Poll: What do you use your muzzleloader for?

[leadhoarder]

Therapy.

 

[Jay Templin]

I shoot at Rendezvous and plink at home, and honestly, I haven’t been hunting with an unmentionable in probably three years- I take my Hawken for deer and one or another of my smoothbores for everything else.
Jay

 

[Flint1]

Both. My first was a Pietta Remington New Model Army in December 1980. Bought that in Tombstone AZ while I was at Ft. Huachuca to have fun with it on paper. My second was a Sile Hawken halfstock I bought in the summer of 1981 in Hinesville GA while at Ft. Stewart for hunting. All my flintlocks since then have been for both target and hunting. With my target shooting and practice I think of it as challenging myself to trying to become as proficient as the people in the 1760s were, though I know that is tough since they depended on their rifles and skill just to survive each day.

 

[SDSmlf]

Realistically shoot more paper and steel than actual game by a wide margin, but shooting those paper and steel targets is to get ready for hunting. Not a category option in the poll.

 

[Cruzatte]

Target shooting for me.

 

[SciAggie]

Someone commented on this forum once something to the effect, "You come to muzzle loading after you've done everything else." I also heard, "Your first ML may not be a flintlock, but your last one will be." Both of those have more or less tracked true for me.
30+ years ago I got into practical pistol shooting - then I lost interest. 20+ years ago I got into black powder cartridge silhouette shooting. I loved that and was very serious for a long time. I hunted with BPC rifles for a good while. Then I decided if I was going to hand load and shoot a single shot, why not "hand load" a ML and skip cleaning the brass?
So I had an English Sporting rifle made and hunted with that for many years. Last year I made the dive and bought a flintlock jaeger. I hunted with it exclusively last year. I still use a caplock shotgun.

My smokeless stuff still gets a bit of range time for fun. My ML are what I carry hunting. All my shots fall within the limits of ML guns and I find zero disadvantage using one. it sure is a heck of a lot of fun too.

 

[azmntman]

I hunt 95% with black powder. It's a historic love for me, just thinking Grandpa and back HAD to use one. They needed to eat. Had they a 30.06 scoped I am sure they would have used it. I love BP and have not seen any handicap at all over CF (other than 1 shot, but other than a finishing shot I have not needed one).

BP makes one a much better shot than a brick of .22 lr.

 

[Mulebrain]

Target shooting only, unless I start getting hungry

 

[John May]

Paper targets pretty much, gone are the days when we could shoot at coke cans thrown up the bank. Boy how I envy you guys who get to shoot at steel plates!

 

[hanshi]

For a long time down in my native Georgia and later in Virginia I hunted with muzzleloaders. I especially loved the 12 deer limit in Georgia and took full advantage of it for decades. But my hunting day are over and have been for a number of years. So now those muzzleloaders are pointed toward paper, water jugs, soda cans, golf balls, you name it.

 

[Zutt-man]

I guess I could've clarified "primarily", but one would assume range visits are a necessity to ensure hunting accuracy.

I wonder, has @B P Maniac Shooter kept a list of all the items he's attempted to blow up, shatter, put holes in, flip with velocity, or tear with shrapnel? Has to be a few pages long

 

[22ceejay]

Therapy, paper, steel, golf balls, hunting, useless critters if needed, New Years Eve, Christmas, anything that urges me to make smoke and smell the sulfur and feel the bump and see the smoke. I just enjoy the total experience, even the cleaning.

 

[gmo]

I like the "emotional support" answer. I wonder what the numbers would look like if you added wall-hangin and safe-stuffin to the poll!

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I wonder, has @B P Maniac Shooter kept a list of all the items he's attempted to blow up, shatter, put holes in, flip with velocity, or tear with shrapnel? Has to be a few pages long

Nope...I don't have such a list.
I can't remember all the fun targets that has suffered ( or survived ) my wrath! LOL

 

[Indy Durtdigger]

I answered both but these days don't have much time for the recreational side of things. That really stinks. I tried squirrel hunting with my smoothbore this week but didn't get the time to really work with shot loads. The known limited range became a problem I'm going to have to deal with but next year as it's back to work in a couple days so no time to deal with loads.

An update to this. I worked out some more free time through the weekend. Since I already reset the sights on my flintlock for round ball for the upcoming deer season. I have swapped out the damaged rear sight on a .20 gauge smoothbore I picked up earlier this year and haven't had time to do anything with. Going to get it set and work up a shot load and do some more BP squirrel hunting before going back to work. Not much time but should be able to make it happen so long as I can get left alone. Wish me luck with the left alone part.

 

[bpd303]

Both
I don't hunt much anymore, unless you count squirrels from the deck. I also use one of my flintlocks to call the dogs home when they don't answer to the whistle. They expect to get parts of a squirrel or two, usually dissapointed when they see the target up with a hole in it.

 

[Gopher0]

Hunting ,and reenacting

 

[wojciste]

Use to hunt and do Woods Walk Events. Now they sit waiting for the day the government bans modern ammunition.

 

[Reegee/Flint]

Was talking to a friend this past weekend and he asked "When does the muzzleloader season begin?" I was taken aback, because the season opened last Monday. He's an avid bow hunter and the muzzleloader and archery seasons in Kansas begin at the same time. Turns out, he's much more of a plinker than a hunter when it comes to shooting a smoke pole. It got me to thinking, so I decided I'd start a poll!

Since I live west of the Proclamation Line of 1763, it is used primarily for defense.

 

[Iceman]

100% targets. Monthly club shoots, a couple rendezvous a year, Friendship occasionally, some trap and skeet. Practice in the winter. I do find shooting muzzleloaders very relaxing and quite enjoyable.