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I am wanting to buy a muzzleloader and try my hand on the muzzleloader hunt this fall. I have never shot one before and don't know a thing about them. When I start shopping for one what do I want to look for for? The only thing I know is from some commercial I saw that one particular brand was easier to clean then another but I don't even remember which kind was easier to clean (is it really easier to clean or just marketing?). Any advice on brands, models, features, calibers, do's and don'ts would be helpful. Thanks!
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As far as an easy cleaning and accuracy I hear you can't go wrong with a Thomson center 'Omega" D-mack has a Austin and Halleck (I believe their made down by you) that is a nice shooting gun but kind of a pain to clean.
Hope it helps
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I bought a winchester apex 209 magnum .50 caliber from sportsmans last year without any knowledge of muzzleloading at all. The guy that sold it to me helped with every question and concern i had and also helped me get everything i (absolutely) needed. I was extremely uneasy about trying it due to an accident i witnessed at a gun range with an improperly loaded .54 cal. In the end it was well worth it as i shot a 300 class bull on public land last year. I missed 2 deer(my fault) and shot a grouse at 80 yards.POOOOOOF! If you are looking for a gun that shoots and cleans easy-5 minutes if you have practice- and is very accurate(3" group at 140 yards from the bench) i would suggest the aforementioned gun. It sells for around $200 and the rest of the goodies were around $80-$90. slugs are $15(per 16) and powder was $22. It was about $325 out the door ready to shoot and the T.C. will run around $500, but there are many other cheaper/more expensive and other option models out there. I hope this helps if you want specifics on loads for deer/elk pm me and i will give you all that info.
LH2
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I think what you are referring to is the in-line muzzle loader, it is easy to clean because the breach plug comes out. This makes it simuliar to a regular rifle when cleaning. I own three muzzle loaders, the first was a side lock but the last two have been in-line. The side lock was one of those kits you can buy and put together yourself, the first in-line was a CVA shadow my second is a whitetail made by White. I started off with a 54 cal then went to a 50 cal and this last one is a 45 cal and the most accurate of the three. Yes, the in-lines are much easier to clean but it all comes down to how much you want to spend. The kit was $100 plus, can't remember total cost, the CVA shadow was around $150, the White was around $400 new. Good luck WH2
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My advise is get an INLINE (what brand is just an oppinion/price issue, I have a cheep CVA), with 209 ignition. Shoot POWDER out of it, not pellets. I like the Powerbelts, some people like sabots but they leave plastic in your barrel (or so I've heard). Mine has a "bullet guiding muzzle" (the first 3/4" of the barrel is not riffled so you can start the bullet easy), that I find convienient.
Last year a Lady in our hunting party borrowed an inline without 209 ignition, and used pyrodex pellets. She never actualy got a shot at a Dear but at the end of the day when she was trying unload it, those caps just went pop, but didn't lite the pellets (this also happened the night before the opener on a target shooting session). When we got out the tools and pushed the load out the breech (one other GOOD reason to buy an inline) the back pellet was wet. It was almost like when she pushed the pellets down the barrel the first one acted like a squeege to scrape the moisture that had built up (or was left over from cleaning) on the side of the barrel. It seams if she had been using powder then there would have been no "squeege action" and the powder might have been easyer to lite.
One more thing, NO MAGNIFICATION on muzzleloaders used for hunting (big game at least) in Utah.
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My avise to you would be go to Cabelas or Sportsmans and just handle the guns and see which ones feels the best. Then start whittling down the ones that fit you price range and so on. I have a remington and its a pretty good shooting gun, but I have shot some Knights, and Thompsons that shot better. Some of the newer in-lines have the trigger assmbly that drops out of the way for easy cleaning. Have the sales person show you how to take them apart and you can tell how easy it will be to clean. I would look for one that doesn't require any special tools (thats just one more thing you'll need to cary in the field). I really don't think yo caould buy a "bad" muzzleloader today. Any of the ones at those stores should be good. When you get one try a bunch of different bullets to see which one your gun likes best. For example: my remington doesn't shoot well with bullets lighter than 300 gr. It doesn't like the barnes bullets as well as my buddies Knight. But my gun shoots the big conicals better than the Knight.
It's alot of trial and error. Once you pick one find someone who has the same gun as you then talk about loads.
If I was to buy one today and price was not a problem, I would probably buy a stainless Thompson Omega with the laminte thumbhole stock (about $650.00). That gun fits me like a glove, and they shoot well to boot. You can get the Omega with a regular stock at Walmart for about $275.00.
Good luck you'll love it once you get into it.
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Thanks to all of you that replied. I appreciate your input, experience, and suggestions. I need to shop around a bit more and make some choices but at least now I have a starting point.
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Hey Bigcat there has been some good advice alread so here is my 2 cents. Go with the 50 cal. It has become the universal caliber of choice and has the most options and easiest to get. Almost every load known to man now comes in a way to shoot in the 50 cal. Unless you want the look of a traditional muzzleloader I'd go with a new inline one. I have a 54 cal. Hawken that I'd let you shoot and show you some of the pros and cons to look for if you want. Just PM me if you interested.
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Heh...my question is what to do once you get one. I took a nice Hawken on trade for some stuff a while back, but still haven't learned the first thing about using it. Right now it's just sitting in the gun safe looking pretty. I like the gun, and like the idea of learning to use one, but need to figure out what to do with the dang thing.
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I would say the best way to learn about your new gun is to use it. Did you get all the items with it that you need to use and shoot the gun? If not, you will need to go to a store that sells muzzleloaders and ask them to show you what you will need to get started. Then ask them to show you step by step how to load the gun and shoot it. Then it is just a matter of practice, practice, practice. There are a lot of different loads to try, so you will need to find out what is best for your gun. When I first started, I used round balls but quickly found they were not the best to use for accuracy. Then I bought a few different conicals until I found one that shot the best in my gun. Hope that helps. WH2
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Blackpowder is fun and safe as long as you respect it. Find out about your gun. Diffent guns use differnt kinds of powder and loads. Not all black powder is the same. The new inlines use much more powder then the older traditional guns. Talking to the people at the store, someone with your kind of gun or contact the manufature of your gun and they can tell you what you need to know. The new synthetic powders are much better as they burn cleaner and better.
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