Jim - my first muzzleloader was (gee, guess it still is...) a Traditions Hawken that I bought used from a friend. He'd never had much success with it and so he gave me a good deal on it. I came to this site, did a lot of reading, and then went out to my backyard range. Lo and behold, my first shot went "bang" like it was supposed to. Thereafter almost every shot has gone "bang" as it should. The failures to ignite have all be as a result of my own errors. The rifle is highly accurate (at 50 yards, shooting off my elbows from a bench, my best 3-shot group is just a ragged hole that's 0.67" wide - that's literally 3 shots in one hole!). It is also reliable. And the monster whitetail that I took with it last year would tell you (if he could) that it's serious medicine on deer. The two porcupines I shot with it last weekend, much to the amusement of my 10 year-old son, also won't complain about its ability to humanely dispatch both game and vermin. (One of them was lying on a branch and the only safe shot was one at the Texas bullseye. Well, that ball entered just above the tail and never exited the critter, but he sure did a spectacular somersault off that branch! Oh, by the way, the PRB was propelled with 90gr FFg TripleSeven, so it was a full-house load, and the ball still didn't exit. That poor porcupine had a very, very bad day...)
Welcome to the fold, Jim. Keep asking questions here, and whenever you encounter a situation you're unsure of, err on the side of safety. You'll never go too far wrong if you keep that in mind.
Now I know we're all looking forward to reading stories of your successes with that new rifle!
