if they check the publication date of The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle..., which is 1947. In fact, one company in India that builds parts for replica Bess, claims they have been doing it since the first half of the 19th century, though the company was owned back then by Englishmen.

During and after WW2 a lot of Europe was using old guns, and in some places I'm told that they could only make repro black powder shotguns, since they weren't on the "winning" sides.


LD

 

[tenngun]

The flintlock was in use for around 220+/- years, then came the caplock, which was in use for about 60+/- years before the metallic cartridge arrived…and the metallic cartridge has been in use ever since.

The thing to realize is that the use of muzzleloaders never really stopped. There was a significant revival in the late 60’s and 70’s…but the sport/hobby of muzzleloading never really stopped and restarted.

There is a Photo of a citizen of Gettysburg who was a 1812 veteran. He turned to to protect his town. He had his flintlock musket from the earlier war, and cut down to be More sporting.
The Steamship Arabia had one flintlock aboard but barrels of flints. So even forty years after precision caps people hung on to old tech

 

[Robin Henderson]

Afghanistan 1979-1989 war with Russia...

 

[Erwan]

I'm told that they could only make repro black powder shotguns, since they weren't on the "winning" sides.

It was maybe true for the Germany and Italy, but just after the end of the WW2 the factories were working exactly like before (for us Saint Etienne, Tulle, Chatellereau etc), except for those destroyed and needing some rebuilding, of course...
The decline of the great factories began in the end of the sixties was caused by the restrictive laws and the fall of the state commands...

 

[Stantheman86]

I don't think it ever ended. Audie Murphy used a flintlock rifle to hunt as a kid because his family was dirt poor, some 3rd World Middle Eastern countries were still using Enfield rifle-muskets into the WWI era and maybe beyond in a reserve capacity.

As a hobby the use of muzzleloaders has never ended and I think percussion revolvers are always going to have a following in America, because the interest in the Old West and Civil War never really dies, and in most states you can buy them over the counter or order them online.

 

[bud in pa]

My first BP gun was TC Hawken caplock. After my first whiff f BP I was hooked. As I approached my 70's I got rid of all of my modern guns. I got a 20 gauge smooth bore and never looked back. I will handle everything that I like to hunt. Where hunt 50 yds. is a long shot. I am the proud owner of about 200 lbs. of pure lead, about a 20 mile drive there is, according to the state, chert. plenty of trees for charcoal, and the neighbors have chickens to make potassium nitrate. All I need is Sulphur, and I am never out of ammo. Try that with a suppository slinger.