# When did you get your first muzzleloader?



## Son (Feb 18, 2012)

I'm thinking this might be an informative thread, and keep some from making the novice moves some may have done with their first experience with a black powder gun.

I'll start with my first. It was in the Mid 1960's that I ordered an FIE in .45 cal. It arrived along with some FFFG powder and some # 11 caps. A friend and i went out back of the house to try this thing out. Loaded it as instructed by the small paper enclosed in the packing. Put a cap on the nipple and set up a target. I decided to go first, so I took aim, fired the cap and the rifle didn't go off. Whoa i said to the friend, Wonder how long it takes for one of these things to go off. All the while keeping it up to my shoulder. After awhile, decided to have the friend put on another cap. Snap, and the rifle didn't go off. So, we switched the rifle from my shoulder to his, and he tried it a couple times. Each time it snapped, but the rifle didn't go off. That's when my brother showed up. After some conversation, Brother said, give me that thing and let me try it. First two caps snapped and the rifle didn't go off. Third cap and the rifle  fired and my brother threw it in the bushes. That was the beginning and we figured out what the problem had been. The rifle and nipple had cosmoline in it and didn't fire until enough caps had been snapped to burn it out. So, now before you think that was stupid, consider this. There was no blackpowder deer seasons back then, and nobody i could call who had any experience. Fact is, not much was said about em in outdoor magazines back then. 1960's and boy have we come a long way since then.


----------



## Son (Feb 18, 2012)

A picture always improves a thread. This is my last buck with a .45 muzzleloader, taken a couple years back.


----------



## Nicodemus (Feb 18, 2012)

My first one was a used CVA 45 caliber flintlock I traded a couple of flint knives to an Indian for. It shot fair, I reckon, but I wasn`t particular thrilled with it. I ended up tradin` it to another Indian for an Osage pony bow, quiver, and arrows. I then got a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 50 caliber percussion. Not long after, I got the pistol that matches it. A few years later, I added my Pedersoli flintlock longrifle that I prize so much. Between those two rifles, a good many deer have been put in the freezer.

Forgot just when I got my first one, sometime in the `80s.


----------



## scambooger (Feb 18, 2012)

1st rifle was a cva mountain rifle kit in .50cal that someone started and didnt finish.... that was in 1983 and i used it to hunt on the back of the naval air station i was stationed at in kingsville,tx. took a few javalinas, one doe, and a big ol wompus kitty(bobcat ) while i was there. been kinda stuck on them since!


----------



## tv_racin_fan (Feb 18, 2012)

The first one I got was back in 1979 or 80. It was a rebel revolver, brass framed and I got a Philadelphia Derringer in kit form. I followed the instructions on the revolver and it run pretty well. Never did try to work up a load just used the max load. Between using a max load and my Magilla Gorilla impersonation on the loading lever I ruined that revolver it pretty short order. Only had one chain fire when I took it out to a buddies place and forgot the crisco.. he didn't have any either and I thought it would be no problem... THOUGHT. I never did put any finish on that Derringer but I did shoot it a time or two.

Some time in the 80's I got a CVA Frontier Rifle kit from some old coot in Stone Mountain. Seemed like I did a fair job putting that one together since everyone that saw it was kinda shocked I had done it. I used to work at a place that had a shop right beside the dump in Norcross. I'd sit out there after work shootin at cans on the berm on the retention pond, usually using about 30 grains of FFg every now and again one of my coworkers would come out and ask how that thing kicked. I'd load em up a shot with 120 grains of powder and let em see for themselves. All those guns got stolen when the neighbor kid broke in the house.


----------



## Desert Rat (Feb 18, 2012)

October of last year.
Not saying I was in anyway new to to muzzle loading.
Saw the TC .45 Hawken. Knew it had issues, the price was right so I bought it.
I'm shooting targets at 100 yards with it now.


----------



## flyfisher76544 (Feb 19, 2012)

Started off in 95 with a Hawkin style rifle. She had some issues so I sold her. I bought a Pedersoli Frontier flinter and was happy with her. Took a few hogs and other critters, but the lock was on the wrong side for me. So now its my sons and I have been totin' a TVM Lancaster.


----------



## fishfryer (Feb 19, 2012)

1973,Thompson Center Seneca,36 caliber. Many others since then.


----------



## Big Mike (Feb 19, 2012)

About 3 months ago. I bought a used used Savage ML-10.


----------



## T.P. (Feb 19, 2012)

Whatever year Ga had the first ML season, mid 90's? TC Black Diamond. Still has iron sights just like when I bought it, never felt the need to mount a scope on it.


----------



## Son (Feb 19, 2012)

I skipped a couple years hunting the blackpowder season here in Ga because without a scope, I couldn't put the two sights together due to my vision problems. Having a scope got me back into muzzleloading.


----------



## rugerfan (Feb 19, 2012)

I bought my first muzzleloader in 1996, A Knight rifle I got at Tractor Supply in Pennsylvania. Never fired it, sold it about 2 years later, still unfired.  As when I lived in PA, you still could not use inline muzzleloaders, the only things that were legal then were flintlocks with a smooth bore, and you could only use a patched round ball, the accuracy seemed to be terrible so I never picked it up. 

So about a month ago I got a CVA Optima Pro in 50 Caliber, so I am hoping to give smoke pole hunting a try in October. I still haven't been able to get the rifle range to shoot the Optima, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get there.


----------



## SASS249 (Feb 19, 2012)

A CVA caplock kentucky rifle in 1975 or so.  Did not shoot it much but my brother still has it.  The in 1983 Dixie Gunworks came out with the first left-handed production flintloc, their Tennesse Mountain Rifle.  I was hooked once I  started shooting that rifle and still have it.  Today I mostlly shoot a custom 54 caliber rifles built by one of my friends.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Feb 19, 2012)

Got my first one (T/C .45 caplock) in the mid-eighties. Twenty-five years later, I still do the majority of my deer hunting with them, and never have, or never will, own an inline-just not my thing. Looking to start building on a flintlock southern mountain rifle soon with the help of L.C. Rice.


----------



## miles58 (Feb 19, 2012)

1972.  CVA 58 caliber with a matching shotgun.

Dave


----------



## tv_racin_fan (Feb 19, 2012)

I seriously do not get the disdane for the inline. Now I got no love for the bulk of them but I would love to own a Savage 10ml or whatever it is. Have wanted a TC encore or contender in ML variety for ages just never dropped the coin on one.

I believe the very first cap was patented in like 1820 or so and the rifle it was used in was an inline.


----------



## WOODSWIZE (Feb 19, 2012)

On my birthday in 1979, my dad gave me a kit 50cal Hawken. Self taught myself and bagged many deer with it through the years. Even "barked" a few squirrels with it also.


----------



## Washington95 (Feb 19, 2012)

About 1965.  A .58 caliber break (like shotgun).  H&R???  Shot a bullet about as big as your thumb.  Heavier though.  Kicked like a mule.  Sights were terrible, no drill/tap.  Since then, had 8-10; right now shoot a Savage ML10II ( I think that's the model).  Smokeless powder, lots cleaner/easier to manage.


----------



## georgia_home (Feb 19, 2012)

got my first, remmy 700 ml, 54 stainless in late 90's, forget exact year.

old home state gave you about double the amount of hunting if you used a ML.

shotgun was like 2 weeks, ml added 2 more weeks.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Feb 19, 2012)

tv_racin_fan said:


> I seriously do not get the disdane for the inline. Now I got no love for the bulk of them but I would love to own a Savage 10ml or whatever it is. Have wanted a TC encore or contender in ML variety for ages just never dropped the coin on one.
> 
> I believe the very first cap was patented in like 1820 or so and the rifle it was used in was an inline.



I didn't say I had disdain for them, just don't like 'em for my own use. They're good weapons. My best friend and hunting buddy uses a scoped inline, we've blackpowder hunted together for nearly twenty years. To me personally, blackpowder hunting is about tradition and the experience of it, not the easiest, most advanced aspects that make blackpowder hunting just like rifle hunting. I enjoy the challenge of burning real powder and lead bullets and shooting open sights, and setting the powder off with flint and steel or a hammer falling on a percussion cap. Most of the newer inlines to me are just like centerfire rifles, not much difference. That's just me-nothing wrong with using what you like. That's why there are many different kinds of guns, there are people with many different likes and dislikes.


----------



## RangerJ (Feb 19, 2012)

Got my first in 1978 ( I think) from a place in Tennessee,A  lyman (Hawkins Style) 50 caliber. Total price with shipping was $124.00. I still have it today,killed a few deer with it when Allatoona,John Mtn, and Pidgeon Mtn WMA's all had Black Powder hunts.Always shot 110 grains of real Black Powder and Maxiballs that my hunting buddy cast, don't know what grain.Kicked -Kicked.lol


----------



## snuffy (Feb 20, 2012)

32. Ca.CVA Squirrel rifle bought in the 80's I guess. Still have it but haven't shot it in years.


----------



## Whiteeagle (Feb 20, 2012)

Built a .45 cal Kentucky from a CVA kit back in late 60's. Had been shooting an antique Cook carbine and having a ball until i found out it's worth. Killed my second deer with the Kentucky and it set me on fire. Built a .50 cal CVA Mountain rifle with a Douglas barrell in mid 70"s and still hunt with it. Beats using a modern ctg. gun any day as for as sportsmanship is concerned. Will turn 70 in March and the thrill of the hunt with black powder and old iron sights keeps me going strong!


----------



## Bernard goldsmith (Feb 20, 2012)

1954, 58 cal. musket. Shot a record deer on altoona,1980.


----------



## Eddy M. (Feb 20, 2012)

1970 or so  a pair of H&R break action black powder guns  one 45cal and one 58cal  I had a machine shop gun nut (in Starkville Mississippi) make me a shot shell primer adapters to fit the standard nipple insert and never had a miss fire but got some bull from other BP hunters about it not being a "real" BP gun      messed up and traded both on a Remington 870 at  Jackson Miss. gun show


----------



## mmarkey (Feb 21, 2012)

My first was a Dixie gun Works Pennsylvania flintlock that I bought in 1974. Personally flintlocks are so much more fun than any other muzzleloader. If you're a Blackpowder shooter and haven't shot a flintlock, you're missing a real treat. Once you try it you'll be hooked.


----------



## iowa-boy (Feb 23, 2012)

my first was a Thompson Center .50 Cal Hawken in 1985 for making grades at school. 2nd was 1994 Knight Muzzeloaders .45 cal. 3rd was a White's  .58 cal  muzzeloader 1998 and my latest, to my wifes  protest is a 2011 CVA Elkhorn Pro .50. have all and hunt with all.


----------



## cathooker (Mar 7, 2012)

Got my first one in the mid 70's. It was a H&R break open 58 caliber. It and me could not hit the broad side of a barn with it. 1978 I bought a T/C Renegade 54 caliber. I killed quite a few deer with it. I loved it. Still have it. Several years ago I bought a T/C Black Diamond. Killed a few with it. Didn't really like it much. Still have it though. Then I bought a T/C Triumph.....I like it! But after all these years I am thinking about getting me an old style traditional style rifle.


----------



## smitty (Mar 8, 2012)

I bought a T/C White Mountain Carbine in 1990 so I could extend my season and hunt the management hunts every wekk until gun season opened.Still have it in the safe and need to break it out and let the good times smoke...


----------



## savannahsdad (Mar 30, 2012)

My then new bride bought me a Traditions .50 cal. Hawken for Christmas in 1994, our first Christmas together........................ Still got both!


----------



## biker13 (Mar 30, 2012)

1973 H&R 45 cal breakdown,then a TC Renegade,54 cal my go to gun,assorted 50's over the years and got an inline last year 50 cal with scope,just ain't the same.Renegade this year.


----------



## Dr. Strangelove (Mar 30, 2012)

My uncle and I each bought a Pietta Remington New Army 1858 from Cabela's in probably 1990 or so, they were $129.00 with leather holster and starter kits with lube, balls and caps.

I still have it and love to shoot it, I don't much though because it's such a pain to clean.


----------



## harryrichdawg (Mar 31, 2012)

Bought my CVA Magbolt Hunter 150 .50 caliber one year after they were legalized in GA.  Bass pro shops had a really good price on a package deal.  Killed my first deer with it the first time I took it to the woods.  Hit her higher than I wanted to, but the 295 grain Powerbelt shattered her spine and dropped her right there.  Killed another the next year, a buck that I shot by mistake because scopes weren't yet allowed.  Since I put a scope on it, I've shot at 3 and missed 2 of them.  Maybe I should have stuck with the fiber optic sights.


----------



## one hogman (Jul 28, 2012)

*First Muzzleloader*

I bought a TC Hawken Kit in 1978 for $100.00 loved putting it together, blued the barrel, stained the stock, still have it, it is a very well built rifle. I have never killed a deer with it but plan on getting it out this year to hunt with.Just looked those guns complete are $700.00 plus today.


----------



## DaddyPaul (Aug 5, 2012)

Bought a Thompson Center Hawken Renegade in .50 caliber with tobacco picking and melon tossing money I had made that summer.  I think I was 12 years old...1979?  Still have it and plan to hunt with it this year a little bit.


----------



## 7MAGMIKE (Aug 6, 2012)

Bought a never fired CVA Bobcat from a friend last year, killed a small buck with it.  That gave me the fever this year I bought a second hand T/C Hawken .50 cal. off a member of GON.  I guess I'm hooked.


----------



## GAHUNTER60 (Sep 13, 2012)

I bought my first muzzleloader in 1967  when I was 16 years old.  I had found out that the state had these hunts where all you could use were muzzleloaders and bows -- and almost no one showed up! So I ran off to downtown Decatur and bought a Hopkins and Allen Under Hammer in .45 caliber.  I used an empty .30-'06 case as a powder measure and molded my own bullets by melting plumbers lead on my mom's stove and a teaspoon as a ladle.

I bought the gun on Wednesday, and shot a doe deer on Saturday at Piedmont Experiment Station (Later called Central Georgia Branch Station; later still, BF Grant)

I still have that gun, however it has not been shot in 25 years.  The gun will ruin your forearm with blow-down residue, if not careful.


----------



## Headsortails (Sep 13, 2012)

I was given my first muzzleloader by a friend in the 80's. My friend, his dad and I were planning to hunt one weekend. The friend and his dad were hunting Thursday and Friday. The friend and I were hunting Saturday and Sunday. I arrived in camp just before dark and waited for the others to come in. Around 9:00 pm, my friend walked into camp and asked if I had seen his dad. We got into the truck and went to where his dad had always parked. His truck was not there. We search through the night and the went back to his dad's stand at daylight. His dad was lying on the ground under his stand. The coroner said he probably stayed in the stand until dark, climbed down, took one step and died of a heart attack. My friend took his dad's gun and gave me his. The friend died six years later of ALS (Lou Gherig's). Every year I load that gun and hunt one day in his memory.


----------



## RipperIII (Sep 14, 2012)

3  years ago, bought a used CVA Optima Pro from a GON member.
Killed my only buck with it.

Really enjoy it.

did a little maintenance work this week and plan to hunt at least 50% of this season with it.


----------



## BriarPatch99 (Sep 15, 2012)

My Dad, brother and I ordered three H&R Huntsman .45 cal. rifles from some mail order place ... all three were accurate enough to hit the bottom of an oil can at 100 yds ...that was using the 200 gr Lee R.E.A.L. bullets ... they wouldn't shoot other bullets anywhere near that good... this was sometime in the early 1970's...


----------



## pacecars (Sep 17, 2012)

My first was a Lyman Great Plains .54 caliber in kit form. Browning the barrel was a pain for this novice. It was back in 1984


----------



## VenisonMan (Sep 25, 2012)

Love hearing y'all reminisce. Just got my first ML yesterday, a used Traditions Buckhunter .50 inline. Now I got to get together with my hunting buddy and have him teach me how to use it. lol


----------



## davemann16 (Oct 3, 2012)

Picked up a CVA Wolf after I lost a WMA hog in August to my .22 mag. Before I sighted it in I was told muzzleloaders are inaccurate guns that spray bullets all over the place. I was shocked at what it could do when I took it to the range. A week later I had another shot opportunity to take a hog, and as I slowly raised the muzzleloader my hunting buddy started blasting his .17 hmr across me and chased a group of 9 pigs into the woods. A week later, and without my former hunting buddy, another shot opportunity presented itself just before dark and the muzzleloader dropped a nice boar in its tracks. Now I'm hooked.


----------



## Wild Turkey (Oct 3, 2012)

1976 when I was eleven, .45 kit kentucky long rifle. Still got it and had name-date engraved in the brass side plate. Been refinished a few times. At long range you can hear the ball whisling thru the air.


----------



## Yankee in GA (Oct 3, 2012)

I won a Lyman .54 plains pistol in college at a poker game in 1992.  Great little piece but I haven't shot it in a while.  In 2005, my buddy and I bought .50 NEF Huntsmans so we could get an early start on hunting season.  Eventually, I'd like to add a Hawken to the collection.


----------



## Skyjacker (Oct 3, 2012)

Nicodemus said:


> I then got a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 50 caliber percussion.



Love my .54 in Flintlock.


----------



## F.A.R.R. (Oct 4, 2012)

.50 Caliber Lyman Great Plains left handed Flintlock-some time in the early 90's.  This is a nice gun it will handle some heavy loads of GOEX and patched road balls.  I took 4 deer with this rifle.

Later I built a .36 Flintlock from a kit out of Track of the Wolf.  I have allot of fun squierl hunting with this-but I learned to keep the loads light with 3x-20-25 grains.

Most all of my muzzleloader deer hunting is now done with .50 Knight Bighorn In-line.   I love hunting with the flintlocks but with the limited amount of time I get to hunt anymore-the in-line opens up some more shot opportunities.


----------



## Nicodemus (Oct 4, 2012)

F.A.R.R. said:


> .50 Caliber Lyman Great Plains left handed Flintlock-some time in the early 90's.  This is a nice gun it will handle some heavy loads of GOEX and patched road balls.  I took 4 deer with this rifle.
> 
> Later I built a .36 Flintlock from a kit out of Track of the Wolf.  I have allot of fun squierl hunting with this-but I learned to keep the loads light with 3x-20-25 grains.
> 
> Most all of my muzzleloader deer hunting is now done with .50 Knight Bighorn In-line.   I love hunting with the flintlocks but with the limited amount of time I get to hunt anymore-the in-line opens up some more shot opportunities.



Sometime in the future, I`d like to get a flintlock squirrel rifle myself.


----------



## clint1948 (Oct 4, 2012)

Got a Zouave in 1972 and shot it for a long time, next was a TC Hawken Flint, what a horrible rifle, saw the light and had Bob Watts build, 1974, me a .40 cal Iron mounted TN rifle.  I still have it and shoot it from time to time. Many good times over the years with, River Bend Long Rifles, Cherokee Bark Busters, Shiloh Rifles in Aiken SC and lots I have forgotten the names of. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Clint


----------



## F.A.R.R. (Oct 6, 2012)

Nicodemus said:


> Sometime in the future, I`d like to get a flintlock squirrel rifle myself.



You'd have allot of fun with one.  One of my buddies likes a .32-that makes a nice squirrel gun but it gets fouled pretty quick compared to a .36.

The one I put togather has a green mountain barrel-and Silar lock.  I had them plug and tang the breech.  Used a cold brown on all the metal.  Stock is tiger striped maple-I had them inlet for the barrel and rough inlet for the lock-after that it was allot of time fitting and using the inleting black to make everything right.  Drilling and tapping the touch hole-and tweaking trigger parts to the lock.  Its a good shootin rifle.


----------



## Redleaf (Oct 6, 2012)

Clint1948,    I'll give you $100 for that Watts rifle.


----------



## clint1948 (Oct 8, 2012)

Thanks for the generous offer, but before Bob died he told me he would not build another like it for less than $3,500.00.  Besides I have three sons that are casting lots for it now.  Bob originally built it as a cap lock some years later I had him outfit it with a flint ignition as well so I have both flint and cap with the same rifle.

Clint


----------

