So..... why a muzzleloading?

[tenngun]

took me 3 years of debate with the other half to allow guns in the house
the deal reached is black powder only for multi shot weapons, modern guns must be single shot
The state is much more lenient than my other half.

So that is why I have a bunch of BP fire arms.

I always loved BP guns so it wasn't too much a hassle to me. My dad got me into it as a teen. And honestly, the revolvers have plenty of whompability. Especially in close quarters where any need for a pistol is likely to ever happen. And for hunting a .490 PRB inside of 75 yards is all I need to put meat in the freezer.

I think a .44 revolver is plenty for home defense. A couple few howdah pistols would keep you pretty safe too.
Did you ever get your sweetie shooting? Is she still feeling that way?
Well fact is if I had to do with one or the other I would keep my front stuffers. So your decision makes sense.
You get your guns and happy life

 

[oldwood]

I'm thankful for Pa.'s M/l late deer season. Dec. 26th until mid Jan. . My hunting buddy and I had a great love for deer hunting , back when the late primitive flintlock season started in the early 1970's , we went whole hog primitive , guns, dress, and philosophy. Also , we both had to expand our stalking , and still hunting skills , to better match the 18th century hunters methods. We also have thousands of acres of state land to hunt here in Central Pa.. We can't do hunting as we once did , due to old age , but we still enjoy our hunting camp and our family comes for deer season. I mostly hunt with muzzleloaders , now a days , light wt. ones..............oldwood

 

[cynthialee]

I think a .44 revolver is plenty for home defense. A couple few howdah pistols would keep you pretty safe too.
Did you ever get your sweetie shooting? Is she still feeling that way?
Well fact is if I had to do with one or the other I would keep my front stuffers. So your decision makes sense.
You get your guns and happy life

never got her shooting
I have however made a point of pointing out exactly how everything I have functions, the way I load, talk about safety measures and basic marksmanship. I suspect if she is ever in a situation where a weapon is called for she would stand a better chance than another firearms untrained individual. She is a cool cucumber when things go south bad and fast. Been in a couple of driving situations where any other driver most likely would have gotten us killed. When that moment of truth happens, she gets very calm, in control and resolute. Serious survivors instincts in her. What has to be done is going to happen and we will deal with the emotional fallout latter.

 

[ETipp]

My late great dad purchased a .45 Hawken in the late 70's. After looking at that muzzleloader and going with him to shoot it, that set the stage for a lifetime event that is, for the most part, difficult to explain. There's just something about hunting and shooting muzzleloaders that either interests one, or it does not. Then, after killing my first few big game animals with muzzleloaders, including elk, I thought for sure I was really hooked. Well, I am that, but then I finally purchased my Crockett Squirrel Rifle and began chasing gray squirrels around the woods. If there was ever any doubts to being hooked on muzzleloaders, it is no more. Something about sending a patched round ball up into the trees and hitting a small target, such as squirrels, that has to be experienced to fully understand it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I was a shooter since childhood. But I was drawn to ml'ing because of the connection to history. It quickly led to serious competitive shooting and hunting.

 

[sbernhoney]

My Dad and Uncle were antique gun collectors. I have a very old flint and a percussion from The War of Northern Aggression...I'm sorry, the Civil War. It has LSM on the brass trigger guard...Louisiana State Militia. I hinted with a friend where the rule was ML only. He loaned me a Hawken 50, I killed a deer and bought one a month later, a T/C 50 Greyhawk. I've harvested quite a few these last 35 yrs with it.
I am now tempted to fire the flint and LSM rifles.

 

[sbernhoney]

Laney, I'm in the Breaux Bridge area, work in Henderson and hunt mostly in the Atchafalaya Basin. Beekeeping is my profession.

 

[Collector54]

My dad an ex WW2 marine(China,Philippines), once asked me about why I liked to hunt? Then when I got interested in Muzzle Loaders he said I must be a throwback to an earlier time. More like my Grand Pa's. Guess he was right. My uncle had an original Zouave and some other antiques, my Dad, was more a target shooter and had 22's. I caught the collector bug from my Uncle and targets shooting from my Dad. There is just something about hunting/shooting front stuffers. I think the powder and smell gets into your blood thru the skin.

 

[Coinneach]

I was always drawn to old stuff. As a kid I couldn’t figure out why there were so few westerns of the time before cowboys. While other kids built model cars I built model wagons and ships. When I went to an air show I ignored the fast planes to go look at the Jenny
My dad bought me a 22 auto, but as soon as I could save my pennies I got an Ithaca lever action.
I came of age during the bicentennial so there were lots of ml and easy to find.
After my first range time with my Mowrey breechloader lost all interest to me.

Gawd almighty we must be twins, I was exactly the same as a boy it was always the old timey things that drew me, wooden ship models, biplanes; original swords and knives etc.

A large part of it was my grandparents upbringing, they were folk who never threw anything away it was like living in a museum of wonderous things. The old farm had sheds chock full of well used and cared for artifacts and tools that I knew were a direct link to my family's history.

My grandad was a collector with various interests, he owned original ML's and that's how I learned to appreciate them, and adopt the one shot policy that stayed with me throughout my military service and life.
Of course I watched Disneyland as a boy and marvelled at Fess Parker portraying Boone and Crocket, but my adult introduction to contemporary BP Muzzle loading was when I walked into the Green River Rifle Works (GRRW) in Adelaide South Australia in the mid 1970's; I had no idea such places existed. I bought a half a dozen "Buckskinner" magazines and was hooked on historical authenticity, since then its never let up.
IMO the biggest life affecting mistake I made was not migrating to America when I retired in 2007, but a woman got in the way and then property settlement drained me. I would have thrived and hit contentment living somewhere like Tennessee out in the backwoods off grid among kindred souls.

 

[Coinneach]

What’s so good about this century? No thanks.

Agreed.....Absolutely.

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

My choices:

Spitfire or P47 rather than F16.
E type Jag or -57 Mercury rather than latest Ferrari.
HMS Victory or USS Constitution rather than guided missile destroyer.
Country cottage or log cabin rather than modern apartment.
Triumph or Indian rather than Kawasaki.
Gretsch or Gibson rather than Ibanez.
Bourbon or cognac rather than alcopops.

Black Powder rather than modern, centrefire point and squeeze. Ancient is artistic. Modern is mundane.

(that said, I wouldn't say no to a Winchester lever action...)

 

[FreedomDavid]

My wife bought me a .50 caliber kit for Christmas in 1989. I enjoyed putting it together and shooting it, joined Escambia River Muzzle Loaders (we lived in FL then) and I got more and more black powder guns, a flintlock, a cap & ball revolver, a .54 caliber great plains rifle, a Queen Anne pistol, and others. I've enjoyed hunting with them (also archery) and have taken home awards from club shoots. I like the freedom and independence that black powder affords me. My grandmother used to tell me that I was a "throwback" which she defined as an old soul, saying I should have been born 100 years before.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

My late great dad purchased a .45 Hawken in the late 70's. After looking at that muzzleloader and going with him to shoot it, that set the stage for a lifetime event that is, for the most part, difficult to explain. There's just something about hunting and shooting muzzleloaders that either interests one, or it does not. Then, after killing my first few big game animals with muzzleloaders, including elk, I thought for sure I was really hooked. Well, I am that, but then I finally purchased my Crockett Squirrel Rifle and began chasing gray squirrels around the woods. If there was ever any doubts to being hooked on muzzleloaders, it is no more. Something about sending a patched round ball up into the trees and hitting a small target, such as squirrels, that has to be experienced to fully understand it.View attachment 223383

Being deep in the center of the Sonoran desert, I dream of woods like those.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

There's got to be a story behind everyone's choice made to shoot and hunt with a muzzleloader.

I do it for the chicks.

 

[user 31232]

My choices:

Spitfire or P47 rather than F16.
E type Jag or -57 Mercury rather than latest Ferrari.
HMS Victory or USS Constitution rather than guided missile destroyer.
Country cottage or log cabin rather than modern apartment.
Triumph or Indian rather than Kawasaki.
Gretsch or Gibson rather than Ibanez.
Bourbon or cognac rather than alcopops.

Black Powder rather than modern, centrefire point and squeeze. Ancient is artistic. Modern is mundane.

(that said, I wouldn't say no to a Winchester lever action...)

well said!!!

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

well said!!!

I would add... Steam Locomotive rather than diesel electric!

 

[SciAggie]

I grew up shooting cartridge guns. While I’m college in the 80’s I toyed with black guns as used by Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger and other action heroes. Then I got interested in BPC rifles and BPCR Silhouette shooting. Those guys got me interested in ML rifles…
I’ve hunted exclusively with ML rifles now for 25+ years. I become a dedicated flintlock shooter about a year ago. I guess I love the nostalgia and feel of real wood and steel. A ML kills game just as dead as any wondergun I have in the safe.
ML (and accoutrements) are just cool.

 

[StreamHiker]

Started with shotguns at a very early age, then to rifles, got bored, started hunting with handguns (Ruger SRH/SBH, then T/C Sweet 16 357max), got bored, then compound bows, got bored, then percussion rifles/handguns, added more flintlocks and also went longbows in archery. Objective this year is to take a couple of hogs with my Ruger Old Army. Would like to get a pistol wheellock to hunt.

 

[Dude]

Great intro, miglee! Like your style.

I'm not exactly sure where it started with me, but back in the 70s a past life experience emerged with an open top Colt. Sort of a deja vu thing - I had to hold that pistol again. It's difficult describing what it does to me - magical doesn't do it, but you get the idea.

I'm sure it's similar with all of us, even if we don't remember our previous connections to these firearms. I don't recall having a Sharps in a previous time, but I do get that same feeling holding the current one.

And then they're such works of art, unlike new guns. How do you resist???

 

[mushka]

It started with a BB gun in the mid 1950's. later .22's then centerfires. Bolt guns and semis. Everything getting more demanding for perfection out to 1000 yds and more. Then MG's and .50BMG. National matches all during the 80's, master class shooter and distinguished. Wasn't fun any more. It was a job. I turned into a professional plinker with a pot load of unm guns. Only saving grace was a big game hunting trip now and then and some varmint shooting. One day I discovered I was burned out with the modern set, never figured out exactly when. I had two TC rifles a .54 kit Hawkin and a .36 cal TC
Seneca. Started the BP trail with those two about 3 years ago and now I have 19 BP guns. Hand guns, smoothbore flinters, rifle flinter, a bunch of cap guns of 5 different calibers. I've slowed down the shooting and most of the time I'm just a plinker and don't shoot at bulls eye targets very often. I'm in it for the much more relaxed fun now. I'm old enough to enjoy relaxed now.