Hunting with a revolver

[Eterry]

I am friends with an old retired game warden here in Texas. He said when they were putting together rules for black powder hunting they were concerned with keeping a level playing field as far as being single shot firearms. And cap and ball carbines were/are available. Having a 6 shot black powder carbine was NOT what they wanted in the woods.

So the "Work around" was to prohibit cylinder arms for black powder season. Which, btw, is only in about 1/3 of all counties in Texas. Up here there is NO black powder season, and none within a few hours drive. We compete with modern scoped rifles.

If you take off your blinders and look at the big picture it makes sense. There is not a government conspiracy behind every action.

Many states don't allow black powder hunting with a double barreled rifle, for the same reason.

 

[FishDFly]

"Everyone I have coached in my shooting sports will ask , Why this rule and why that rule...It just makes no sense...Don`t have to respect, understand or agree with such laws or rules. Quit asking and just consider the source...c"

For the most part, whether it be shooting sports or working in industry, every rule was put in place because someone was injured or killed.

In Texas you can hunt with your black powder firearms beginning Oct 1 if you are on a MDL place, if not you can hunt with ML starting the first day of gun season. There is no reason to wait for a Special ML season which is after gun season. No real reason to complain at all, you can shoot what you want during Oct, Nov. and Dec.

Seems everyone complains it is a government conspiracy if they don't get their particular wants.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

For the most part, whether it be shooting sports or working in industry, every rule was put in place because someone was injured or killed.

Quite true..., and in some places the reason for a rule is, "Enforcement officers had a tough time, so we changed the law to make it easier on them."

But it's also true that while the reason behind the making of a rule was damage to property, an injury, or a fatality..., whether the rule does in fact prevent any of those three results, or reduces the possibility of those three results, is another matter. ☺

LD

 

[Griz44Mag]

In Texas you can hunt with your black powder firearms beginning Oct 1 if you are on a MDL place, if not you can hunt with ML starting the first day of gun season. There is no reason to wait for a Special ML season which is after gun season. No real reason to complain at all, you can shoot what you want during Oct, Nov. and Dec.

This is the path I have chosen. For the last few years I have hunted with a side lock single shot round baller.
The season does no matter, as long as it's hunting season.
I go that route because I enjoy that the most. Black powder has rejuvenated by pleasure in hunting.
I crawled out of the box - and found a renewed joy of tracking and stalking.

 

[FishDFly]

Mine starts opening day of gun season and lasts till the last day of it.

If a guy can't kill a deer in 60 days, he needs another hobby to squander his money on.

 

[Eterry]

When they first talked about a muzzleloader season for deer, several guys and myself lobbied for it to start with archery season, or maybe a week before, so the woods wasn't full of centerfire, scoped rifle hunters.

I hunted public land for years, and it gets pretty crowded the first month. Im not complaining, just stating facts.

Now I have private land to hunt on it isn't as important.

We are blessed as Texans, we get 8-10 weeks to hunt, can buy license over the counter and the tags come with the license. My BIL in Arizona has to get drawn and has much shorter seasons.

Actually, I guess I CAN use a cap and ball revolver, there's no muzzleloader season here.

Maybe that should have been in my first post .

 

[FishDFly]

"When they first talked about a muzzleloader season for deer, several guys and myself lobbied for it to start with archery season, or maybe a week earlier."

The archery lobby in Texas is too big to take on. They could have had it one week early, they let the youth start one week early.

We ae blessed in Texas when it comes to hunting.

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

I grew up in PA, and haven’t lived there for decades, but I’m close enough that I can still drive there to hunt with my brothers once or twice per year. I like how PA does things in this regard. They have a muzzleloader season, and a separate flintlock season. As the names imply, gotta be throwing sparks from a stone for flintlock season, and there’s more freedom for other barrel stuffers in the generic muzzleloader season. Since I’m a flintlock guy, same gun for me during either, but I do like seeing fewer hunters during the flintlock-only season.

 

[Stony Broke]

"When they first talked about a muzzleloader season for deer, several guys and myself lobbied for it to start with archery season, or maybe a week earlier."

The archery lobby in Texas is too big to take on. They could have had it one week early, they let the youth start one week early.

We ae blessed in Texas when it comes to hunting.

Agreed....we are really blessed in Texas with our hunting. I would love to see the muzzleloader season run alongside the archery season, but I don't think that will ever happen. I guess we just need to accept the later season as it is. I have hunted regularly with muzzleloaders in the regular season and hunt hogs with them now and then throughout the year. A lot of states could learn some from Texas if they would just read through our hunting pamphlets.

 

[dkasprzak]

I hunt the Edwards Plateau area of Texas that has no ML season. I hunt with my TC .50 alongside all the guys who shoot unmentionables, and I have a couple of friends who shoot bows all season long. Doesn’t matter that it’s gun season, we hunt with what we enjoy shooting.

 

[Red Owl]

Some of the brainless idiots that write the laws had no idea what they were doing so years ago a cap and ball revolver was usually considered a muzzle loading firearm in many states, then things changed and now each state seems to have it's own rules. I'd say most today will only go with a single shot, muzzle loading pistol and not the cap and ball. There is a group in Florida, over near Tampa that hunts hogs with ROA and special loads and reports good results- but that's my beloved Florida which is fast transitioning out of existence. I was thinking about jumping over to Texas but that's also in the process of transitioning out of existence. Maybe Alaska, the last Frontier.

 

[nkbj]

This was yesterday afternoon.

Maybe I'll just sit on the back porch swing with the short barrel fifty.
Couple of nights ago the wife got up for a glass of water and counted six by the steps.

 

[45man]

Hey 4man, what is your load you are using for hunting deer out of your Ruger? Greg

I get 41 gr of Swiss FFFG behind a ball for 1102 fps. I don't use the ram on the gun. I made a bench loader. The ball is too fast for the twist so it is a close range deal.

 

[Bad Karma]

This was yesterday afternoon.

View attachment 92332

Maybe I'll just sit on the back porch swing with the short barrel fifty.
Couple of nights ago the wife got up for a glass of water and counted six by the steps.

Put a .45 ball about 4-5 inches high and right of the point of her shoulder and you’ll be eating backstraps for breakfast.. imagine a basketball in there. Poke a hole in the center of the basketball and she’s done.

 

[shorthair]

This was yesterday afternoon.

View attachment 92332

Maybe I'll just sit on the back porch swing with the short barrel fifty.
Couple of nights ago the wife got up for a glass of water and counted six by the steps.

Growing up on the farm we shot many deer from the back porch, especially when we had deperdation permits, year round.

 

[shorthair]

I get 41 gr of Swiss FFFG behind a ball for 1102 fps. I don't use the ram on the gun. I made a bench loader. The ball is too fast for the twist so it is a close range deal.

A good friend used pyrodex p in his ROA and I watched him fill the chamber to the mouth then ram it down then repeat that twice more before seating a rb and greasing the mouth, without a problem, I have no idea how much powder His load was but he still uses the same gun and it's still tight and shoots good groups after 30 years.

 

[tenngun]

In Idaho: LEGAL IN MUZZLELOADER-ONLY SEASONS
A muzzle loading rifle or musket which:

1. Is capable of being loaded ONLY from the muzzle.
2. Is equipped with a single or double-barrel.
3. Is loaded ONLY with loose black powder OR other loose synthetic black powder.
4. Is loaded with a patched round ball OR a conical, unjacketed projectile comprised wholly of lead or lead alloy. No sabots.
5. Is loaded with a projectile that is within .010 of an inch of the bore diameter.
6. Is equipped ONLY with a flint OR a percussion cap OR a musket cap. 209 primers are prohibited.
7. Is equipped with an ignition system in which any portion of the cap is clearly exposed and visible when the hammer of the weapon is cocked and ready to fire.
8. Has no scope, only open or peep sights. Fiber optic open sites are permitted.
9. Is free of any electronic devices.
10. Is at least forty-five (.45) caliber for deer, antelope, or mountain lion.
11. Is at least fifty (.50) caliber for elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, or black bear.

Pistols and revolvers don't qualify for the muzzleloader-only season in my state. It'd be nice if they could simply say "use what you know you can reliably and humanely take your target species with." Or a simple "hunt ethically, ladies and gents." But we all know how many idiots would goof that up, thus the restrictions. I pity those who have to write dumbed down regulations so they cover the lowest common denominator of slob hunters.

Ummm. My smoothies don’t shoot.01 ball
Even my best .54 rifle shot a .526