Why do you shoot a muzzle loader?

[David W.]

What's already been said. Their fun to shoot and I like the looks of a flinter!

 

[bangfxr]

For 32 years and counting I've worked on modern military firearms and it is a real stress reliever to step back in time to when the fire arms of 150-200 years ago were a piece of artwork in simplicity of operation. You can build it to how you want it to look and the way a good stock when finished looks and feels in you hands, the trigger pull where you want it, how the lock functions and how it shoots. Its just a real stress reliever and its a form of theropy to me.

 

[Ken Cormier]

Walt Disney is to blame thanks Daniel and Davy
By the time I got out of the Army 1970 Had enought of modern guns. Didn't care to shoot another one.
1978 shot a buddies hawken caught a wift of smoke hooked like a crack lady of the nite . Been uphill sence .And tieing a rock on a chunk of wood and Iron make the smoke hear the boom. Most fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

[Len Graves]

I guess I just don't know any better. It leads to all kinds of unusual activities, like wearing knee breeches and a tricorn hat, spending weekends in a white canvass tent and going miles away from a perfectly good house so I can pack up my stuff in the rain. Yup I guess I just don't know any better. Got to go, A friend just called and has a new rifle to try out. Gotta go Gotta go.

 

[Bill Hall]

When I was growing up, my dad had an old percussion muzzleloader shotgun hanging on our den wall. About the time I was 10, I asked him to take it down and show me how it works. He got the loading method all wrong, but I thought that gun was the most fascinating thing I ever saw. The simplicity of design, the mechanics of yesteryear, and the craftsmanship just seemed to call to me. It wasn't until five yeas later that I jumped into black powder feet first. It just felt so natural to me, like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I even started hunting with that old original shotgun. It's quite a tie to history to carry and use a gun that was carried and used a hundred years earlier, by who-knows-who. Bill

 

[luieb45]

I like huntin' with 'em because of the extra challenge and since they require more off-season practice than a regular center-fire I shoot them in the off-season. Currently I'm just waiting for squirrel season.

 

[hanshi]

I've always (and still do) liked doing the most with the least. It was a "challenge" thing, I guess and I never got over it. Davy Crockett didn't help, either. I couldn't rest till I got a faux coonskin cap.

When I got old enough I saved up my pennies and bought an H&A "Heritage" underhammer followed about two years later by a flint "Minuteman". I never looked back. I did develop a serious interest in cf guns and shared that with MLs. Eventually I gravitated to nothing but muzzleloaders for hunting and only occasional cf range shooting. So blame Davy Crockett and my predilection for doing the most with the least.

 

[poordevil]

KennyC beat me to it, but I will add again....Because Davy used one Sunday nights on the Wonderful World of Color!

 

[Tony Logan]

Here's a couple of reasons.
#1. No background check. ( just kidding, well not really)
#2. My interest in American history.
#3. My desire to live in the past, because the future doesnt look near as bright or exciting.
#4. When I am stalking game with a flintlock with period correct gear, It makes me feel closer to the frontiersmen and men who fought to found this country.
#5. I dont need to practice with modern arms to hunt with them so there is no reason to blast away with expensive ammo unless I am hunting($50 dollars for high power rifle cartridges or $20 for 5 shotgun shells) Yuck. I can however just go out and shoot my flintlock or percussion rifle just to see what will happen if I change this or that and that brings me a lot of satisfaction.
#6 To read a forum like this everyday, just to find out more about blackpowder, history, and other good folks who love it too.

 

[Jumpshot]

Primitive technology interests me. That's why I'm also into atlatls. The old ways are fun.

 

[biliff]

Historical aspect.
Fun aspect.
Prefer taking my time and savoring every shot.
Shooting a flinter makes me a better shot all the way around. Mistakes readily show up on the target.

 

[Mike Payne]

I like the feel and looks of a flint longrifle.Like the old ways and enjoy making as much of my gear as I can.I have always had a love for American history.

Mike

 

[shortbow]

Lesee here.

Davy when I was a kid.
Read "A Majority of Scoundrels" when I was in my early twenties, the same summer Jeremiah Johnson came out.
An abiding interest in the history of the west.
The most beautiful of all weapons.
A hearkening back to a more simple, self-sufficient, wide-open, freedom loving time.
Cowboys and Indians only better.
I was into it pretty heavy late seventies to the early nineties, then I got into primitive archery pretty good, but now the old body has decided it's too beat up for bows, so back to black powder, only this time, it's gonna be flinters.
It's a lot more interesting than modern guns, the challenge never wains, you get to dress up in leather, fur and feathers and beads and not get arrested, you get to build a lot of cool stuff, camp under canvas and sleep on the ground, hang with great like-minded folks and ultimately, it's just plain fun. :thumbsup:

 

[nkbj]

I'm a tinkerer who appreciates reinventing the wheel time after time. Grew up hunting (Who knew back then what a "season" was! What a ridiculous concept!). Developed my own deer hunting cartridge; still have the rifle. Now I mostly just have joy in shooting muzzle loaders for it's own sake. Oh, yeah, and the critters here all have names so they don't come to dinner. And the powder smoke doesn't keep them away for long.

Spot, Dot and Momma

 

[hoochiepapa]

Any time you need help thinning the herd....

 

[shmrck1]

I started ml-ing in the '80's because it was getting boring killing elk at 200-300 yards, not having to work that hard to find them. Then I tried bow hunting, and couldn't hit the broadside, so to speak, wounded an elk. Bought a Cabela's Hawken, and that was better, but like some others say, there's nothing like shooting and hunting with a round ball. I built my first longrifle in 2003, and will never go back. I have sold all but one of my centerfires.

Mike,
You ain't heard,Jim and Toby have been
killing deer,bear,elk,just about anything that walks on four legs at 200+yards with there M/L :grin: :barf:

 

[ohio ramrod]

I started shooting muzzle loading shotguns in the late fifties and early sixties because they were cheaper than "modern " ( The cost ratio has reversed now ). Then added rifles in the early seventies for the historical aspect. Now I shoot both for FUN! :idunno:

 

[David W.]

I started shooting muzzle loaders for the extra hunting season and having the woods to myself.

When I went target practicing with the modern guns, my itchy trigger finger always wore a hole in my pocket book. I could pop off 300 rounds easily, reloads of course.

With muzzle loaders, the time spent between each shot allowed me to concentrate better and improved my shot skills immensely. I just had a better time with it all.

I started out with T/C percussion kits and then progressed to custom smoke poles. I wound up falling in love with the flintlocks. My only percussion rifle that I kept is my Bedford County .36 squirrel rifle. If I had it to do again, it would have been a flinter also.

 

[vern faulkner]

MY Grand Pa shot them and his Grand Pa before him. That's good enough for me. They work just as good for me as it did for them. Now my son is shooting them also. Maybe it's a genetic thing, I don't know but that's the way it is and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Vern

 

[54mountain]

I blame my Older brother, He got into MLing back in the mid 70s and ordered a Dixie southern mountain rifle kit. I sat in the shop for hours watching him whittle that plank into a gun stock and learning how to properly breech a barrel.
when he finished it he took me with him and showed me how to load it and care for it.
He later sold that rifle to a friend of his. He passed away several years ago and his friend told me he still had that gun and ask me if I would like to have it. The rest is history!!