Anyone hunt/shoot muzzleloader rifles..???
 

Flintlock season starts the day after Christmas here in PA. The most challenging hunt is the most fun one. I shot my first deer with a muzzleloader at age 12 and have been doing it ever since.


Me on the right in the first one in '05

I took the picture on the second one.

Both my kills.

Much more fun with snow on the ground!

I don't hunt, but used to do a little cap-n-ball shooting with a 45 cal single shot pistol. Lotsa smoke and fun:D Still have the pistol, but haven't shot it in probably 15-20 years.
My brother's in-laws have quite an arsenal of black powder guns, including an origional buffalo rifle. It's a .75 cal, and weighs a ton. Very little recoil due to the huge hex shaped barrel.

Nice pic's I've been nothing but blackpowder since the 80's.

I was reading a little trivia the other day. 1974 was the first year a muzzleloader/flintlock season was opened in PA. My brother and father bought theirs in 1976. I was born in 1974 so I didn't but mine until a little later.

I've been Blackpowder hunting for at least 20 years.

Many of you have seen pics of my guns,including a couple I fashioned myself.

For deer I prefer my .45 cal,Halfstock with a great 28" 1.5"thick Colerain gain twist full octagon Bbl w/traditional buckhorn sights,curly maple stock,browned Iron furniture and a super fast Siler lock with a roller frizzen.I generally back it up with a .440 round ball and an .020 greased patch.With 110 grains of FFG behind it I'll get a fairly flat trajectory for up to 300 yards with no groove stripping,even though I have to hammer the ball and patch into the barrel Schuetzen style,which is why I chamfered the muzzle.

One thing with Flintlocks,never use leather to hold the flint,but sheet lead instead.And...the finer the priming powder and the least amount will assure you the most rapid ignition,but most fill the priming pan full which is a mistake.

Always use water when cleaning the barrel out,then swab it with oil and the bore will be like new.

Why no leather to hold the flint?

You cannot hunt in RI with centerfire rifles so muzzleloaders are the defacto king. The only time you see centerfire is the target/collector crowd like me. Kinda sucks as it further separates and divides the hunters from the target/collectors. RT

I'd like to know as well. Always used leather and had many misfires. Could the lead help prevent this? Or is there another reason for the lead?

Thanks.

not with muzzleloaders, but i do deer hunt with a shotgun (ilegal here in illinois to hunt with a rifle). But i also do some trap shooting,rabit/squirl hunting. the norm.

Matter of personal experience I suppose,but generally leather will allow a cushioning effect on the flint when it strikes the frizzen while lead will hold it very steady so the proper angle will be maintained.

With a really smooth.case-hardened frizzen plus a good flint{I like agate}this may not matter much but I have had,and witnessed quite a few misfires with leather especially if the frizzen is worn and your mainspring lacks adequate striking power,once again,matter of choice.

AND no less a gunmaker than Joseph Manton himself,as well as Nicholas Noel Boutet,gunmaker to Napoleon recommend lead in their writings.

I hunted for deer (mulies) with a muzzleloader a couple of years ago. Didn't get one, but I had fun. However, I am a bowhunter at heart. I leave of Friday to go hunt mulies with the stick and string. Here's a pic of the bull elk I took with my bow back in Sept.

Kind of looks like he is wearing a toupee.

I couldn't imagine getting that close to an Elk. Nerves of steel you must have. I am going to try and pick up a used Bow in the spring. I hunted with one when I was a kid but now I want to get back into it.

I shot that one at about 28 yards, but I've had them as close as 3 yards (calves). Don't know about nerves of steel, but I've been on SWAT for 7 years so I'm pretty used to keeping it together under pressure...