If you could only have one......

[TeutonicHeathen]

If you could only have one muzzleloader to survive out west in the wilderness of montana what would it be and why?? Only one and no side arm either!

 

[nkbj]

A double barrel 10ga flinter with long barrels.
Because I wouldn't want to chase anything and I'd want to be able to shoot twice. Throw in a second set of shorter barrels if that wouldn't be cheating.

 

[rfisher]

Percussion 72 cal trade gun. Round ball for deer, elk, or bear. Shot for birds and small game.Assuming I had a ready supply of caps as well as powder I,d definately go percussion.

 

[TMan51]

My .58cal Hawken/Mtn Rifle.

I would snare small critters, easy to do with no noise or loss of expensive powder and lead.

When I needed to shoot something, I suspect the .58 would be OK.

 

[BrownBear]

Already own it. It's a GRRW Hawken in 58 cal, 36" barrel.

 

[Alden]

.62 smoothrifle.

 

[azmntman]

I don't have one of those yet Alden but I believe it will be one of the next two I get. If a .40 comes along at a good price I want it too. I have decided on northstar west for a build when I get the .62.

As for what I have now I guess Id take the .58 hawken too.

 

[AZbpBurner]

If I were to go back East to Montana, I'd likely prefer my light weight .62 cal Fusil for the versatility of using RB and also shot.

 

[Dphar]

I live in the upper Yellowstone Valley. First we have to ask... What did the people that were out here back in the day use? Generally a rifle of 50-58 caliber. Anyone that thinks the trade gun is a viable choice note the results of Indians armed with trade guns against trappers with rifles in "Journal of a Trapper". Then note that Tecumtha traded off a Northwest gun for a rifle enroute (IIRC) to the Battle of the Thames. Having a shot gun out here with very little small game is fairy land stuff. If you hunt small game with a shot gun you shoot enough powder and lead to kill an elk and get a rabbit. Then if you FIND small game you have to shoot some every day. Too much noise, too much powder and lead used. Shoot a deer or an elk or Buffalo and jerk what you don't eat right away. Far less noise and attention getting activity. AND its cheaper to shoot small game with a 50-58 rifle than with a 20 bore shotgun. AND an open bored ML shotgun is not all that great a game getter, especially are wadded in the 18th-early 19th c.
This is why when the large game was killed off in the east the rifles got smaller in the bore. Made them far cheaper for small game than a shotgun.
Dan

 

[satx78247]

My .58 Zouave WBTS Centennial "short rifle"/carbine/musketoon (or whatever you choose to call it, as it's an actual replica of nothing), as I trust it & believe it to be (out to 100M plus) suitable for most anything but BIG bear & BIG boars, when loaded with my Minie balls.
(Neither are my choice for eating & besides there are a lot more deer/smaller hogs/medium game out there than really BIG game.)

Also, it's compact for hunting in the thick brush and/or up in a tree. - Where I hunt, you cannot see more than 25M or so on the ground.
(Otoh, I don't know much about MT.)

Just my OPINION, satx

 

[robert reed]

The idea is too loathsome to contemplate. :shake:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

A double barrel 10ga flinter with long barrels. Because I wouldn't want to chase anything and I'd want to be able to shoot twice.

:thumbsup:

12 gauge for me. Dan makes some good points if one is going with "back then", but the thread didn't specify if we were alive back then, I think I'd opt for Dan's idea, plus learn to snare rabbits.... my biggest concern today would be two shots on something of the Brown Bear family if I found myself in a situation, or one barrel loaded for small game, and the other set up for a shot at a bear. Not that I'd hunt them, but in case they decided to hunt me.

LD

 

[kopfjaeger]

My Danny Caywood .58 caliber Northwest Trade Gun.

Mine has a rifled 36 " barrel.

 

[Dphar]

A double barrel 10ga flinter with long barrels. Because I wouldn't want to chase anything and I'd want to be able to shoot twice.

:thumbsup:

12 gauge for me. Dan makes some good points if one is going with "back then", but the thread didn't specify if we were alive back then, I think I'd opt for Dan's idea, plus learn to snare rabbits.... my biggest concern today would be two shots on something of the Brown Bear family if I found myself in a situation, or one barrel loaded for small game, and the other set up for a shot at a bear. Not that I'd hunt them, but in case they decided to hunt me.

LD

Rabbits?
The smooth bore is not "versatile" its a special use weapon that while it will "do anything" the only thing it does well is shoot small shot. Its good for night guard loaded with buckshot back in the day. If you are in Montana as the OP states, a great deal, 2/3 perhaps, of Montana looks like this. Only the western part of the state is really Mountainous. They don't call it the Big Sky State because the mountains obscure the view.

I can, and have, walked around in places like this for miles an never see a rabbit, or a grouse.

Then...

You MIGHT see a rabbit here too or a pine squirrel more likely, but if I sneak around I will find a deer, better use of powder and lead. But if its in the bad dead fall and the Wilderness Areas (and many other places) that have not burnt out are often choked with it, it will be a PITA to get out.

Unless one has horses its often best to hunt the creek bottoms. But even then shots may exceed the range of a smoothbore. If you are hunting to EAT you need something that will work in ALL circumstances. The smoothbore does not fit this description. By the 1760s in the east the Gov't and the Traders were trying to keep rifles out of the hands of the eastern natives. Why? In the way natives conducted war the rifle put musket armed troops at a severe disadvantage (the eastern natives were apparently better shots than the plains Indians) and THEY USED LESS POWDER AND LEAD so the traders did not like them. Find a copy of DeWitt Bailey's "British FL Military Rifles" read the chapters on Indian Trade rifles.
This is worth the price of the book.
The only reason for shooting small game, other than flying birds, with a shotgun is eyesight problems. Otherwise shooting perhaps an ounce of lead to kill a animal weighing under 2 pounds is silly in a survival situation. Our forefathers knew this. There are recorded accounts of people getting off flatboats in Ohio/Kentucky with a fowler and being LAUGHED AT by bystanders .
Just some insight from hunting, trapping and guiding along the "eastern front" of the Rockies since the late 1970s and reading about firearms.

Bears? What if there are more than one? Better just avoid them and (since we are modern) carry a big can of bear spray.
If really in a survival situation "today" there is the people "problem". So using a ML today is not a valid strategy anyway.
But if I HAD to only have a ML it would be a 54 FL rifle. Since my best shooting ML rifle is a 54.
But I am not forced to make that decision which "today" is at least 4th choice. A good 22 LR pistol is better all around and I have one of those too.
Dan

 

[Billnpatti]

I would agree with Alden and AZbpburner. I think the most versatile weapon for your specified needs would be a .62 smoothie. You could shoot either balls or shot depending on what you are hunting for.

 

[Vaino]

Aside from the fact that I wouldn't get into such a situation....my MLer of choice would be my .54 Hawken w/ plenty of PRBs and powder which a lack of supply could pose a problem that could render my choice of a MLer to be used as a club.

No side arms but a knife would be a necessity as would snares for rabbits...Ah loves doze bunnies and besides, they're survival meat.

Perhaps some w /a "survivalist" mindset would dream of such a situation....but me, I'm spoiled w/ modern conveniences and besides, at 83 I don't "suppose" or think of "what ifs".

A very good topic if you're so inclined as many will be....Fred

 

[cynthialee]

A double barrel piece.
One barrel riffled and the other smoothbore. Both at least .62 - .72

Now if it was in my woods instead of where you said I would want a .56 caliber smooth rifle. (lucky for me I have that already)

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I'm with Dan on this one. As long as someone else is buying the gun I'd get something like Track's Jim Bridger Hawken with a bore in the mid to upper .50s.

Another thing with smoothbores is the availability of shot. I seem to remember that they used to store gunpowder in lead containers. The lead could be made water tight easily. Then once opened and the powder transferred to horns the container would be melted and cast into rifle balls.

Thus they did not have to march all over God's creation carrying powder in steel cans, & scrap lead that serves no purpose until cast and loaded.

That's a pretty efficient way to carry lead.

But can you imagine sitting by the campfire casting 7-1/2 shot? :rotf:

 

[satx78247]

YEP. = After seeing those photos, I want a Cape-gun of at least 16-bore for woods & the open country.
(As I said, I know almost nothing about MT.= I've been there exactly once, when I was 8YO.)

yours, satx

 

[Col. Batguano]

It looks just like Texas, except for the hills, mountains, trees, streams, grasslands, lakes, animals, people, and weather.