I guess I'm curious as to WHY you keep yore inlines then, and WHAT do you use'm for??
YMHS
rollingb
Why I keep my inlines is because I find them another way for me to enjoy a different aspect of the sport of black powder. I do not strictly shoot inline, flintlock or cap lock. I like anything to do with black powder. I find it a challenge to see how accurate I can get any kind of rifle and believe me, the inlines are no more accurate then the loads you work up for them, same as a sidelock. They are a little more expensive to shoot without question, but that is my cross to bare.
Huntinfool you might have a point, the inline might have a better chance of going off in bad weather. As for the person you were talking about, he was lucky his fired. Mine this year had a finger cot on the muzzle and I kept the breech covered as much as possible from the weather. I stored it in the wood shed that night as well as a .62 caliber smoothbore Renegade cap lock. The next morning as is my custom before hunting in the afternoon, I shoot them off. Well the .62 caplock boomed like always. The 209 inline made a pop and never went off. It did on the second 209 primer, but they will fail. I was surprised.
Just like your flintlocks and your caplocks. Granted they stand a better chance of not failing, but a friend of mine hunts with his old flintlock kentucky rifle all muzzleloader season and never seems to be bothered by weather. Of course when you've hunted as many years as he has with the thing, I guess you know what to do with it. In fact a lot of times I see him with it in a gun sock.
I have been asked numerous times by family and friends why I have such a large collection of black powder rifles and revolvers. As they said, you don't hunt with them all. That's true, but every rifle I own gets a turn on the rifle range at one time or another. And I enjoy shooting every one of them as much as the other.
As for
what I use them for...thats easy, hunting and target shooting. I have a scoped inline I shoot during the modern rifle season when I hunt in certain areas of the state or on certain stands where the shots might be extra long. Unlike some, I am not a traditionalist. When I take my rifles out to hunt, I go to fill the freezer as well as enjoy myself. I like hunting with my scoped inline, just as I enjoyed hunting with the T/C Hawkins flintlock this season.
The real advantage of the inlines is cleaning them. You can remove the breech and really be sure everything in there is clean. Granted some igniton advantage is there, but again, if you do your part the others will fire also. Unloading them is another advantage. And they will shoot pellets... if you really think that is an advantage (which I do not). But these people that think an inline rifle is so much more accurate then a traditional rifle, really need to buy an inline and shoot it some. They will learn there is no real advantage until you scope them.
Lets not forget the disadvantages of the inline as well. Crud rings... how many posters do you see asking advise on this VS how many traditonal shooters complain about it. Primer's too hot, primers too strong, sabots too tight, sabots too loose, sabots too expensive, bullets too expensive, which bullet will shoot best out of this rifle, powerbelts (we could start a book there), and the list of shooting supply costs would scare most traditional shooters right out of their possible bags...
:imo: All an inline does is lets the lazy person into the black powder field of hunting and shooting. People who do not have the time or desire to devote to learning the black powder rifles, but still want to hunt that extra week. They do not have to learn the traditions of the old style rifle. They can forsake many of the learning points of weather proofing them up to some point. And it might be easier to work up an acceptable hunting load. The other thing we forget is these extra hunters in the field generate lots of revenue for the state and hunting programs. It also creates a stronger gun lobby for us to protect us and our rights against anti everyone else.
The one thing I don't like to see is catalogs and merchants turning their stores and stocks strictly to the inline rifles. Like I said, I have eight other traditonal rifles not counting extra barrels. I shoot a lot of traditional gear every year. Granted I make a lot of my own projectiles, and patches, lubes, etc. But I do like the idea of buying roundballs at the Wal Mart if I wanted them... well they are not there.
sorry for the rant....
