What was your first Muzzleloader?

[BP Addict]

I was working at Montgomery Ward back when they were selling guns. There was a CVA Kentucky pistol in the dispaly case. I took one look down the barrel and was hooked without ever firing a shot!

My first BP Firearm was a Euroarms 44 caliber New Model Army Revolver; $45 used. My first muzzle loader was a 50 caliber Thompson Center Hawken; $140 used. Both from the same Pawn Shop.

Then I had to go to the local Muzzleloader store and spend $50 t0 $75 to shoot it!

After reading several books including Sam Fadala's Black Powder Handbook. I took the Hawken to my brother-in-laws property up in the mountains. I loaded and fired it but the Short Starter was killing the palm of my hand. The more shots I fired the easier it got. Then the light bulb went on. I turned the bottle of liquid lube over and read "Shake Well before using!"

Shoot Straight my Friends.

 

[mushka]

My first was an inoperable brown bess wall hanger given to me by a man I worked with, then an inoperable pirate pistol. Then in 85 my wife bought me a TC .54 cal hawkin kit for Christmas. It sat for two years in the box before I put it together during a severe winter with not much else to do. Shot it first time in the spring of 88. I liked it so much I bought an 1851 colt repro. Wife liked the idea of them so I bought her a .36 cal Seneca.
Being stupid I sold the 51 revolver but have kept my hawkin and her Seneca. I still have both and shoot both. For the sentimental reasons I'll never part with either. Wife has passed but I still have her rifle.

 

[Crooked Creek]

CVA Kentucky .45 percussion pistol. Bought it in '81. Did all the work myself with the help of some older gents coaching me. A family friend who did fine woodwork carved my initials in the stock and taught me how to put a hand rubbed finish on it. I hope someone is still using it.

 

[chadsdog]

Mine was an 1861 Springfield I got in Gettysburg when I was about 12. Got an 1851 Navy that year too but it was a repro. Never forgot the excitement!

 

[jrdavis]

1969 I bought an intercontinental flintlock 44 cal (437 bal) from the Rod and Gun Club in Bad Kreuznach Germany while stationed there had to wait until the mid seventies when I got home to shoot it

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

A .50 caliber CVA Blazer kit in 1986 like the one in the photo. I still have the rifle, never fired it and probably never will. I believe there was a recall for this rifle. And does anyone have a bad hands on experience with this rifle?

View attachment 65922

Interesting setup!

 

[Boatncamp]

Growing up my father had a couple of antiques that were never fired. One was a long barrel, full stock smooth bore that was percussion but may have started as a flintlock.
It was the mid 1970's and I was paying the $5 for HBO out of my paperboy income. Watched Jeremiah Johnson so many times I knew most of the dialog. The Bicentennial was happening and I got the bug to own a "smoke pole". Ordered up a T/C Hawken in .50 cal via mail order. Probably paid about $100 or less new. Dad had to drive me to a gun shop in the next town to get some black powder and other things needed.
A year or so later I ordered a New Orleans Ace kit for myself and a CVA Colonial flintlock kit for my dad.
Still have them all.

 

[Poguetx]

Ruger Old Army, ca 1977. First rifle was a TC Hawken about 1980.

 

[roundballman]

A friend invited me over to shoot his 45 cal T/C Hawken back in the mid-1970's. It was so much fun and very accurate so I went home and ordered a 50 cal T/C Hawken kit. Pretty easy to put together and browned the barrel. I still have that gun and have killed many deer with it, including one this past season. I now have many others including some pretty high dollar ones but the old T/C Hawken remains a treasure. First love is forever.

 

[MTMountainman]

My first was a Charles Daly 45 cal Hawken. Didn't know anything at the time. Bought it because Ohio (where I lived at the time) was starting its first gun season for deer and I didn't want to use a shotgun. The season was shotgun or ML -- no modern rifles allowed. Bought it at the local hardware store back in the day when hardware stores carried everything before the big box store days! Anyway, probably overloaded it (used 100 grains of 2F or 3F (whatever you could get on any given day). Never blew myself up and man did that gun shoot! I could consistently put 3 shot groups in a pepsi can at 100 yards! My eyes were a lot younger then and my sight was a lot better than today. Still have the rifle but haven't shot it in years. Recently bought a 54 cal so I'll have more knockdown power for the coming war.

 

[Mknight702]

A Colt Walker, may as well go big or go home.

 

[mooman76]

I was working at Montgomery Ward back when they were selling guns. There was a CVA Kentucky pistol in the dispaly case. I took one look down the barrel and was hooked without ever firing a shot!

My first BP Firearm was a Euroarms 44 caliber New Model Army Revolver; $45 used. My first muzzle loader was a 50 caliber Thompson Center Hawken; $140 used. Both from the same Pawn Shop.

Then I had to go to the local Muzzleloader store and spend $50 t0 $75 to shoot it!

After reading several books including Sam Fadala's Black Powder Handbook. I took the Hawken to my brother-in-laws property up in the mountains. I loaded and fired it but the Short Starter was killing the palm of my hand. The more shots I fired the easier it got. Then the light bulb went on. I turned the bottle of liquid lube over and read "Shake Well before using!"

Shoot Straight my Friends.

About 10 years ago I seen a Kentucky rifle kit at a swap meet for cheap. It was still in the box and had all the parts. It also had a Wards receipt attached dated 1974. Of coarse it followed me home. I also started before the internet so I got a book from Sam Fadala at the library, and that's how it all started for me.

 

[Critter Getter]

In the early 1980’s Iowa introduces their first Muzzleloader Deer Season. I had been bowhunting A year or two by then and figured I would try bp.....I bought a used .50 cal TC Renegade. Shot a deer or two with it and sold or traded it in when i bought my first Hatfield. Been bowhunting and making smoke ever since. Greg

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My Biggest regret is that I never bought a Hatfield...I sincerely wish that I had...

 

[Rob Dinwiddie]

.41 caliber flintlock overcoat pistol. I was 15. I loved that thing and shot it till I lost it while horseback when I was about 30.

 

[Critter Getter]

My Biggest regret is that I never bought a Hatfield...I sincerely wish that I had...

I liked that first one so much that I bought another one a few years ago........just like it but has the upgraded wood. I love them!! Greg

 

[springfield art]

Lyman GPR 54. Kicked less than my 12 gauge so I was hooked from the first shot!

I have a Lyman GPR .54; heavily modified and "aged", even shortened the bbl. a bit.

 

[springfield art]

I liked that first one so much that I bought another one a few years ago........just like it but has the upgraded wood. I love them!! Greg

I've seen one or two at auctions over the years; would grab one if any came up again....

 

[springfield art]

My first was actually a 51 Navy revolver. Bought it because it was cheap and I wasn't really old enough to buy a modern pistol. My first rifle was a CVA Kentucky 45. Bought it to get the ML hunting advantage. Got hooked after that, still have the gun but I later converted it to flintlock. Pistol was 40 years ago and got the rifle 30 years ago.

Had an early brass frame Navy; not real good finish, from about the 1961 era...long gone, don't miss it as I've awakened to the steel frames....older guys have many tales to tell about guns they've bought and sold over a long life!

 

[stank]

I bought my first, a T/C Renegade flint in 50 caliber at the age of 13. I worked on farms all summer and saved as much as I could. I got lucky and won the 50/50 drawing at our family reunion and that gave me enough money to buy it. What I didn’t know is now I have the rifle and I have to get the rest of the loading possibles. Dad helped me out with that. Shot a Doe with it that year during our Pa Doe season. Everybody thought I was nuts taking a muzzleloader when I could have carried my 30-30. I’m still nuts. Probably got into it because of the tv show Grizzly Adam’s. I really don’t remember. I do remember seeing some old timers cast balls at a Boy Scout rendezvous. I was quite interested in that.