So..... why a muzzleloading?

[Flintlock Whiskey]

One of the main reasons for me is a connection of sorts with the past.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

Maybe it's a subconsious wish for simpler times?

That's a big part of it for me. It also sets one apart from the "tactical", shtf, teotwawki crowd. Funny thing is, when it is teotwawki (assuming one survives it) BP guns will be the last ones standing.

 

[Christophero]

When I decided to start deer hunting in 1986 I was already partial to rifles. Smoothbore shotguns, handguns and muzzleloaders were the only options. I didn't own a handgun, didn't want to tote a shotgun when the job called for a rifle, so I used a borrowed TC 45 caliber muzzleloading rifle. I've never been without a Mzlding rifle ever since. Learned a considerable amount from these types of rifles through the years and love the journey.

 

[11th corps]

In 1975 I was working at Haag Drugs in Indianapolis. Transferred to a 24 hour store out on Pendleton Pike, my hours got longer and the pay got shorter. With an every other weekend off, my wife and I would travel back to our home town and stay with her parents or mine overnight. Getting up on Sunday morning, Dad took me to the local gun range to pop a few rounds. I had a few unmentionable guns myself but decided I needed a new one for these Sunday range trips. Small gun store near the place where I worked had a Ruger Old Army Revolver in the display case. I made a deal and the next Sunday took it with some Pyrodex and .457 round balls, #11 caps. The smoke from the barrel was great. My Dad liked it so much he decided he had to have one himself. I now own both along with other BP guns but this one was the beginning.

 

[Muddly]

In 1998 I sold my breechloader to buy my P53 Enfield after enlisting in E Co. 1st Texas Vol. Infy. C.S.A.
Killed 4 deer and LORD knows how many yankees with it.
Found they: kill quite quickly, legal everywhere, no legislative hostility ( yet) and are more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
If it requires me to pour powder and ram, with rare exceptions, I'll play with it.
Good, clean, honest FUN!

 

[Ed C.]

Simple for me. In my 70's it looked like something fun and neat to try. Still want to be a cowboy when I grow up!

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Lo and behold about 1969 I had a cox Dune Buggy (9 years old) torn it down and And figured out how it worked. Man I got many hours out of it. for there on in I knew I was done,,, and here I am now...

 

[Salt River Johnny]

I really enjoy the history from the time the flintlocks were used. It has always fascinated me and now I study it and fo living history programs and shoot alot.

 

[OKWilliam]

Y’all will probably find this funny. My interest in muzzleloading started with me playing a civil war game on my computer, it’s pretty realistic so the rifles in the game look exactly as their real life counter parts. After starting to play the game I started watching videos on youtube and shortly after I ordered a pedersoli 1861 Springfield, a Minnie ball mold, lead, and a lee pot.

Two years later and my collection has grown, I was lucky enough to get a Lyman Great Plains rifle that was made on their last production run. I love my Springfield but the GPR is my favorite caplock. And I just recently assembled a kibler Woodsrunner flintlock and now I’m going down the flintlock rabbit hole. I continue to cast my own ammunition and I like how peaceful it can be. I’m waiting for it to come in the mail but I ordered a possible bag kit that I’ll have to assemble.

I never thought by playing that game I’d find a hobby or a community as welcoming and interesting as muzzleloading, but I’m glad I did and I can say that I have a lifelong love of muzzleloading that I try to share with my friends and family

 

[Johnny Tremain]

My ole man told me not to waste my time with black powder or lever actions, they are not as accurate for the shooting we do.
He was right about the 70s muzzle loaders, not quite up to steam.
Never owned a lever gun till I was over 50. Bought a bunch, sold a bunch.
Not my cup of tea.
Todays muzzle loaders are not yesterdays ones.

 

[Pratt]

To me it is the ultimate gun control. You alone control the amount of powder, the thickness of the patch, the size of the ball. the bevel of the flint, the cleanness of the lock. the sight picture and sight alignment and trigger control. Yep, it is an art that we do.

 

[LANEY REECE]

I started doing ACW living history... Dement's Battery, Maryland Light Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia, CSA
Then off to college and the only way for me to try to hunt deer was with a muzzleloader, as I'd get home too late for any other season than ML season...
Then off to The Marine Corps, and not much time for hunting or living history,
After The Service, I went into Law Enforcement, and then saw Last of The Mohicans in 1992, and also read Allan Eckert's The Frontiersman. Turned out Simon Kenton was born about an hour South of me. I thought, I'd like to make a flintlock rifle as a pastime totally unrelated to being an LEO. Turned out I wasn't the only cop at my station that did that, and several got me into doing Rev War Reenacting with The Maryland Militia.
That lead to my looking into what a "Loyalist" was all about, and I joined The Maryland Loyalist Battalion (hence the screen name)
Meanwhile I started hunting deer and small game as well as upland birds with black powder, and haven't really "gone back". I've also taken up some 18th century "angling"..., loads of fun.
Currently I do living history with The 1st Bn New Jersey Volunteers.

LD

THANK YOU SIR for your service, I had to register but i did not have to go.

 

[LANEY REECE]

I got into muzzleloaders primarily because of ascetics. I got a thing for long, sleek rifles. My first rifle was an 1891 Argentine Mauser. My dad bought it at a surplus store back in the '50's for less'n a gallon of gas today. I killed my first antelope with it aged 14, an' nagged my dad into an early inheritance before I was 15. I still have that rifle, as I did not succumb to my son's desire to continue tradition. Bought him his own instead. Gotta be smart.

Where I lived before coming to the US, it wasn't practical to shoot black powder. Black powder was (is?) classified as an explosive, an' unless you have a government explosives permit, you'd not want to be caught with any. Yeah, I know. It's stupid.

I remember my dad comin' back from Spain with a boatload of 'em pewter non-firin' replicas replicas to decorate his study. My brother an' I broke ALL of them inside 3 days. I didn't break the sword an' I'll stick to that till my dyin' day.

Well, given my nature, it's not strange I'd wind up in Tennessee. An' given Tennesee's nature it wasn't long before I run into folks with smokepoles. "Want to shoot it? Oh, hell, yes!" It always starts like that. A friend offers you a taste, an' next thing you're lurking on shady places on the interzones tryin' to peddle your offspring for a can of CCIs. I even learned to shoot both-handed. You shoot a right-hand flintlock left-handed only so many times afore it sets your beard afire.

I honestly can't tell you why I love long rifles, just that I do. I don't hunt, so it's not that. Got blowed up in Iraq an' my joints just hurt too much in winter. Used to, though. Loved it, even when I got nothing. I guess I like the ritual. Powder horn to powder measure, down the spout, patch, ball, short start, ramrod, prime/cap, shoulder, full cock, aim, set trigger, front trigger, recoil, smoke. Lots of it. It's not the same without smoke. Sulphur. It's a man's smell. Like oiled leather or wet dog. Man smells. Maybe it's a subconsious wish for simpler times?

THANK YOU SIR for your service.

 

[stephenprops1]

As a kid I sometimes witnessed people shooting old, original muzzleloaders. They always fascinated me. I watched tv shows and movies like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett which also whetted my appetite. The Bicentennial, in 1976, piqued a lot of peoples' interest in black powder guns, me being one of them. The movie Jeremiah Johnson cinched it for me and many others. When reproduction muzzle loaders became available i eventually got my first one.

 

[Nuthatch]

I got all this black powder stuff because of a hunt I do each year allows me to take a bow or muzzleloading rifle. After 3 years of failing to connect with a bow (recurve), I picked up a used Traditions Woodsman and took a year off of that hunt, in part to get familiar with the rifle. The rifle itself had only a little romance. It was the place and time of year I wanted to hunt. I grew to love that spot, in that time of year. Of course, my wife was giving me manure about not coming home with anything to show for it all so that pushed me a little to put the bow down for a time. It's a challenging location and hunt, to say the least. But the opportunity is there.

From there, it just grew on me. Ammo shortages & such certainly added fuel to the fire under my rear to ensure that I'm never without viable hunting tools. Now I cast roundball, go to the fabric store with calipers, make my own caps and enjoy shooting MLs more than any other kind of firearm.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I just wanted a challenge.
Modern firearms are so easy to use.
Muzzloaders mean I have to hunt and it makes it a special occasion, an achievement.

 

[Eterry]

Me? I was 14, living in the Sticks, going to 8th grade, taking shop class. Our teacher asked us about November who wanted to build a muzzleloading rifle next semester? I thought they were gonna give us one and raised my hand.
Wrong!
I had about 6 weeks to beg, plead, etc to get one for Christmas. A CVA Kentucky rifle kit. I was in heaven.
I took it to school on the bus, we started assembling it. By spring break it was in the white but ready to shoot. I took it back home on the bus, shot the heck out of it for a week, then back on the bus again. The stock was completely black from smoke.
I got it finished and took it home a week before school ended. It was the only firearm I owned for 2 years, hunted almost daily, killed everything that walked or flew except a deer. I knew nothing about hunting them, never saw one.
43 1/2 years later i still have it.

 

[cynthialee]

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.

 

[Ed C.]

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.

Yep, a round ball will definitely hurt somebody. I lined up gallon water bottles and shot them with the 58 remington, 25 grains. The ball went through 4 jugs and stopped in the fifth one. Enough to give anybody a serious OUCH!

 

[Edm]

For the price it’s hard to beat the Great Plains flintlock. It looks historic while not being so.
Loyalist arms are good for the price. They are shooters but all smoothbore. And smoothies is a whole new discipline.
Pedi are good but you are looking at a higher price.

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.

Huh? 3 years? Does not compute. We’re you not interested in firearms before marriage or did your spouse not know that you were?

When I had been married a few months, I was watching TV and fondling a revolver, like I did while single.. my wife walked in and was . So I decided to compromise and turn off the tv while I fondled my firearms.