How & When did you start in Muzzlelaoding, or Shooting Muzzloaders

[akapennypincher]

Twas the last 1960’s and I was shooting Modern Stuff in L.A. County at a Public Range in San Franskito (spelin) :hmm: Outside of what is now Valencia/Newhall/Saugas CA.

Notice down on one of the other Non public Ranges that were used by other GROUPS & CLUB a bunch of BOOMS, and ONE Hell of a Lots of BLACK SMOKE

My curiosity got the best of me so I wonder down and ask what these folks were doing, (Part of the Burbank Muzzleloaders), got an explanation. Plus someone ask if i would like to Try IT. :thumbsup:

Well I did, and was invited back in a couple of week with instruction to BRING NOTHING, than one of the guy let me shoot an Extra Springfield Civil War Surplus Muzzleloader.

I was hooked, and told I could order from a NEW CIVIL WAR Surplus SpringField from NUMRICH ARMS in NY for about 50 BUCKS. :youcrazy:

Made a Trip to some sporting good store in Inglewood, for a mold and some MISC. goodies, Real Black Dupont Powder, Caps, and that is how i got started in Muzzleloading...... :blah:



P.S. the Springfield was traded off, wonder what it would be worth today???

 

[WV MZL HUNTER]

I got hooked back in 1973, started with a flintlock and then bought a percussion and then got a B.P. shotgun. Most people that try muzzleloading get hooked. Until they have to clean the gun. Then some drop out. :rotf:

 

[PvtC]

A lot of the PA folks on the forum probably started much as I did. You get an Italian or TC flintlock half stock so you can hunt deer after Xmas. Then comes the slippery slope. A yearning for a long rifle is prompted by an Alan Ekert book. Period clothing and an association with like minded crazies comes next and on and on it goes.......... :thumbsup:

 

[RC]

WELL, started in'82 cause of the new ml deer season,early 90's went to a local club shoot w/ a friend,to watch.....gees! only had a traditions hawken perc..met some of the people watched some GOOD shooters playin w/ loads,patches etc.thought that's pretty neat,....now have 2 perc,3 flinters,2 pistols and a flinter smoothbore,2 tents,stove buckskins,all the primitive cooking stuff,shootin bags fer diff guns, order balls 10 boxes at a time,powder by 25 lb., mold all the 600 balls go to 20 shoots a year,at least,along w/ n'eastern original,n'eastern,eastern,nysmla hunting vous,shoot director at my club..GEES I only went to watch! but i've met the most incredible people and had the best times,smartest move I ever made!!now hunt only w/ flinter,,and when that buck dropped the smile wouldn't go away!SO, a big Thank You to any of ya who help out a flatlander and got em steered in this direction! hope I can do it 100 times! RC

 

During the Civil War Centennial in 1960 a friend bought a Remington Zouave .58 rifle and we would shoot it in an old strip mine near Pottsville,PA. When I was in the Army ca. 1969-70, I bought a H&R Heritage model percussion in .36 and shot it alot at targets. Then there was a long dry spell until the interest rekindled in 1977 in Tulsa, OK, and in 1978 I built my first rifle from parts. Been at it ever since, shooting, hunting and in the last few years reenacting.

 

[walruskid1]

1976, a lifelong friend gave me a cva kit (kentucky) for my birthday. hooked beyond escape. start of a way of life, more than a hobby.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I grew up in Ohio, where muzzleloading never entirely died out. In the early 50's, when I was 10 or 12, an uncle and two cousins were into ML rifles and soon my dad got an old ML double 12 with which he hunted pheasant and rabbits. I was about 15 when cousin Jack gave be an old .36 hawg rifle that weighed more than it's rotten stock could support. Dad and I restocked it with a plank of birdseye maple from a factory which made shoe heels and I've been building, shooting and tinkering with guns ever since. There were no replicas then, you either shot an original or "remade" one from old parts, but the good news was that you could still get an original shooter for $35-$50. :grin: When I got out of high school and started making $50 a week I started buying guns! Wish I'd kept some of them. :grin:

 

[Runner]

About 75 with a twister pistol that I did not have long. Since then I have had a bunch of different factory guns and have hunted with black powder for the most part. Somewhere out ion the garage there was a box of blown up brass framed pistols from my crazy revolver days. There is a CVA Kentucky Pistol in the bedroom that has been shot so much that smoke and fouling leak out around the drum threads when it goes off. It is enjoying a well deserved retirement. Just started going to the public events a couple of years back. Until then it was all hunting, family, and friends.

 

[dmills]

I am relatively new to muzzleloaders. I was a long-time Rem. 7 mag. shooter with hi-power scopes in South Texas where the white-tails are large and hunting is done from stands over feeders. The mesquite trees are so thick down there that your only reasonable shot is a long range shot down a sendera. Not exactly prime ML territory. And I had a great set-up hunting on my father-n-laws home place but then about 4 years ago, he sold the place. South Texas deer lease prices are outrageous, IMO.

I decided to start hunting the national grasslands in North Texas where you are restricted to muzzleloaders or shotguns. No permanent stands and no feeders. My first ML was a "non-traditional" Traditions Tracker. The T/C Hawken that I just bought is my 3rd ML.

I'm selling the Tracker and I am giving strong consideration to selling the second ML, the T/C Omega also. :thumbsup:

 

[RC]

SELL! then you'll have room for a flintlock..just a though.....it's quite a feelin,a deer w/ a flinter!

 

[Halftail]

A friend and I got into "Muzzleloading" in the early "90"'s to take advantage of an extra hunting season for Traditional style longguns.My original buddy has long since let his guns get into an unusable state and I have met more friends at the local shoots and Vouz that I get to.Life is good! :hatsoff:

 

[dmills]

No, no more guns. And I mean that...seriously...

Actually, I am leaning that a-way. And I also have a Browning BPS 10 ga. that I think needs a new home. Only problem is that it was a Christmas present from my wife. For some reason, she is sentimentally attached to it and I am not.

 

[oomcurt]

Er....ever consider selling her with the gun? :hmm: :rotf:

Just kidding!! :grin:

 

[RC]

CHRISTMAS PRESENT...from yer WIFE......Boy,that be thin ice it would seem,,,add on that womanly sentiment...well you could buy her a flinter! just an idea, lotta sentiment there,you could have lil' tears in yer eyes when ya give it to her,be a nice touch........good luck...RC

 

[dmills]

Er....ever consider selling her with the gun? :hmm: :rotf:

Just kidding!! :grin:

Only thought about it one time. I had done someting really bad (not to be discussed here) and one day I came home to find that she had taken all my guns (except the Christmas Present) to the local consignment shop to sell. Not to say I did'nt deserve it, but we did have a few unpleasant words about her conduct.

 

[mikelange]

I grew up watching Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV, and any old or new movie about the Alamo. I went through every book on the above subjects in the children's section of the library and, at about nine or ten, was given permission to start checking books out of the adult section. All this while there were no BP guns in the house -- my dad had no use for them. We shot strictly modern. I grew up and likely would have missed out on the whole BP experience, if I hadn't read Terry C. Johnston's "Carry The Wind" and then seen "Last Of The Mohicans". Had to have a flint longrifle, that's all there was to it. Sold a Savage '99 for the money to buy parts from Mountain State Muzzleloading, because even then the factory guns I could afford weren't even remotely what I wanted. I'm still building and shooting, and, as I've stated in past posts, this time I have no intentions of ever "growing up".

 

As with a lot of you fella's I was a kid in the mid-50's and watched Davy (Fess Parker) Crockett on the Wonderful World of Disney and have been in love with long rifles and black powder since. In my little Ozark town there were a few "old guys" (probably in their 30's) who still built and shot longrifles. The father of one of my best friends, a girl, was one of those guys. Warren promised he'd take me sometime to shoot but he died very young and very sudden so I never got that chance.

Then came the preparations for the Bi-Centeniel. By 1975 I owned an 1851 Navy and about this time of year in '76 I owned a 45 cal. longrifle. I don't have either of my first guns. The revolver I wish I did but the rifle......welll.....it went off most of the time and was "accurate enough". I suppose I've ran the gamut of muzzleloading and black powder, as with most of the "older" shooters on here. Did the Mountain Man thing for decades, BPCR, Cowboy Action with BP then when we moved back to Missouri from Wyoming a couple years ago a long latent interest in the longrifle was re-kindled. About 1804 Missouri is where I play nowadays. It's good to be home and back with rocklocks. Hard to believe it's been over 30 years I've been breathing black powder smoke.

Vic

 

[Flintlock58]

I also started in 1976 with a TC renegade. always hunted deer with single shot slug guns so decided to try a front stuffer. gradually went to shotgun and then flint smoothie and flint 56 but also enjoy shooting inline 50 and shotgun. Use mine for hunting.

 

[Slamfire]

Twas the last 1960’s and I was shooting Modern Stuff in L.A. County at a Public Range in San Franskito (spelin) :hmm: Outside of what is now Valencia/Newhall/Saugas CA.

Notice down on one of the other Non public Ranges that were used by other GROUPS & CLUB a bunch of BOOMS, and ONE Hell of a Lots of BLACK SMOKE

(Part of the Burbank Muzzleloaders),

Used to pass that range on the way to the skeet field. The canyon is spelled San Franisquito, the Town is now Santa Clarita, and the range is a housing tract complete with mini mall. :bull:

After my heart attack in '98, my youngest bought me a CVA Bobcat for a Christmas present. He paid $60 for the rifle, and I spent $100 on possibles. :shocked2:
Picked up a Numrich .36 "Buggy Rifle" for "griz" huntin', and have a Renegade smoothie in the Brown truck somewheres in New England. :winking:
If it hadn't snowed last weekend I'd have hauled my suppository guns to the gun show, they need to give up their slots in the gun safe. :rotf:

 

I was first interested in muzzleoading in the mid 80's when I was stationed out in Montana. But did'nt know of anyone that was knowledgeable of same so I gave it up. Being a history buff I've always been interested in the fur trade era. I also became enamored with the Hawken rifle. In the late 90's a friend of mine who is an avid muzzleoader urged me to try it out. He showed me the ropes and even lent me his Ithaca Hawken for several months to use when I wanted. I could'nt shoot that rifle enough. I was hooked. Harvested the nicest deer ever with that Ithaca too!