Welcome from the north west part of the show me state. Same here, grew up around muzzleloaders (rifle, shotgun and in the last 30 or so years pistols. early on I joined a group but that got old in a hurry, wasted lead and powder, a whole bunch of chiefs and no Indians. Slept on the ground in Army, so that wasn't great either. I guess I have always preferred to hunt and tinker with the old weapons. Don't have a thing against the people that enjoy trying to revive the old ways. For 18 years of my young life I thought the old ways were the most up to date.
Some of my greatest enjoyment is watching people shoot. Right now I am working on an old Jukar .45 kentucky pistol that has been butchered from a kit several years ago. The action and barrel are solid and instead of chopping out a new stock I thought I would make repairs to the original since a lot of modern repair articles have come on the market. I have thought several times that a new stock would be the easiest way to go, and the old Jukar isn't going to be worth much, It is just a challenge.