Your first ML rifle

[SgtMaj65]

About 1974 or 1975, I bought a T/C .50-cal. Renegade, and still have it and shoot it regularly. It's had nothing but Goex ffg down the bore (except one little experiment with Pyrodex a friend got me to shoot ”” YUCK). Love my Renegade, but can't remember for the life of me how much I paid for it. Hoping to add either a .50-cal. or a .54-cal. Great Plains Rifle in a few months, if I manage to get a tax refund. We will see. :wink:
The more I shoot BP, the more I can't wait to get back out and shoot it again.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

My first was a 50 calibre Renegade caplock, that I purchased in Honolulu in or about 1983 or 1984. I still have it but it has undergone a change or two. It now sports TC furniture but a GM 62 calibre smooth barrel and a Pecatonica +++maple stock.

Sheesh, I can't even give away the stripped 50 calibre barrel or the original stock.

I had much fun shooting it at the Koko head range back in the day but I could never get it to shoot an accurate roundball. It was a stone cold killer with a maxi-ball though, out to 100 yards.

I am a very tall man and that darn stock used to beat the heck out of my cheek bone. Even so, those were fun times.

 

[robinghewitt]

Enfield 1859 2 band at my first MLAGB auction. Cost me £360 about 20 years ago. Lovely condition, had the original soldiers initials scratched on the fore end. NH :thumbsup:

 

[Hairy Clipper]

Back around 1970 I was fresh out of high school and fellow from Montana moved into my home town here in Minnesota that just happened to be a Browning sales representative serving 5 1/2 states. He somehow befriended me and I got my first exposure to guns other than the Mossberg 500 20 gauge that my dad bought me when I turned 14 years old, dad's Winchester Model 12 twelve gauge and old George's 12 gauge Browning A-5. Turns out this gun salesman has a gun collection and he starts teaching me about highly engraved guns, not only Browning but other makers and custom makers, too. Rifles, shotguns, pistols with gold inlays, rose and scroll engravings, etc. As an observer now of gun embellishment there was a never ending supply of other peoples work to examine under a jeweler's loupe, including some Browning sales samples. My new found friend eventually moved back to Montana but before he left I got the latest info about new guns Browning was coming out with and I started saving money. The first Jonathan Browning Mountain Rifle I saw went home with me. I still have it, but, I don't remember it being so heavy back in the late 1970's. I had shot muzzleloaders before but this one was mine paid for with my own money. They were available with brass or steel furniture and this one is brass and a half inch hole in the end of the barrel. Once spring rolls around I plan on shooting the JBM rifle and the .32 flinklock my brother gave me some years ago, made by a fellow named J. Bergmann. Anyone know the fellow or have my rifles brother?

 

[Snakebite]

In 1977 I was getting ready to get out of the Army and move home to Texas, I had been getting interested in blackpowder and had been eyeing a TC Hawken at the local gunshop. About that time we had a guy report to our unit from Alaska and I got to talking to him about muzzleloaders. He had two identical rifles except one was flint and one percussion built by Bill Fuller of Coopers Landing AK. He suggested I wait until I got home and see if I could find a good builder. I thought that was pretty good advice so when I got home I walked into McBrides Gunshop in Austin and asked. They told me there was a guy in Round Rock that builds guns and gave me his contact information. So I called Mr. Davy Boultinghouse and we set up a time to meet. I wanted a .54 Hawken so we contracted for one. I was making about $4.00 and hour with a wife in college, time were lean but I have a great wife and I paid that rifle off over the next 7 months or so. When I went to pick the rifle up on 20 Sep 1978, there was a halfstock Hawken, Douglas XX barrel, Ron Long lock and triggers and a P++ grade curly maple stock, all for $500. Davy set me down, showed me how to load and shoot it and I won many shoots with that rifle back in the day.

I went back into the Army in 1984 and on my 2nd tour in Germany we had a club in Grafenwohr, Germans and Americans. We had monthly shoots and a rendezvous once a year. My 7 yr old son and I had a little camp set up and a German walked up to me and asked if he could see my rifle. I said sure and handed it to him. The next thing he said was how much did I want for it. I told him it wasn't for sale. It took him several time telling him it wasn't for sale before he got it thru his head it wasn't for sale. I thought about telling him some outrageous amount but I was afraid he would take it.

Longer story than I meant, but the rifle is still in my safe and it feels so right when I put it up to my shoulder and pop that cap.

 

[Patocazador]

My first muzzleloader was a gift from my wife, a T/C Hawken .50 cal. that was beautiful ... until I hunted with it. My shoulder and back were sore for a couple of days.
I still have it and it still is beautiful after 41 years but I bought a Sile Hawken Hunter with a 23" barrel shortly after that. I still hunt with it every year while my T/C Hawken sits in the gun cabinet.

 

[Electric Miner]

My first ML was a Navy Arms J.P. Murray Artillery carbine given to me by my dad for Christmas one year.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

My first M-loaders were original smoothbores back in England, followed by a Pedersoli "Kentucky' rifle also smooth-bored.
Had to be smooth over there or put on a FAC.

First real rifle was a percussion Lyman Great Plains. Ugly but shot V well. Altered the stock a bit, got rid of some of the hump behind the breech.

After that, built my own in flint.

Pukka.

 

[Hallmark55]

1st was a CVS Kentucky style rifle in .45 caliber. Traded for a Dixie half stock in .54 caliber. All back in '75.

 

[Cowboy]

1st was InvestArm Cabela’s Hawken , .50 caplock.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The question is "rifle". My first was a CVA 'kentucky' flinter. My year of recollection is before the company started. Oh, well, it was 1970 or shortly thereafter. It had a two piece stock, lock that only threw sparks on every tenth try and Saturdays only. Real hunka junka.

 

[BigErn]

A Thompson 54 cal Renegade.
Ernie

 

[Coot]

My first was a Parker Hale 2-band around 1975 or 1976. Still have it.

 

[Heelerau]

My first muzzle loader is a 3rd model contract Pat 1853, South Australian marked. Was found in the station store room, cleaned up and given to my mother. She used it to keep me happy when sick in bed, she would pop it on the bed and I would play with it. I was not allow to cock it so as to not damage the cone. I was frequently ill as a small child. I first got to shoot it at the age of 13. I still have it and it shoots minnies ver well. Gordon sepia copy by Gordon Hazel, on Flickr

 

[Rifleman1776]

Glad you outgrew the "frequently ill" childhood thing. Who is that little guy standing next to you? :wink:

 

[Heelerau]

The Missus :wink:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

First muzzle loader rifle. In 1977 I purchased a Thompson Center Hawken flintlock in 50 caliber. Second worst POS production gun I ever had. Absolute Worst was a Markwell Arms Hawken in 45 caliber. The lock internals crumbled on the third shot.

 

[Ames]

:rotf: wonder how many barrels were bent when a guy missed a huge trophy animal and tried to wrap it around a tree :surrender:

:grin: :grin: :grin:

 

[Ames]

My first was and is a Lyman GPR 54. Still have it. The first rock lock is a SMR in curly maple, 45 cal. A very reliable ignition, a joy to shoot, still looking for that ideal load combo. :idunno:

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

My first was a Thompson Center .50 cal Hawken. I built it from a kit in the mid ”˜70’s. I love that rifle. :thumbsup: