So..... why a muzzleloading?

[Coinneach]

Something different and I enjoy the process…but not the cleaning!

For me the cleaning chore is a joy, like petting a favourite Puppy after responding to training.
Embrace cleaning your beloved Guns with an abstract Love, my habit is to have some good soothing music on in the background and remind myself how blessed I am being able to own and enjoy using the classical firearms they are.
Its all about ones state of mind, be positive and nothings unpleasant.

 

[TFoley]

Our fate would likely have been the same if the king's soldiers had gotten to Lexington and Concord without them being warned.

Well, THAT didn't take long, did it?

Please let it go - it's over and done, right? Posts like this get old real quick, know what I mean?

 

[WALT53]

Well, THAT didn't take long, did it?

Please let it go - it's over and done, right? Posts like this get old real quick, know what I mean?

I’ve always liked old stuff and to me it’s a hobby.all old guys need a hobby keeps use out the way you know.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I was working (driving Semi Tippers on a day / night shift routine) and one of the other drivers was already shooting BP. We arrived at the Sand Pit late one night at the same time and he asked did I want to have a shot with his Flintlock Pistol.
Boom in the middle of the night, sparks and flames .
I joined the Club the next weekend.
First rifle was a Pedersoli Alamo .50.
Then we built this one.

 

[smokepolehall]

I reckon i can blame my Pa, & my G'Pa n its their fault. My Pa started me on my G'Pa's .45 caplock in 1958. So as the youth years past n the Modern stuff had become a gimmie. So i went back to the ML's. I don't own a Modern CF long-gun nor a handgun. Now i am in the process of getting rid of any ML above a .45 cal for hunting.

 

[Felonious]

The short answer is that I find cartridge guns to be boringly repetitive.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun to shoot, but in my opinion, once you've shot a weapon of each type, you shot them all. It just becomes pulling the trigger over and over after a while, unless you're running some kind of drills or exercises, it gets really dull.

Black powder has so many variables it keeps me interested. Plus, building and repairing a black powder gun is within my skill level, building a modern semi-automatic firearm is not. I think it's neat to shoot a gun that I mostly built.

 

[Buckskinquin]

Raised south of Buffalo, NY. My father came home with an old muzzleloader which he claimed to have found in the area he was building a pigpen. We raised 3 a year. No drum, no trigger guard, busted stock. It was cleaned up and sat by our fireplace starting around 1955. I won a TC Hawken, 50 cal in 1995. Started shooting it at a local club(Olde Saratoga Muzzleloaders Club). I got the old fireplace gun, new stock, drum/nipple and trigger guard and started competing with it. 50 cal. Smoothbore. Lock made by Josh Golcher, started following his work and recently bought a gun at auction with his lock that based UK proofing, was made between 1820 and 1855. Once bitten, this hobby takes a firm hold on you.

 

[TKhuntsman]

For me it was fascination and love of the mountains. My mother told me I was born with an old soul. I was completely enthralled with the mountain men, how they lived, the freedom, and what they accomplished. As a young boy growing up in a super remote area of southern Colorado we lived in a cabin at 9,000' and I loved it. I couldn't wait until I could get my hands on a Hawken rifle. I got my first at the age of 13 I believe (almost 30 years ago now) they weren't as popular or common back then (Internet wasn't what it is today) and mine was a 50 cal Spanish made CVA Mtn. Rifle. The obsession and passion never slowed down from there. I have managed to collect every mountain man book and any literature I can find. I've also collected a pretty good stable of rifles from 36 to 54 caliber cap lock rifles. In the last sever Al years I've expanded my interests to the American long rifles and flintlocks. I love to take them out and oil them and admire the hand hewn craftsmanship. It always amazes me how accurate they can be I often shoot tighter groups on the range than the modern rifles others are shooting around me. I'm not black powder snob though I do own several very nice and very accurate modern rifles. I don't have the same feelings for them though that I do for black powder guns. The older I get the more I usually carry a Hawken for all seasons other than archery.

 

[Varga]

I've just always loved the smell, the sounds, the feel, the beauty, and the history of muzzleloaders.

 

[Cayman like]

I shot my friend's t.c. Hawken and cap and ball pistol a year after getting out of the Army. (1974).I was hooked! Bought a Numerich Arms "Plainsman" and was off! Had 7 thru the years now have 2,...one flinter one cap lock. I'm a addict on m.l.s

 

[springfield art]

History for me, fascinated by how little French colonial history was taught in school even in Illinois where there is a very rich history, and have bought almost every book I can find on the subject. The guns and accoutrements just seemed to follow.

Did lots of my hunting back in the day with handguns, today, don't care if I ever shoot another animal I just enjoy shooting ML's (especially woods walks) and learning more.

The only French history most know is French's Mustard at the grocery store.

 

[oldwood]

I was always a modern firearm competetor , and hunter. We had little money in the early 1950's , with coal mine shutdowns , so Dad remodled Mauser , and other military rifles for us to hunt deer with. I watched him work on those rifles , and started working on my own hunting rifles. Of course , we reloaded all our ammo. Might say I evolved into muzzel loading as Modern ctg. guns became boring to me. By 1972 , I was putting kit guns togather , and building C.W. guns from a mixture of original parts , and repro stocks , and all like that. By 1975 , I was building longrifles from scratch , and competing at local rifle shoots. Mostly have abandoned modern firearms completely , except for protection.

 

[TFoley]

The only French history most know is French's Mustard at the grocery store.

I find that sad, TBH. The French deserve more 'remembrance' than that. Name Lafayette ring any bells?

 

[DementedMindOfJac]

I find that sad, TBH. The French deserve more 'remembrance' than that. Name Lafayette ring any bells?

Even more people like Joseph de Maistre. Remember, "Each nation gets the government they deserve."?

 

[Rancocas]

For as long as I can remember I have had a love for history, archeology, paleontology, biology, zoology - all that kind of "ology's". Started hunting small game at 10 with a SXS shotgun. Still love and collect those double barrels today.
Finally began to sense something lacking in my big game hunting with modern rifles. Tried archery, but didn't take to it. Then, in 1986 I transferred to a new office. My new boss was a CW re-enactor. We talked. He showed me his guns. I borrowed his 1861 Springfield for deer season that year. Shot a small buck and I was definitely hooked.
I like the old guns, and I like the challenge of getting as close as possible to the game before taking a shot. I still mainly use my SXS shotguns for small game and waterfowl, but I have used nothing but percussion or flintlock muzzleloaders for big game for neigh onto 30 years now.

 

[oldwood]

Don't forget , how well the French fleet blockaded The British General Lord Cornwallace , so the British fleet couldn't rescue him , and our General George Washington captured a British army . Huge military victory for our country's battle for Independence which significantly shortened the war Rev. war.

 

[ETipp]

Guys, at the expense of not going back and reading all the replies in this thread, and to be honest I don't even remember if I posted or what I posted, but I would like to sum it up with this.

If anyone that is a true hunter, appreciates the simplicity of the old ML's, as well as appreciates the sport of ML hunting, then there is nothing better. Specifically, to hunt gray squirrels in the dark hardwoods of the mountains of the southeast with an old style ML with open sights, shooting a patched RB, at such small targets as squirrels, there is nothing better. The satisfaction speaks for itself.

To elaborate a bit further, this ole boy has hunted and killed many big game critters which includes whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, and black bear, as well as different small game, and nothing can compare to the peacefulness and satisfaction of squirrel hunting with a ML. Its a real test of patience, choosing ones shots, woodsman-ship, marksmanship, with a little luck thrown into the mix.

That's all I can say, guys. Until you experience it, you would never understand it.

 

[Felonious]

The French are some bad MF'ers. Lafayette, Marie Antoinette, and the bloody French revolution. They also managed to maintain an underground gorilla network and official government during Nazi invasion at the threat of death, or worse.

 

[Coinneach]

The French are some bad MF'ers. Lafayette, Marie Antoinette, and the bloody French revolution. They also managed to maintain an underground gorilla network and official government during Nazi invasion at the threat of death, or worse.

Yep, anyone who accuses the French of cowardice or malingering are doing do from an ignorant mindset, one only has to look at the Napoleonic wars and French casualties in the Franco-Prussian War; WW1 and 2 to realise their consistent Bravery.

Don't forget , how well the French fleet blockaded The British General Lord Cornwallace , so the British fleet couldn't rescue him , and our General George Washington captured a British army . Huge military victory for our country's battle for Independence which significantly shortened the war Rev. war.

"Is there no decency"

"Oh Fireworks.....lovely"

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

Yep, anyone who accuses the French of cowardice or malingering are doing do from an ignorant mindset, one only has to look at the Napoleonic wars and French casualties in the Franco-Prussian War; WW1 and 2 to realise their consistent Bravery.


"Is there no decency"

"Oh Fireworks.....lovely"

The French 'Surrender' namecalling thing is something I just don't get. Yes, in 1940 the GOVERNMENT surrendered. Many French units held out until their ammo and supplies ran out, the last Maginot line fortresses only capitulating a month later. Saumur is the largest town of any size near me (there is a FANTASTIC tank museum there). In June 1940 at the Battle of Saumur, Colonel Michon had at his disposal 800 officer cadets, 400 regular French infantry and an Algerian half batallion of 250 riflemen. In addition he had a few armoured cars, heavy machine guns and 4 antiquated tanks. He faced 10'000 German troops and kept them North of the Loire for 3 days. When they were starved of ammunition and exhausted they slowly withdrew to Fontevraud (the burial place of Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine). Anecdotally, it is said that the German commander sent a message to Michon begging him to withdraw and save his men, as he would soon be relieved by an SS detachment, and that if his men were captured by them they would be shot as insurrectionalists, the government having officially surrendered. Sadly, until recently the Algerian riflemen received little credit for their part in this.