I'm 64, bought my first muzzleloader at Gassmans archery in San Antonio in 1976.
It was a Philadelphia Deringer .
It was a Philadelphia Deringer .
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How old are ya?
- Thread starter William Sublette
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65 here, old enough to know better but young enough to do it anyway.
69 here, didn't start shooting til about 19-20 years old when I moved out of home ( mom hated guns)
Been shooting and hunting ever since. Shooting percussion and in-lines about 30 years, just getting into flintlocks.
Been shooting and hunting ever since. Shooting percussion and in-lines about 30 years, just getting into flintlocks.
GreenMtnHunter
Pilgrim
My first was 1987; .56 Sb, TC Renegade. In those 36 years I have rehabbed a number of "lost causes”, built several kits, and added bp revolvers. The greatest personal benefit has been an annual, 2 day, demonstration and shooting “event" I have been able to offer to my colleagues' American History classes. (8th and 9th grade) I retired last summer; unfortunately, no one has picked up the baton. You’ll be pleased to know that over the years, many brave youngsters also attempted to load, shoot, and hit the target, 3x in a minute, and a couple actually made it! At a couple of the "events”, I was able to bring in several other adults with ML experience, and we set up and fired from a line to experience a decent cloud of smoke. That was pretty cool!
In 1974, my folks who were not into shooting of any kind, found a guy to mentor me. Jim Converse changed my life. Master cabinet maker, Blacksmith, and gentleman. I love this sport now as then. It has been a few... Find someone or two to pass this onto. That is yr job.
59 come September. Started ML in the mid 90’s. Got away for awhile and returned about 5 years ago with passion.
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
30 off and on but totally actually more like10 to 15 can't remember.
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wow- just did the survey thing ... we are a geriatric bunch
Since the late 1700's. 
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For no; logical reason I was loading my old Webley air rifle from the muzzle in the late 50s used a knitting needle must be some deep froidian reason ? Or an over dose of TVs' Hawkey.' Anyway I progressed to buying a nice shot flask and what a boy called his" Martin Henry" which being a broken Belgium single Brl Percussion it wasnt . But 7 shilling bought it me & I still have the shot flask .Then when camping on a Derbyshire farm a near by farm boy had what He called a ' Hawkey gun'(more B&W TV no doubt ) it was a three band Volunteer Enfield but He wanted a motor bike so 8 pounds( a fortune for a school boy) changed hands & I still have it 63 years later .Mr L G Pine Editor of the UK ' Shooting Times ' kindly replied to my letter & said it was a Three band Enfield & to contact the Muzzle Loaders Assn of GB So I did met with three other Sheffield members & we formed a Branch .in1960 or 61 Ironically one young man lived at a lodge of the Lunatic Asylum but we shot round the back no problems . Their all dead but Ime still honoury member . I many times shot at Bisley meetings with MLAGB & wrote many articles though I had to lapse membership when my young children appeared . But still write even so .Other than a flirtation with an old jungle carbine I used when employed as a Deer Culler I've hunted solely with MLs or early BP bl s ( NZ Forest Service wouldn't have approuved of my BP guns But I had a little ' got up '310 barreled affair any way but only shot opossum's with it ) Incidentally most all my kills would have been as easy got with a double shotgun fireing ball such was the forest cover mostly . At 78 . Ime not likley to .relapse into the' dark side '& adopt nitro. The day before yesterday I was shooting flint rifle on a range & yesterday was hunting after a donk or a pig in bush .same rifle ( for 'donk' read Deer) high above the Wiarau river .
Regards Rudyard
Regards Rudyard
63 at the end of the month, been shooting since I could hold a gun and black powder since I was 19, when I built a CVA mountain rifle from a kit.
81 and still kicking. Shot my first muzzleloader in ‘58 way before any reproductions were available. Prices we paid back then for good originals seem obscene now. But didn’t make much difference cause we didn’t have the money to pay the $50 or less for a good one. My how times have changed! Wall full of comtemporary flintlock rifles from the best builders and those prices wouldn’t even pay for an hour’s work from one of them!
Ya gotta love “Little Big Man!”
Started shooting BP in 1996. Shot for about 4 or 5 years, then moved, and have only recently taken it back up in the last 3-4 years. I’m glad to be back!
Be 75 this summer, started bow hunting at 8, muzzleloading at 32 with a TC 54 kit. Love the close up game and smell and smoke.
