Survival Muzzleloader ! Your Pick ?

[Skychief]

Let's imagine that we find ourselves in a survival situation. We are able to have only one longgun and it must be a traditional frontstuffer. Rifled or smoothbore. Any caliber or gauge. Flintlock or percussion. The choice is yours!

What longarm (exactly) would you choose to feed and defend yourself (if need be)?

 

[roundball]

Let's imagine that we find ourselves in a survival situation. We are able to have only one longgun and it must be a traditional frontstuffer. Rifled or smoothbore. Any caliber or gauge. Flintlock or percussion. The choice is yours!

What longarm (exactly) would you choose to feed and defend yourself (if need be)?

.62cal Smoothbore Flintlock


(If they were out of stock...then a .54cal Smoothbore Flintlock :wink: )

 

[luieb45]

12 gauge double barrel percussion shotgun.

 

[nw_hunter]

YEP! Or a 56 SB......BG

 

[gmww]

I agree with roundball. .62

 

[ssettle]

10 gage double ...load one side for big game and other for small. :thumbsup:

 

[hanshi]

.62 smoothie.

 

[Chilidog]

Yep, I'd go with the 20 guage/62 cal. Flintlock.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Survival against what? For how long?

If it's dark and I hear someone shuffling around in the kitchen in the dark and my wife is beside me it won't be a muzzleloader that comes up first.

Indefinate time against multiple marauders? 12 bore pump and #4 buck.

To feed myself? A box of corn and squash seed (to plant) and a .22LR pump.

So if I'm limited to muzzleloaders? A nice .50 cal original flint rifle made by Rupp and in pristine condition. Might as well have pretty if we're gonna be silly.

When a survival situation pops up you use what you have on hand. So if I couldn't get to my .22 pump or centerfires I'd grab my .50 New Englander percussion. Food is in the houses, anymore, and going door-to-door marauding with a 59" flint longrifle wouldn't work so well. With any luck I'd be able to snag the 12 bore barrel for her, too. Percussion caps may be hard to find, but no harder than suitable blackpowder. I'd also grab a few spools of wire for rabbit and squirrel snares.

Sporting is nice. Survival is harsh. I do most of my hunting with traditional m/l because I think it adds a challange. Not because I think they are superior to modern arms.

I have more provisions on hand at the moment to shoot my .54 flinter, so if I was staying put I would choose that muzzleloader.

Something to be said for a nice recurve bow and a couple dozen blunt and broadhead arrows to get started, too. I can make suitable arrows given enough time. A broadhead can be chipped from glass, but a lock flint can't. They'll kill everything from mice to moose; and fish, too. Quietly, to boot.

 

[Mountainman56]

Large smooth bore double, one barrel with a ball and the other with bird shot. Percussion if it's only a temporary catastrophe, flint if I'm going to have to use it for the rest of my days (I'll learn how to knap rocks)

 

[widget350]

For self defense a Nock gun or a ribauldequin, if that counts. For hunting, probably something more common.

 

[Le Grand]

"62cal Smoothbore Flintlock (If they were out of stock...then a .54cal Smoothbore Flintlock )"

Why not a .58 smoothbore..?

 

[Trench]

.58 or .62 smoothbore. I've missed too many squirrels this year with my .36. All would have been kills with bird shot. Can't afford to go hungry just to prove I might be a good shot.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Got everything I need, home made rifle, sack of flints, cans of powder, bullet mould.

 

[musketman]

For a true survival muzzleloader I would choose a large caliber flintlock musket, like the .75 caliber brown bess flintlock.

If you are unable to get .715 roundballs, it will shoot smaller caliber roundballs, shot, small stones, coins, nails or even rock salt if your life depended on it. (might scar the barrel some, but this is a survival scenario, right?)

Anthing that will fit down the tube (in theroy) can be shot out, including wooden slugs made from a dowel rod, a heavily patched nut and bolt, ball bearings, marbles, BB's. The list is endless, may not be good for your barrel but it could save you from being killed.

Most flexible material found in nature can me made into wads, bee's nest, leaves, straw and grasses can all be packed down a barrel to work. Even a US penny or dime will fit into the tube, could be made into a wad if it was a life or death situation.

Once you are out of percussion caps, you are done shooting, but if I run out of flint, I can use any sparking stone found in nature with a little work, even old Indian arrow points broken to fit in the jaws will work (held sideways using their cutting edge).

Pyrite (fools gold) is another choice for sparks, even hard sharpening stones for knifes will spark once knapped a little and broken down to fit into the jaws.

Note: I am not saying to use flint arrow heads, coins or nails in your guns, but if I was in a life or death situation and thats all I had to work with, I would not hesitate to improvise.

 

[roundball]

"62cal Smoothbore Flintlock (If they were out of stock...then a .54cal Smoothbore Flintlock )"

Why not a .58 smoothbore..?

My answer was a .62cal smoothbore...I simply tossed in a .54cal alternative mainly because I have both and know what they both can do.
I'm sure a .58cal smoothbore would also be a good choice, as would any of the many smoothbore calibers & gauges.

But I would not feel handicapped if I ended up with a .54cal smoothie to have to survive with...basically it'll do anything here in North Carolina that a .62cal would do...just probably need to get 6-8 yards closer using smaller shot charges in the .54cal...and to be honest, the .54cal would be a tad more economical to use than the larger bores.

 

[Dphar]

Let's imagine that we find ourselves in a survival situation. We are able to have only one longgun and it must be a traditional frontstuffer. Rifled or smoothbore. Any caliber or gauge. Flintlock or percussion. The choice is yours!

What longarm (exactly) would you choose to feed and defend yourself (if need be)?

36-40 caliber rifle. Flintlock. The 22 RF of its day.

Why? Same reason my dad did almost all his hunting with 22 shorts during the great depression. He knew how to shoot and a shot gun cost far too much to use unless you could shoot a bunch of birds sitting.
Shooting even 1/2 ounce of shot at a rabbit with the powder to drive it is a colossal waste of powder and lead compared to the 32-40 caliber rifle.
Deer, bear, moose? Head shots for the bigger stuff. 36-40 cal will kill deer with lung shots.
A .735 RB weighs about 10 times what a small bore rifle ball does.
A small bore rifle will kill rabbits etc with 10-15 grains of powder if the hunter knows how to get close. I have shot grouse with a 50 with 20 grains. Just pokes a hole through them.
Oh yeah and its a lot quieter too.

Dan

 

[Bob Gular]

A 32 to 40 caliber is just fine for obtaining food, but part of the original question was self defense. Although no specific geographical area was referenced, I believe that anywhere and everywhere was included. That introduces large predators into the equation, bears, cats, wolves, etc. I believe these factors preclude economy of resources and tip the odds in favor of a large caliber smoothbore.
Just a couple sparks from this side of the fire.

 

[roundball]

"...part of the original question was self defense. Although no specific geographical area was referenced, I believe that anywhere and everywhere was included. That introduces large predators into the equation, bears, cats, wolves, etc. I believe these factors preclude economy of resources and tip the odds in favor of a large caliber smoothbore..."

I didn't see all that...this is the post I was responding to:

"...Let's imagine that we find ourselves in a survival situation. We are able to have only one longgun and it must be a traditional frontstuffer. Rifled or smoothbore. Any caliber or gauge. Flintlock or percussion. The choice is yours!
What longarm (exactly) would you choose to feed and defend yourself (if need be)?..."

 

[flintlock75]

If a flinter then my brown bess carbine, If perc the my .12ga double.