What is your main use for your muzzle loaders?

[bushytail]

Hunting and target. I love to take my trade gun squirrel hunting. I get shooting most of the time.

 

[Eutycus]

I've been of the opinion that ALL gun owners should be NRA members for a number of years now. A shame more aren't. Afterall it was muzzleloaders that the Founding Fathers were referring to when the Second Amendment was written wasn't it?

 

[FishDFly]

NRA and ROBO calls are very similar.

My use, line matches and hunting.

 

[Eutycus]

I would think any one or two of the several organizations that farther the cause of the Second Amendment would be a welcomed by shooters and gun owners. And not just avid shooters. This would also include the collectors, wallhanger owners, casual shooters etc. Strength in numbers, right?

 

[mushka]

I've only been back in the mz rifle game about a year now. I remember that a long time ago I went hunting with my .54 tc hawkin, don't remember much about the hunt. Now I mostly just shoot them. A year ago I had two mz rifles. Today I have seven of them from .32 caliber to .54 caliber. I just shoot them round robin weekly but I did put in for the mz deer season here. Also put in for general elk but I think I can use one of my .54's during that season. We will go squirrel hunting with mz's whether we get drawn for elk or deer. Use the .32 and maybe the .36. We'll see. I like shooting them every Sunday morning. I'll shoot a mz for awhile the go to the unmentionable fast shooters. Makes for a well rounded enjoyable day.

 

[renegadehunter]

I really enjoy both target shooting and hunting. I was going to say hunting first and foremost, but then thought about it a bit more. I archery hunt elk since the season is during the rut, but this tag also gives me a second chance option in December for muzzleloader only too. I find myself packing the Renegade during "any weapons" season for whitetail almost exclusively the last several years (we don't have a muzzleloader only season for deer in the units I mainly hunt).
Since I can hunt with a modern weapon but have been choosing to use BP, I'd say that my first and foremost reason for using a muzzleloader is simply because I just enjoy the whole process more. When I feel the urge to do some shooting, it is the only thing I reach for the last several years (except for my bow). I can't remember the last time I shot a modern weapon for fun. I love how many variables there are with loads, I love that a range session is a slower process (not to mention much cheaper), I love the smoke and smell of real BP when it is shot, I love that it requires me to be a more stealthy hunter to get closer, I love that I can make components from natural materials, I love the connection to doing it more like our forefathers did, and I love the satisfaction I feel when I'm successful with it.

 

[THBailey]

Many years ago we kind of backed into muzzle loading. Did a little research on the out of state hunter draw odds in Mule Deer country. At least back then (25 or so years ago) the odds of drawing the coveted tag was a bunch better for the muzzle hunts. A long since out of business local gun shop had a stack of .54 TC New Englander kits at the end of the counter at a closeout price. I bought three of them, one for me and one each for my two boys. I can't say my wife fully shared my enthusiasm for the project as she watched me and the boys working away on her kitchen table, but having the three of us working together instead of teasing and squabbling seemed to be reward enough. The rest, as they say, is history. We have taken a lot of deer with front stuffers.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Plain and simple Hunting and as Muzzleloading laws intended primitive.

 

[azmntman]

80% target and 20% hunting. I shoot BP 95% of the time when I get to go out to the Forest (NOT a range) as its been my passion for 46 years now. I really only shoot the CF and RF weapons if and when I get a tag where I will need em, which ain't often as even with regular rifle hunts here one can (and this one usually does) use a muzzle-loader.

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

What do you mainly use your muzzle loaders for? Be it target shooting, hunting, shooting matches, simply for display, etc?

For me, my main use is for hunting, and target shooting.

I like my flintlocks best ... although I have a few percussion guns and a lever action ... I use them extensively for target shooting - When offhand shooting a target at 50 meters, or rested on the 100 meters range, it is a challenge to get the smallest group possible and a few XX's if possible ... Also a few times a year I take the gun with me on some reenactment camps although I cannot use it there - so sad! I miss the fact that I am never able to wonder around in some ground where I could do some plinking, or participate in a woods-walk of some sort ... Hunting I do not miss and is not allowed either in these here parts ... I competed for a few years but I now like better to shoot on my own and without time pressure...For the rest, I revell in reading good stories - historical or fictional about them olden days, and would love to see those old series of Daniël Boone and Davy Crocket again! Recently I was lucky enough to see the the movie "Drums along the Mohawk again" ... Just LOVED it! I will even put my bagpipes aside for these sort of things!

 

[Ken Neeld]

Two are hanging above the fireplace, three are in a cabinet where I can take them out on occasion to hold and admire, one is in the gun safe, just because and one is looking for a place to land. I am thinking about hanging it above the living room fireplace though the 1960 style of the bricks may not let that happen.

Ken

 

[Roughneck]

I enjoy shooting my flintlocks more than any other firearms I have shot or owned. I do 80% target shooting and 20% hunting. They are just enjoyable to me in every aspect. I particularly like shooting them offhand. Also the people I have met who are into these firearms have all been great so far at the clubs I have shot.

 

[seaguy]

Fascinated with old guns and how they were made. Always worked with my hands so the building and testing to completion is what floats my boat. Quit hunting long ago once I knew I could do it.

 

[josie wales]

My 10 ga Pedersoli double is out and about every Turkey season...it is a Tom Buster. My Thompson .54 Renegade is out after deer as soon as shotgun season ends. The .56 smoothbore barrel is left in the closet ever since we were able to use rifled barrels. The .54 barrel is a Green Mountain barrel a "Round Ball Special" with a 1-66 twist and at 100 yds will almost equal my 1964 Remmy 700 30-06.

 

[FishDFly]

100 yds will almost equal my 1964 Remmy 700 30-06

Huh??

 

[omark]

100 yds will almost equal my 1964 Remmy 700 30-06

Huh??

I think he means in accuracy

 

[josie wales]

I think he means in accuracy

What I mean is I do not feel I have a great handicap carrying my Renegade in the woods after White Tail deer.At the range my 30-06 will group 3/4" with Nosler Partition on top of Varget. It will place every shot in the 3' black. The Renegade with 100 grains of FFG black will put every shot in the same black center but no way group 3/4" (open sights on the .54]

 

[fishmusic]

It is the discipline of tuning your gun. Holding a piece of living history that you built yourself. The joy of making a great shot. I truly enjoy this sport and derive so much pleasure from target shooting to plinking.

 

[SgtMaj65]

Target shooting, occasional deer hunting but as much for the history of black powder firearms

 

[sawyer04]

hunting, varmints in the garden and some, target to keep in practice.