Inlines as intro to sidelocks?

[Runner]

When I started they still sold kit guns in boxes off the shelf in Walmart and such in the models section! That is how I bought my first. You could get several different guns off the same shelf if you wished.

 

[Zonie]

Sounds ta ole Zonie likes we's gots a bunch o old far*s here. :hmm: Wate a minet, now thet Ah thin abot it, A'zz un ole Far*t two.

Ah am glad ta see thar are sum foks whoo figared out that tha ole sideloks are moor fun. A's a bettin thar are a bunch whoo ain't spoke up yet.

Let's har frum ye. :grin:

Ohh, Ah started wit a Kentuckian 44 Flinter.

 

[dwarvenchef]

I started in the mid 80's and I don't recall any such critter as an in-line. After just one outing with my (muzzleloader pusher) buddies, I was hooked. I bought a used TC Hawken that looked as if it never fired a tin of caps. That poor rifle has seen many pounds of powder and will be with me for years to come.

If I wanted a modern style rifle I'd get a cartrige gun, but why get a cartrige long gun when my pistols out shoot all the ones I have had before :youcrazy:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I bought my first muzzleloader thirty years ago and I don't remember having to stand "in-line". Maybe I did. :hmm:

I've seen them in stores. That's as close as I've ever come to touching one. :grin: I like wood and I don't put scopes on my centerfire rifles, even. ( I do have peep sights on my .223 single-shot).

I suppose they "open the door" to sidelocks, but no more than, say, semi-auto pistols open the door to percussion revolvers. I know many bow shooters who have taken up traditional archery after starting with compounds. Anyone shopping from large sporting-goods stores or catalogs would almost HAVE to get a start with in-lines as they are all "outsiders" see offered.

Like it or not, we are a side-branch of muzzleloading and not the pinnacle of the learning curve. Not everyone wants to advance backwards to our technology. We are not "the best" muzzleloading any more than fly fishing is the best fishing . . .

Then again, maybe we are. :rotf:

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

 

[Arrowstorm]

Never had an iota of a desire to even touch an in-line. I started with my old sidelock percussion hawkens. From there, I moved to flint. Now I own more black powder firearms than modern centerfire cartridge.

Why does anyone need an intro if they wish to move to the real thing when it comes to sidelocks? Just get you a sidelock percussion.

 

[musketman]

Heck, when I started there wasn't even inline skates, there was inline motors though... (straight eights)

 

"They" weren't around when I started either. When I see them in a store I have to turn my head they're so ugly. Makes my eyes bleed. :shocked2:

 

[PvtC]

I love the art and science of the 18th century long gun. I love hunting with my York longrifle during the primitive season. I also enjoy hunting deer with a Knight ML during the PA center fire rifle season. :shocked2:
One well placed shot should be the mantra. I cringe when I hear the repeaters throwing lead at running deer. There should be one united ML fraternity. The brothers carrying sidelocks are the poets of the fraternity.

 

[greenneck]

When I started hunting deer with a friend he looked at my slug gun and told me he would get me into muzzleloading. He shoots a TC Encore, and I bought a cheap-o inline a bit over a year ago just to try this.

With all the unanswered questions I had about muzzleloading I looked around and found this forum where I learned pretty much all I know about this. (Thanks to you all, by the way!) Then I thought a sidelock might be cool and bought a GPR .54 on recommendations from this place. Now I don't shoot my inline much anymore and am thinking about maybe a flintlock smoothbore for next year.

A friend and coworker asked me to let him shoot my inline a few weeks ago. I took the GPR and a C&B revolver too. As it turned out, there was a MZ shoot going on at the range where no inlines were allowed, so I made him shoot the GPR instead. Now he has bought his own GPR and is just as addicted as I am and isn't interested in inlines at all.

I know there is no hope... and I like it!

Steve

 

[pmwest]

I guess I tend to do things a little backwards. I have been shooting blackpowder for a little more than 20 years. Started out with 36 cal chasing small game and tin cans just because it was so much fun. 16 years ago I was walking through the woods with my uncle during ML deer season, he had a CVA KY in 45 and I was bow hunting. As we walked back to the house, a group of does crossed the trail 75 yds ahead of us, he handed me the rifle and I missed low but have been hooked on ML deer hunting ever since. Haven’t touched the bow for years. My weapon of choice is sidelock, either flint or cap, both are fun but several years ago I got a inline shotgun to chase turkey and geese. This seemed to cure a bad case of magnumitis. It also will handle a slug or round ball and I have killed several deer with it. I don’t shoot it as much as the sidelocks but you might say my “transition” was from sidelock to inline.

 

[chickenlittle]

I got my first ML several years ago to take advantage of PA's early doe ML season. It was a used White rifle with an in-line percussion lock. It is a sweet little gun with black painted wood stock and stainless barrel and had a Weaver 1-3x scope on it.

A month or so later, I bought my first flintlock so I could hunt in our late flintlock deer season. Since then, I've added several more of both types to my collection. I will be hunting squirrel with my 12ga flintlock tomorrow morning.

I've got enough percussion guns so I have no plans to get any percussion sidelocks :grin: . I could use some more flintlocks, maybe a New England Fowler.

So to sum up, I started with an in-line to extend my deer hunting season.

 

[mikelange]

The only inline I've ever handled was a friend's gun that he asked me to work on. It wouldn't shoot to the same place more than twice in a row, without being wiped clean. This was a T/C, too, so I assume a good-quality gun for its type. Kicked the living bejeebers out of me, too. The owner had gotten it from his boss, for Christmas, but when I told him of its cleaning fetish he said he'd switch back to his CVA roundball rifle.

I've had three friends, inline shooters (one still is -- like the Meat Loaf song says, "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad"), who looked down their noses at my flinters -- until they shot them. Even the one whose primary frontloader still has a plastic stock owns a .45 flintlock. The other two opted for sidelock percussion jobs and sold their inlines.

This is why I'm tolerant of inlines and those who shoot them. They're just poor, misguided souls who, with gentle persuasion and some patience, can be made to see the light.

 

[rebuse]

Well, I guess I’m not the only one to go backwards in technology. I started out shooting competitions with a Match AR-15 and a modified Rock River Arms 1911. I GOT BORED! I guess you could say I needed more of a challenge. So I bought my first Muzzle Loaded”¦If you can really call it that, a CVA Optima Pro (one of those”¦things). I found out real quick that it was no different then shooting a modern day rifle for the most part”¦YES IT HAD A SCOPE! OK! THERE, I SAID IT! In about two weeks I found myself bored again”¦I shoot often. So I bought an old T/C Renegade (cap lock) that needed some work. Bought a new barrel for it (30”/1:66” Twist/.50 cal). Re worked the stock (it was in bad shape). And started shooting patched round ball. Didn’t take but a couple of months to get bored gain, so I got a T/C Hawkins Flintlock, complete with a 31” barrel w/1:66” Twist in a .50 cal. Figuring out proper powder measurement and the flash pan charge and so on took me a lot longer to figure out”¦I am very surprised that I never blew myself up or burnt off my eyebrows”¦IT COULD OF HAPPENED! But there was still to many hints of modern day tech in it. For one, an adjustable rear sight made things a little to easy for me. Then there was the whole mass-production feel. Knowing there was hundreds of rifles out there just like it. I needed a rifle that was going to be old tech, and a one of a kind (for the most part). And now I got it”¦the funny thing is”¦I never get bored shooting it. Now, I’ve been trying to find the proper accoutrements to go with it. And I’ve started making my own powder horns.

This has been a TRUE story”¦a story of a man getting sucked into the black hole”¦known as the “Black Powder Zone!”

Preacher :hatsoff:

 

[Pittsburghunter]

I like inlines, I like sidelocks. I even like cartridge guns and reloading ammo. I like snowshoing and I like riding a snowmobile. I like sailing and using my power boat.

I have no problems with inline users most will end up buying a sidelock for fun (if they can find one)

I have both sidelocks and one inline traditional and a few modern inlines that use 209 primers. Most of my bp shooting is with the sidelocks but I also have fun with the inlines as well.

The sidelocks make me a better shooter because of using the iron sights and all. They are for the most part lighter as well and easy to carry in the field. On the otherhand if it is snowing or raining I am on a hunting trip using time off from work I will carry what is more likely to go bang.

:v

I do have more fun shooting the sidelocks especially when there are other people at the range shooting modern guns and I am outshooting them with the ol smokepole.

I have been bitten by the roundball of late and shoot it quite often. Funny I muzzleloaded for about 15 years before I even shot one roundball and now can't shoot them enough. :haha:

 

[shmrck1]

AZ-Robert,
When i got my first Hawken caplock it
never even crossed my mind to get an I/L. That
first outing with the Hawken and i was hooked.
I sold what modern weapons i had to purchase more
traditional and the rest is history. Good question
though.
snake-eyes

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Hopefully I won't be banned for using the dreaded "I" word, but I'm curious -- how many of you started your ML shooting with inlines and then moved over to sidelocks?

I guess I belong in the "ol' fart" category as well. My first muzzleloader was a generic Spanish made .44 caliber Kentucky pistol kit from a department store that no longer exists (it was called "Two Guys"). I then moved up to a Kentucky style rifle (a .44/.45 caliber gun also) and then to a Rem. New Model Army revolver, a pseudo military .69 cal flintlock and from there it really went crazy... That was many many years ago...

As far as shooting the In*ine guns and then retrogression to caplocks, flintlocks, wheelocks, matchlocks... well I'm not going to damn anyone for "seeing the light". Don't care much how they got started, as long as they shoot traditional guns now. People like going "retro" with lots of other things for some reason nowadays... I say more power to 'em!

Regards, and have fun safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[wwfeatherston]

Never seen an inline in this country!

No hunting seasons either!

 

[tg]

I suspect that if the new type of guns had not been introduced that the number of traditional ML hunters/shooters would have increased the same.

 

[Keppy]

I had many ML rifles and pistols through out the years. I always thought they were nice to look at, but I never shot them. I had shot other peoples at the range, but I was into metallic silhouette shooting so heavy for years. We moved back to Minnesota and decided to buy one of those new fangel ones. You notice I didn't say that bad word. I shot it and was at a shop an seen an Kentucky rifle in 45 cal. and bought it. I brought it home and started shooting it and have not shot the other one since. I'm selling new fangeled one to my cousin. I tell him I shoot a real Muzzleloader.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

TG, you got that right. The popularity of m/l shooting was on a steep incline up here in NH before the inline was even offered. In three years it went from me being the only person I know hunting with one to many friends and relatives having one.