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Does anyone here shoot muzzleloaders ? Rifles or pistols ?

.50 Hawken that my dad built from a kit.

Going to switch from patched balls to conical next time I take it out.

.45 caliber flint and percussion CVAs, gifts from my first (late) wife.

Have taken deer with both, but have not even loaded them in 20+ years.

A whole bunch of years ago my brother, my daughter's boyfriend, and I were hunting in upstate NY "shotgun country." At the end of the morning we met at a corner of a fallow field which was bordered by oaks on one side, a reservoir on one, and beech alder and ash trees on the third. As we stood talking about going to lunch, a large buck marched right up the opposite side of the field, at a range too far for shotgun slugs.

When I got home I was pretty bummed, I could have gotten that buck with a rifle easy, and my wonderful wife, fairly knowledgeable about guns due to her close association with me, and although she didn't hunt, somewhat knowledgeable about NY State's hunting rules, conspired with my daughter's boyfriend to purchase the CVA flintlock. NY State hunting rules allowed hunting in "shotgun country" with muzzle loaders. There was also a separate "primitive" season, which required that the muzzle loader be truly primitive, without improved sights or scopes, but no such requirement existed for hunting in shotgun country.

The following season I filled my tag with that flintlock.

The next season I sighted in before opening day like a good boy, but neglected to clean properly, and I missed a shot at what I am sure was that buck that flapped its tail at us a couple of years before. I had not cleared the flash hole after sighting in, resulting in a flash in the pan.

I was bummed when I got home, so my wonderful bride once again conspired and bought me a CVA percussion rifle, which she considered making a .50 caliber, but decided on a .45 because I already had bullet moulds and such.

The next year I took a deer with that percussion rifle.

The following year I missed another shot, not the same old guy, he died of old age, due to assembling the lock improperly after cleaning the rifle after sighting in.

I never hunted with either gun again after that, and actually got skunked the next few seasons, and then my wife became ill and the joy kind of went out of hunting, and I haven't hunted with anything since.

I have a handful of rifles and pistols. Haven't shot any of them in years.
2 caplock rifles, 3 caplock pistols, 1 inline rifle, 1 flintlock rifle. Oh, and a couple of cap 'n ball revolvers.
And I just last week bought a nice pistol kit for my son.

.50 TC Hawken Flint http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/mzTraditional.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
.50 Pedersoli Pennsylvania Flint http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/scheda- ... model.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
.58 C.S. Richmond percussion (I even cast my own Minies) http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_in ... sCsid=dced" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A couple of Hawken .50's, Kodiak double barrel rifle in .58, Kentucky rifle, assorted revolvers and a flint lock pistol in .45. Haven't shot them in years. Oh yeah, have a couple of percussion shotguns that I wouldn't shoot on a bet (Damascus twist).

Wow , quite a few responses . Seems like many have them but dont shoot them anymore , the boom time for blackpowder seems to have faded out in the 90's . I still have several pistols and rifles and try to take one when we go to the range . I still enjoy shooting them and like the history associated with that era they were used in .

Better hang onto them. According to the left wingers, these are the only firearms covered by the constitution.

Sheriff's model .36 caliber cap and ball pistol. Actually, double ought buck worked just fine.

I used to wait at the dump, sitting on the clean spoil dirt, until the sun started to go down and out would come the rats. I'd wait until they were swarming by the hundreds and I'd start shooting with the pistol resting on my knees. Usually, I'd get four or so before they caught on that things in Ratville were going wrong.

I'd wait some more and soon the dump would be boiling again in rats and I'd start shooting again...

And, no, I don't shoot it anymore mostly due to the cleaning effort it took after shooting. Ugh! Way too time consuming for me. It's now a lovely decorative item.

Abraham wrote: And, no, I don't shoot it anymore mostly due to the cleaning effort it took after shooting. Ugh! Way too time consuming for me. It's now a lovely decorative item.

Ballistol is an excellent substitute for the dreadful "Hot water and soap" cleaning :)

You know the cleaning seems to be most peoples complaint about shooting blackpowder .I don't use soap and water and render my own coon fat to lube with . LOL , in the 70's I tried to 'period correct' but now I could care less , I use the same cleaning stuff that I use on modern guns except for this ;

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/815817 ... -oz-liquid" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It works fine , cleaning a blackpowder rifle really does not take but a few seconds longer than a modern one .

Oldcannon I'v used ballistol for lubing and as a preservative but never used it to clean with , may have to give it a chance ! Thanks

Back in the day, I owned a very old house that had huge cast stone laundry sinks in the basement, we never used them for much of anything, the washing machine drained into one and that was about it. When I got started cleaning my flintlock, I disassembled it carefully and then started to run water into a bucket to pump in and out of the bore. Suddenly epiphany struck and I realized I was adding an extra step by filling the bucket in the sink, so I filled the sink with hot water and merrily went ahead and pumped out the barrel right in the sink.

Who knew that black powder residue would stain cast stone?