So after a few days of thought, I’ll give this another shot…
The best quality muzzleloader, from back in the day…Thompson Center, there’s a reason almost everyone had one in their gun collection.
On today’s market, Pedersoli is going to be your best quality commercially manufactured traditional muzzleloaders. Best quality over all…I’d give that to Kibler LongRifles. Yes, you have to build it yourself, but the quality is unbeatable…there is nothing better on the market.
Best calibre? Wow…lots of opinions, very broad, subjective thoughts. I hunt…so hunting will be my focused opinion on calibre.
Small Game: For woods walks and hitting the field, I’m going to say .40 calibre is my choice for best calibre. 20 grains of fffg, and a .375 RB with canvas patching is solid on small game out to 50 yrds, easy. Up that to 30 or 40 grains, a .390 ball and I’m taking turkeys out to 85 or 100 yrds (100 yrds in my younger days with better eyes). The .40 calibre is pretty hard to beat on small game, and in my opinion, it seems to be making a comeback in popularity. The double whammy is that in some areas, it’s legal for, deer sized, big game.
Big Game: Hands down the .54 calibre is my choice for big game. With a PRB, I can take anything from Antelope to elk. There is no other calibre that is as efficient at converting grains of powder into ft/sec velocity.
Best All Around: In my mind, if you’re looking for a best all around…something that can do it all…get a smoothbore.
Best Design: Yeah…not going to touch it. That is such a personal thing…