Think I turned another one to the DARK side..

[S.Kenton]

YES.. and the probably the most unfortunate thing about the situation is that since he fired off his T/C In%^ne it ain't worth half of what he paid for it. I told him to sell it fast, due to our M'ler season starts this coming Sat. the 5th, this year he can borrow my T/C Hawken. With the money he gets outa HIS junk he will have to add a little and buy a traditional one.

 

[dc7x64]

Met a co-worker at the range Sat. before Christmas to do some shooting. He had his competition .308 "black rifle" among a few others. He brought his 9-year old son with him. The kid turned out to be a pretty good shot for his age. My Buddy had never seen a Traditional muzzleloader up close and had never seen one loaded! He and his son fired my T/C Hawken with .54 Green Mt. barrel. He said he was definitely going to get one. Too much fun he said. Well got back from Christmas break yesterday and he told me, shooting the Hawken was all his son talked about for 2 weeks!!! Did we just get another one?

 

[cynthialee]

Met a co-worker at the range Sat. before Christmas to do some shooting. He had his competition .308 "black rifle" among a few others. He brought his 9-year old son with him. The kid turned out to be a pretty good shot for his age. My Buddy had never seen a Traditional muzzleloader up close and had never seen one loaded! He and his son fired my T/C Hawken with .54 Green Mt. barrel. He said he was definitely going to get one. Too much fun he said. Well got back from Christmas break yesterday and he told me, shooting the Hawken was all his son talked about for 2 weeks!!! Did we just get another one?

Nope.
2

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Got a text message yesterday...,

One of my deer huntin' coworkers has been listening to me talk about takin' a deer with a .54 flinter. So he went out and got himself a Lyman GPR.

Now when it came it had a crack in the stock, and Lyman replaced the stock in less than a week. I think I posted a thread on that...

So Jesse and I go out several weeks ago, and I show him the basics of shooting a patched, round ball, work up a load, and sight his rifle in...,

So back to the text..., first time out, he gets a deer with it! :grin: So he's hooked!

So does that now make 3?

LD

 

[cynthialee]

that kid liked the Hawken likely for the same reason it impressed me as a kid. Modern guns look boring for the most part. That old Hawken with its brass patchbox and furniture and stained wood, it looks like a work of art. Then add in the mystique that you have to personaly load it and there are no shells. Any old idiot can chamber a shell and pull the trigger to get a boom from a modern gun. To properly load a BP firearm one must know the basics or it doesn't work.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Got a text message yesterday...,

One of my deer huntin' coworkers has been listening to me talk about takin' a deer with a .54 flinter. So he went out and got himself a Lyman GPR.

Now when it came it had a crack in the stock, and Lyman replaced the stock in less than a week. I think I posted a thread on that...

So Jesse and I go out several weeks ago, and I show him the basics of shooting a patched, round ball, work up a load, and sight his rifle in...,

So back to the text..., first time out, he gets a deer with it! :grin: So he's hooked!

So does that now make 3?

LD

Wait till they show up at the range, and someone has a hand built American Long Rifle flinter with CM-4+ wood on it. The factory guns will all look like their ex-wives after that.

 

[MattC]

"The factory guns will all look like their ex-wives after that."[/quote]

My ex-wife was a bathing suit model......

Anyway, I've been thinking about this. I know alot of people who are simply in love with technology. I-this and cloud-that, etc. I can't really fault them for that, it's just where their passion lies.

 

[JCOPE]

I have two factory ugly ducklings i would put up against any custom any day of the week. They might not have drop dead gorgeous wood, but they'll stack the bullseye when i do my part. Works of art belong in museums. Workhorses belong in the field.

 

[JCOPE]

I don't want my last post to sound like i'm looking for an argument. I'm not. I don't believe it matters if your using a $500 or $1500 weapon, as long as your out there grinding rock against steel having fun. It's definitely a sickness for which there is no cure.

 

[Zonie]

To a kid, muzzleloaders have lots of good things going for them.

Like you said, they look neat with real wood and an old fashioned lock and little storage boxes and sometimes some shiny brass.

They also make a BIG cloud of smoke! That's neat!

The smoke actually STINKS! And, if your lucky that stinky smoke will get on your cloths so your friends will all be able to admire the smell!! THAT'S NEATER !! :grin:

And, neatest of all, if the grown up your with knows what he/she is doing they will load a real mild powder load so even though the gun makes a big cloud it doesn't hurt to shoot it. :thumbsup:

 

[lorren68]

To a kid, muzzleloaders have lots of good things going for them.

Like you said, they look neat with real wood and an old fashioned lock and little storage boxes and sometimes some shiny brass.

They also make a BIG cloud of smoke! That's neat!

The smoke actually STINKS! And, if your lucky that stinky smoke will get on your cloths so your friends will all be able to admire the smell!! THAT'S NEATER !! :grin:

And, neatest of all, if the grown up your with knows what he/she is doing they will load a real mild powder load so even though the gun makes a big cloud it doesn't hurt to shoot it. :thumbsup:

I had my .50 cal at the range one day and a 14 year old girl that was there with her moms boy friend shot about 30 rounds using 30grains of FFFg. That mild load was accurate at 25 yards and that young lady had a smile a mile wide when she left. I let her have the target she shot and a shiney new home cast .490 ball for a momento of her time at the range.

 

[daniel t]

I am a little concerned as it seems every mothers son is buying an in-line rifle this hunting season at Dicks Sporting Goods in Ohio.
As a 20yr+rifle builder (40 cal.silver furniture Ohio style of course)the BP season is now allowing everything but a LaMatt revolver or grenades around here :bull:
Have not hunted the last 8 years so I'm not sure what to expect this week.Any Buckeye buckskinner advise out there?

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the forum. We're glad to have another traditional shooter in the camp.

I realize this topic started off talking about modern styles but we aren't supposed to so I've been keeping an eye on this to make sure it stays on traditional guns.

Because of this I must ask others to refrain from turning this into a discussion of those other things and the folks who are buying them.

Thanks.

 

[daniel t]

Then I guess my question is:
Are the majority of Ohio BP hunters traditional firearm users nowadays?

 

[Zonie]

I can't speak for the folks in Ohio but on a National level, we traditional gun shooters are the minority.

The stores and major makers are pushing their new designs and many don't even offer traditional style muzzleloaders any more.

Although we are a minority I can say without a doubt we are better marksmen and better hunters and have a much greater understanding about what we are doing and why.

 

[S.Kenton]

I think the answer is NO. Like Zonie said we are the "minority". It's not a bad thing though to be different.. :grin:

 

[asbrown]

:thumbsup: Some of us even make it our life long ambition to be differentso viva le differance! :rotf: If you watch the forum you'll see we are constantly turning others to the "dark side" and should continue to do so at every opportunity.

 

[asbrown]

A while back I posted about taking my 54 to a Boy Scout shoot. One boy in particular spent the day shooting with me and even began loading the rifle for other boy's (under a watchful eye of course) and helping them shoot. I found out last week that this 16 yr. old convinced his dad over Christmas to allow him to use his own money to buy his first muzzleloader, an 1851 Navy revolver complete with the starters kit. I'm looking forward to shooting with him and his dad real soon. :thumbsup:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I can't really fault them for that, it's just where their passion lies.

Sometimes that passion though, leads to "blind recklessness"...., I know of one fellow who I use as the "classic example" when teaching survival..., bet his life, the life of his wife, and the lives of his children on modern technology. Cell phones and GPS don't always work well, and even then knowing where you are is not the same as being able to reach safety or to survive until rescued. :shocked2: Luckily the wife and kids were found alive after the family got lost and stuck in the wilds in a huge snow storm..., they found what was left of the man many weeks later, as he had gone on foot for help after being stuck for several days. :shake:

LD

 

[JCOPE]

Not sure 'bout Ohio, but here in PA in my area people flocked to the inline season when first opened many years ago. If i were a betting man i would wager that only a very small percentage of them ever entertained the thoughts of a BP weapon before that. One could hardly blame them, it's the earliest firearms season for deer. The weather is usually mild versus our traditional season which starts the day after Christmas. The weather usually sucks, and the deer herd has been tormented the month prior by modern rifle hunters. I don't like to admit it in public, but i went down that road. I ran out and bought one of those modern nasties,hunted the season,and sold it shortly after. The mystic just wasn't there.I don't fault anyone for their method of hunting,but as Zonie stated, we are the minority and at least in my state, get the short stick.