What got you started in this hobby/sport?

[Billnpatti]

One day a fellow at work brought in a Dixie Gun Works catalog. It was filled with pictures of all sorts of muzzleloading guns. Somehow I just knew I had to have one of those muzzleloading rifles. At that time, I did not have the money to buy a rifle but the burning desire was there. That desire burned for a few years until my salary grew to the point that I had a bit of disposable cash. My first muzzleloading rifle was a .32 cal. Pedersoli that I bought from Rebel Arms in Pasadena, Texas in around 1970. I shot the heck out of that rifle and when I had another bit of disposable cash, I bought a .50 cal T/C Hawken kit at a gun show. I was on my way and it hasn't stopped since. :thumbsup:

 

[azmntman]

A Kentucky rifle for sale at a drug store.

Funny, I bought a CVA .54 kit at an Albertsons supermarket in North Phoenix in 1984. Was a tack driver. Sold it for twice what I paid for it to a Jamaican guy that thought it was a pirate rifle!! (he insisted :redface: )

 

[dikman]

Not very exciting compared to some of you chaps. A couple of years ago I watched the Sharpe's Rifles series, by the time I'd watched them all I had become fascinated with the Baker Rifle (and muzzleloaders). Then I (re)watched The Last of the Mohicans, which further reinforced my new-found interest.

As I studied more I came to appreciate the subtleties of the American Longrifle. Like the Japanese Samurai sword, they have an innate beauty and elegance to their design that elevates them beyond just being a mere tool.

I had to have one..or two..or.......

 

[Walks with fire]

About the year I graduated from high school PA began the special flintlock season. Several of my brothers and friends bought flintlock rifles so I did too. I don't think I have missed a season since. It's kind of funny how poor a shot I was with one back then and also how little I knew about how to keep a flintlock in working order.

There was a guy that opened up a new shop in town just as things were getting underway and he had it stocked to the hilt. Economic times were far different back then than they are now in that town. When the major manufacturing shops closed down the town pretty much died a slow death. Hunting was big back then and the flint season just added more to the plate. The flintlock journey has been great.

I am getting old now and there are too many flinters in my collection of firearms. Some need to go but I haven't picked the ones I am keeping; I like them all but downsizing is needed. The newest one is a simple .54 Lyman deerstalker flinter; it's now become my favorite of the bunch.

 

[Mad Mucus]

Did 6 years in the Aussie Air Force fresh out of school at age 17 and shot for the first time. Bought a .22 leveraction soon after arriving at my first posting. Progressed years later to cowboy style guns with smokeless and quickly got bored so started loading BP .45 Colt cartridges..... hooked on the boom, flames, smoke and the negativity of the narrow minded shooters around me. Started casting bullets and then bought 2 ROAs..... guess wanting a muzzle stuffer was part of the journey, so now I am hangin' to get my first, a Lyman GPR caplock .54. Deposit down waiting for the local state cops to approve my permit application which is giving me time to read read read!

And yes as a kid I watched Daniel Boone whenever it was on the box..... Mingo caught my eye so I named the 1st family dog after him.

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

When I was a kid my dad started going to rondys, and purchased a 50cal pistol. I remember having so much fun throwing hawk and hanging out around camp. (Never got to shoot that pistol ) When I was in my middle teens, my dad decided to get out of the hobby for some reason or another, and that was that. Fast forward to 3 years ago, the wife and I rented a cabin at a Minnesota state park over new years, and even though we had a great time, the whole weekend we were thinking, "wish we had a wall tent with a wood stove, because this weekend would be 8$ a night verses 50$, and we could have the dogs with us then as well." When we got home we got online and started looking for modern wall tent, and discovered that they were way out of our price range. Then I remembered the primitive wall tents from my youth, and realized they were about half the price. We did some more looking, and decided on a wall tent from Fall Creek Sutlers. (they were the cheapest we could find) Well, when the tent arrived, we decided to check out an event, figuring, we have the tent, we might as well try the whole reenacting thing. So we put together a couple of outfits, grabbed some of our cast iron cookware, and headed to our first rendezvous. Needless to say, we were hooked almost instantly, the people were so amazing as well as the history, which has always been interesting to me. Now I'm starting to price out rifles for the two of us, and hinting to my dad that he should gift us that old 50 cal pistol.

 

[nhmoose]

2 crappy CVA kits in the very early 70's. I put them together and one Sunday took them to the Gun club I shot on the pistol team for to shoot them.

An old guy I met there helped me and then let me shoot his ML's. I have been hooked since!!!

 

[garry robinson]

Back in the late 70s a little boy showed me a .45 hawken style rifle he and his dad built from a kit and it was really nice. They put a lot of work in it. He let me shoot it and it was all over but the hunting then. I finally found one hanging in a bait shop and i saved my money 150 dollars for over four months. One night after work i walked in ready to buy but it was gone so a few years later i found a invest arms hawken for 75 at a pawn shop and i been hooked ever since That was in 98 i think no 96 but no matter I burned a lot of goex since and see no stopping in the future

 

[F.G. Ford]

Well...my dad told me I was gonna go blind, if I did not give up my other past time, so I bumped into this BP stuff just about then, and have never quit.
Actually it is more fun and longer lasting than that other past time of which my father's concern of me going blind.
And it all started with an original real 1847 Walker Colt.
Fred

 

[daniel collums]

Thanks to the Good Lord for letting guys get old, they seen it all and some done it all and some are even good enough to pass along what they learned so us young'uns don't have to go through the same hardships so we can enjoy. But no matter how many times they say don't some still do! That is- to put a gun barrel to your mouth and blow! :idunno:

 

[Treestalker]

My older brother Tiny's friend Doug brought over a .45 percussion longrifle and let me shoot it. I was about 17 at the time. I later went to a muzzle shoot at my brother's ML club with a factory .45 longrife I found cheap (literally a basket case)and hurredly put it back together for the shoot. During a firing run the forearm literally fell off in my hand. A total stranger laid down his custom handmade flintlock longrifle and helped me get my percussion gun shootable again! Later he coached me into a third place 75yd benchrest ribbon with it! The rest is history as they say. I have a love for coaching new folks, can't imagine why. :wink: Tree.

 

[robinsroost]

I had hunted rabbits, squirrels and birds, with my dad, since I was old enough to keep up. I got out of the Army in 1964, and started a family, shortly there after. Needless to say, I was dirt poor. One day, I found a, 50 caliber, hawken style kit, for less than $100.00. I saved my pennies and eventually brought it home. I had no idea how to assemble or finish the gun, but I found some reference books and got started. I took 4 or 5 months, working a little every night, and it came out pretty good. I blued the barrel and lock works and finished the stock with 30 coats of hand rubbed linseed oil, whew! I still had no idea how to load, shoot, or clean it. My uncle told me about a group of muzzle loaders, that shot at the Isaac Walton League, and I soon became a member of the Three Rivers Muzzle loaders club, in North Central Indiana. I still have that 50 caliber, percussion, hawken and have added a 32 caliber Traditions Crockett, a Lyman GPR, flint lock, a 20ga SBS Pietta, cap lock, a Traditions, a 44 caliber,1858, stainless, new army and a Pietta, 44 caliber, 1851, Confederate Navy pistol. I guess you could say that I'm hooked........Robin :rotf:

 

[b737tvc]

It got started with me when I was 12, at a local muzzleloading club. My father was a gun collector and I to got into it collecting colts and English brown bess guns. This was also due to the fact that my family back in the revolutionary war times were gun makers for England. Thus the name on many locks" Galton." As my experience grew with shooting with my dad, we ventured down to Friendship back in the 70's to have some fun. After that I was forever a new mountain man. Today I make Early Lancaster Style rifles and enjoy watching my boys shoot with me.

BeaverTrapper

 

[Strawstalker/NM]

Wow the time sure does fly by. It was back in 1976 and everyone was in the mood for the upcoming Bicentennial. I lived in upstate New York about 50 miles South of Fort Ticonderoga and heard about a rendezvous happening at the fort. I guy at work was a buckskinner and had a custom.58 Hawken and a .58 Zouave for sale - I bought both. Over the years there have been many more rifles, pistols, hawks and knives and other plunder. Also many rendezvous, campsites, stories, songs, poems, and some outright lies. It has been a great ride with some outstanding skinners. Watched lots of pups grow into good men and women. I have found and lost a lot of good friends. When I have to quit Rendezvous - the part I will miss the most is running a Mountain Man run and whipping the younger skinners.
Keep an eye on your backtrack. The Strawstalker

 

[Heelerau]

Gents,
as a child of the 60's, it was Danial Boone, and Disneys Davy Crockett. We had an old Pat '53 Enfield over the mantle piece, and when I was ill, mother would put it in the bed with me. A scout master was a local gun collector, and he gave me the first shot out of a muzzle loader. I then bought some black powder, mould and after proofing the old Enfield started shooting her when I was about 10. I still have her and she lurks over the mantle piece in my dining room. I have been shooting muzzle loaders ever since,and will never give it up.

Cheers from down under

 

[pargent]

At age 4 my mum dressed me up as Crocket for a fancy dress party, ff nearly 30 years and whilst in a gun shop I picked up a Colt navy it stuck in my hand and I couldn't put it back down ,had to buy that thing just so the shop owners would let me leave . :wink:

 

[elbeefalo]

Watching Last of The Mohicans as a kid. Something about the sound and smoke of black powder...

The final straw was some random guy at the gun club being a friend letting me shoot his blunderbuss.

 

[musketshooter]

I found an original near excellent M1861 Springfield musket in a local junk store for $125. Bought a lee bullet mold and while at the range, another shooter approached me and he had been a member of a North-South club. We became fast friends and have shot together for 35 years. I now have about 30 original percussion muskets.

 

[Doug Lykins]

I've always been a sucker for whatever the old way was. I love to shoot a bow & arrow. Owned a mechanical compound bow once and got bored/aggravated with it right away, went back to the traditional stuff. From there went to "primitive" bows, those made with wood & sinew and now enjoy archery more than ever.
Followed a similar path with guns. Twenty five years ago I was into precision, -1/2 MOA rifles with scopes that had objectives as big as a baseball. It is a money game, the man with the most to spend generally will have the most accurate rifle. I have friends that have taken antelope cleanly at 800 yards with their high tech rigs.
Simple and elegant, is the way I describe a muzzleloader. Maybe a 150 yard deer gun if you know your rifle. The simplicity makes it easy to enjoy. True of most anything we do.

 

[TFoley]

The simplicity makes it easy to enjoy. True of most anything we do.

Sir, you have said it all, right there.

tac