What got you into muzzlleloading?

What first sparked your interest in muzzleloading firearms?

For me it was two books, the first about eight years before I actually owned and shot my first ML rifle.
The first was my third grade reading book that was a series of stories about a young boy growing up in the area around Fort Dearborn. (Chicago)
The second book was about pioneer life a little closer to home. The Bears of Blue River took place near Shelbyville, IN just two counties away. It’s a kid’s book, but I just reread it and it’s still, for the most part, as much an enjoyable read at sixty as it was at ten.
The first muzzleloader came along in 1968, coinciding with a rather infamous piece of anti-gun legislation. At sixteen I couldn’t buy a box of .22 ammunition, but I could buy percussion caps, and if dad bought the powder every month or so I got to spend a lot of time shooting. It ain’t never been the same since. Well, except for the caps part. Now I buy flints.

 

[wattlebuster]

The old man that tought me to turkey hunt when I was just a teenager had a old percussion that had been converted from flint an he still squirrel hunted with it an I thought it was so cool an me shooting it is what got me hooked. He has been gone for about 25 yrs now. I would love to have that old tennesee rifle but I Im sure the relative that I think got it would'nt sell it :hatsoff:

 

[Trench]

The Sharpe series got me interested. :grin:

 

[cynthialee]

My father. He always had black powder guns. He would take me and my brother out shooting his pistols.
He would occasionaly hunt with a 30-30 but he mostly disdained modern fire arms as he said that black powder encouraged good marksmanship and modern guns encourage sloppy marksmanship. The only time I ever saw him take his winchester out to hunt was when he needed to put meat in the freezer. If it was mainly sport and meat as a secondary consideration he would always take a BP rifle.

I always have liked the feeling of control over the weapon as it is up to the shooter to prepare every shot individualy.

 

[Bob J]

My dad. He loved muzzleloaders: cap-n-ball revolvers, percussion, flint, antique or reproduction. Dad gave me a TC Hawken .50 my 13th Christmas (1978) and we hunted just about every muzzleloading season until he passed away in 2000.

 

[mooman76]

I bought a pistol because it was a cheap used gun. Later on it was the thought of a Primative hunt season where there was less pressure hunting and it kind of went from there.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

Even as a kid I always felt like I was born in the wrong century and was interested in American history and "oldtimey" ways. When I was about 16 or 17 a friend and I decided we wanted to hunt deer in the muzzleloader season. That would have been about 1978 or 79 and inlines weren`t around much yet so we got percussion sidelock rifles. I bought a new CVA .50cal Mountain Rifle (which I still have) and he got a used .50 cal T/C Hawken. I didn`t kill a deer that first season but from my first shot with black powder I knew it was ALOT more fun than modern stuff and have been hooked ever since.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I would have to say the Disney series of Davy Crockett, with Fess Parker, Johnny Tremain and the Swamp Fox. Followed by the bi-centennial of the Civil War. Plus a lot of reading as a youngster.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Daniel Boone was a man, was a big man!

 

[Coot]

I was into shooting, naval history and Civil War history about the time things were gearing up for the CW centennial & Navy Arms had come out with their repo '51 Navy. It seemed too good of a fit to pass up so I got one.

 

[jdkerstetter]

My Dad....he was into black powder before it was cool. Mostly percussion long guns and pisols and C&B revolvers.

I gravitated toward the early flint longrifles as that is the area that most interest me in our history...F&I war up through the War of 1812.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[nchawkeye]

I grew up with a love of history, even before the Daniel Boone series (I was nine in 1964) I was reading biographies at our school library...

Funny thing is, I use to go to Williamsburg and watch Wallace Gusler work...When I wanted a muzzleloader I just couldn't buy a factory made one as I knew they didn't resemble the real thing...

I moved to Atlanta in 1977 and one day walked into Bob Watt's gunshop in Stone Mountain, Georgia...I was 22...I bought a .45 caliber flinter from him and for years that's all I used...

My first deer with that gun fell in October of '77...My first wild turkey ever fell in November of '79...I hunted everything with that gun and got into competition shooting as well...

As I've learned and evolved I now build a gun from time to time and give several talks each year in period clothing to local schools and Boy Scouts...

It's been both educational and fun...

 

[hanshi]

Randy, You're the first person, other than myself, who has read, remembered, treasured and absorbed The Bears of Blue River. I read it back in the 1950s and reread it at least once more. It got me interested in flintlocks though it would be a few years later before I got my first one. Kid's book or not, I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in flintlocks and early American history. Many great books are a bit foggy in my memory but TBOBR feels as fresh as it ever did. Thanks for bringing up that fine read.

 

[Adui]

Jeez, after all these good stories mine is somewhat embarrassing...

I was a young man of 21 (I think) and was home on leave from the Navy. Back then the insta-check system was not in place, so there was a 7 day wait to buy a modern firearm. I didn't want to wait, so I bought a CVA navy colt kit, and all the stuff the gun shop said I needed to shoot it, including the fixings to make my own .375 round ball.

I slapped the kit together, (literally) and started shooting it inside of two days. Love that little pistol, some day when Ive time and money to buy what little supplies I need I will take her down and clean her up to make her a truly nice looking pistol, but for now she's a bit ugly but functional.

Many, (6-8) years later I was looking to buy a hunting rifle, and for some reason chose my Traditions Hawken .50 over the modern guns I could have bought. I cant really remember what made me decide on the ML, but I do remember at least a passing interest by then.

 

Randy, You're the first person, other than myself, who has read, remembered, treasured and absorbed The Bears of Blue River. I read it back in the 1950s and reread it at least once more. It got me interested in flintlocks though it would be a few years later before I got my first one. Kid's book or not, I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in flintlocks and early American history. Many great books are a bit foggy in my memory but TBOBR feels as fresh as it ever did. Thanks for bringing up that fine read.

This should bring back some memories. It is the centerpiece of downtown Shelbyville.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/55745536

The one really weak part in TBOBR is that Majors didn't bother to explain what Balzer did with the cubs when they became adults.
By the way, I am now reading the follow-up to The Bears of Blue River, Uncle Tom Andy Bill. Balzer is a main character in it as well.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Hunting as a teenager in the late fifties. It was about 1/4 the cost to shoot a muzzle loading shotgun then vs modern. Now the cost facter is about the same in favor of modern over black!But I still deer hunt with black powder! :idunno:

 

[Oldnamvet]

Kind of a long story. Short version is I was too nervous handling my guns when I returned from overseas duty so I sold them. Years later I wanted to hunt again (grew up hunting from the age of 5 with my father). Found I wasn't nervous with MLs so bought a T/C 54. Added benefit as a father of 5, I didn't worry about my kids suddenly getting hold of my guns, loading them, and shooting someone. Various parts needed (powder, caps) locked up separately so even if the little kids got to the gun, they couldn't possibly do anything with it hazardous. Over the years kept collecting -- still do.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Being in Canada, handguns were hard to come by.
But at the very old age of 15 I bought my very own .44 cal cap and ball six shooter.
A big long heavy hand gun , that weighed almost 4 1/2 pounds.
In almost new condition.
A Colt Walker ( not a replica ), I paid $150.....my dad was furious!
I had already learned you could not put smokeless in it.
My next was a Numrich Arms .45 cal. buggy rifle.
And now 50 years later, it has never stopped.
Old Ford

 

[ken.clements]

What first sparked your interest in muzzleloading firearms?

mostly it was the arrogant people in the shooting club that I was in....
lots of them would only shoot military single shot....m1, m14, k98. people who wanted to shoot something different were....well....left out.
So...to make them notice me....bought it, shot it, got the stand full of smoke :grin: made them angry :wink: and haven't looked back since :thumbsup:
wouldn't give it up for the world now

 

[hanshi]

:thumbsup: