Beginner Black Powder guy

[TexasPatriot.308]

OK, at 61 and being a lifelong rifle, bow and pistol hunter I got the urge to take up black powder rifle huntin, for one, it will extend my deer hunting season here in Texas, but will also be a new challenge. I would like some input on a beginner rifle and brand, caliber and other info needed for a newbie like me. would appreciate any, like I said I am a lifelong hunter starting with a Sears & Roebuck .22 in 1959. I realize the new black powder arms are not like the ones of a few years ago and they are more newbie friendly.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Next you need to decide if you want a traditional muzzle loader or one of the new black powder rifles with a removable breech. I am a traditional type of guy so for what you want to do I would recommend finding a Lyman Plains rifle in .50 or .54 caliber. I have the .54 caliber model and it is very easy to deal with in shooting and cleaning. It is a percussion rifle and uses #11 caps. Good luck. Once you start you will be hooked. All of the information presented is from my personal experience. I have never owned nor fired a new inline rifle so other advice may differ.

 

[art petersen]

I am also a beginner and my oldest son and me(64 years young) are putting a kit lyman(great plains rifle and plan to get the drop in barrel for conicals and sabots it is 54 cal have not started on the kit yet (been to dam cold) started looking for the acc.we will need not to much around here for 54 they all think the inline is the way to go.I just think they are lazy,all of the bp rifles or pistols have to be cleaned and cleaned right,that is the only bad part.There are lots of places online to get the items we need.That will be you first decision inline 50 cal or sidelock 45,50,54,58 and then go from there.plus what you will be hunting.after that you can e-mail me and we can learn together~!

 

[ROAshooter]

BP

As a traditional BP shooter, with a thirty five year old TC Renegade 54 cal,
twenty five year old TC Cherokee 32, both having served me extremely well, I have a comment that got me banned from another forum.
"Anyone who uses, a plastic stocked, stainless steel, in line shotgun primered, pellet loading, plastic sabot/jacketed hollowpoint pistol bullet, with a high power scope, and consider themselves to be a black powder/primitve hunter, during muzzle loading hunting season, because they have no talent/desire/intentions of learning the art/skills of a muzzleloader, is a farce."
That said, I cuncur with Steel Horse, the Lyman line of BP rifles are a grat place to start.
Just to get your juices running, google, "Track of the Wolf", "Dixie Gun Works"
take it slow, do the reading, enjoy one of the finer hobbies that has to do with shooting.

 

[rodwha]

It certainly does depend on your intentions/interest. Your type of hunting may also play a part.

The traditional types are much more interesting to me, though my Lyman .50 cal Deerstalker has a few modern touches such as a recoil pad (I thought it would kick more), fiber optic sights (I want to replace them), and sling swivels (I have a modern sling on mine).

I chose this as my first rifle as I wanted something that was fairly compact (24" barrel and 41" OAL) that wasn't too heavy (7.5 lbs) as everything I've shot was within 80 yds here in TX despite most of my hunting being from a blind. I wanted something I could stalk with as I prefer it when I can.

A .50 cal ball is about all you need around here as it's plenty for even axis and large hogs. But if you decided to hunt something much bigger you could always upgrade to a heavier conical. The 1:48" twist has done fairly well with the .490" ball, but shows tremendous promise with the 320 grn Lee REAL.

I'm wanting to get a few more barrels as their Trade Rifle and other Deerstalker barrels will drop right in. I can get shallow grooves meant for conicals/sabots or I can extend the length to 28" from the Trade Rifle. You can swap from .50 to .54 caliber (Investarms also makes a .45 cal though I don't know where they can be had) or even have a barrel bored smooth to 28 ga. I want mine to be something like a T/C Contender with several barrels depending on what I want to do, including a lined or custom barrel in something smaller for small game hunting.

 

[Panzerschwein]

They have modern inline muzzleloaders that use 209 shotgun primers. Also things like powder pellets and Hornady hollow point bullets make muzzleloading almost as advanced as modern rifle shooting. You can even get tactical style muzzleloaders with pic rails for scopes, bipods, etc. etc. I'd recommend those to any hunter.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I really don't want to get into blackpowder with rails, scope options etc. just want a basic blackpowder that doesn't make a novice like me feel like an idiot, something practical I can learn with, and maybe intime get into the older "real" black powder rifles....right now looking for something you can load a bullet with and then have a factory powder load to propel it....just wanting to get my foot in the door and maybe learn enoughto really get into the real basics...the old black powder arms

 

[frontiergander]

Im building a CVA Hawken with the heavy 1" wide .50cal barrel. Rifle is a brand new unfinished kit that I bought for the other barrel it came with. I finish them the RIGHT way, not the half arsed bubba way. Just browning the barrel and then have to polish the brass afterwards. Lock and triggers have all been tuned and highly polished. If you are interested I can get you the build along pictures.

 

[paul54]

There is a Bass Pro in Katy and a Cabelas in Buda...I'm sure you know that. One of the best things you can do is to handle different ML's. Might call before you go to see if they stock them. If they do, you can look at powder, primers and bullets. It's been my experience that Cabelas has more in muzzleloading supplies than Bass Pro.

You can use pelleted powder, buy bullets with sabots, and use 209 shotgun primers. This is for inlines. You don't have to put a scope on them...use open sights.

For traditional ML's, for the money, Lyman is hard to beat. I own a .54 cal. Trade Rifle...bought a .50 cal barrel too. Shooting patched round balls is a "hoot" and inexpensive. I don't recommend pellets for traditional guns. I use Hodgdon Pyrodex R/S. You can also shoot conicals out of it too. Mine uses a #11 cap for ignition.

There's a ton of info available online. Don't need to pay for any at this point.

If you will send me a private message, I'll point you in a direction where you can find more info for free.

Paul

 

[paul54]

Just realized you have a Bass Pro in San Antonio.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

thanks for all the input guys, like I said, this kinda hit me like a whim when a friend told me how much he like black powder shooting....gotta start somewhere and you guys know lots more than my friends. gonna do a lot of reading, questions from other shooters and hope to have one ready for next years hunting season....and no I had no intention of a scope or any modern gadgets, just open sights....thanks again

 

[paul54]

You're welcome. Good luck. If you ever start you will get hooked. It's very addictive.

 

[CANNONMAN]

Doubt this will help but... I joined because I wanted to make cannons and BP. More than tons of help found here. Feels like family. With a few crazy cousins. Anyway I wanted a BP shooter and felt similar. I bought a ".50 flinter pistol". Awesome! For hunting I would think a cap and ball with iron sites ought to do you well. Course if you want to try a cannon, ... that's another thread.

 

[mad murdock]

don't overlook a flintlock. I have a hawken style .58 cal with a flintlock. I like percussion, but if you are going traditional, the flintlock really adds an element of tradition that IMO adds a lot of fun to the mix.

 

[Noz]

Please don't start with a flintlock!! HUGE learning curve involved.

Go with a percussion cap side lock, 50 cal or bigger. Find some real black powder(no pellets) and go have fun. Your biggest challenge is to find whether your rifle of choice like conicals or patched round balls. Either will work but the gun has to tell you which it likes better. You are looking at many pleasant hours figuring the puzzle out.

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

I might disagree with my friend above. Starting with a caplock rifle is like learning to drive with automatic transmission. A flintlock rifle is like learning to drive with manual transmission.

If you can drive "stick", you can drive anything else. Yes, a flintlock is more involved, and requires more patience and understanding. But again, once mastered, you can handle shooting any caplock, which you would find likely, a waste of money.

A flintlock does not require the shooter to be concerned about the availability or selling price of percussion caps. There's no HazMat charge on a purchase of a dozen flints.

There's nothing wrong with either choice. But flint shooters are held in high regard for the apparent handicap, unknown to them, they seem to face.

As noted here, your best bet for an accurate beginner's rifle is the Lyman Great Plains rifle in .50 & .54 caliber. Lyman offers the widest choice of opportunities in their line; left-handed, right-handed, flint, percussion, & kits to build.

Being in the muzzleloading firearms business since 1972, the Lyman G.P. rifle has been my best seller, new & used, and will cloverleaf groups at 50 & 100 yards.

"Flinters" are folks who LIKE to tinker, & piddle with their rifle.

Flintlock hunters and competition shooters, prior to shooting, have to check at least a half-dozen "points" before pulling the trigger; 1) flint must be sharp, 2) flint must strike frizzen square across frizzen face, 3) left side of flint must not scratch the barrel, 4) flint must strike the frizzen between 3/4 to 2/3 the height of the frizzen, 5) vent must be clear for spark to ignite barrel load, 6, flint must be tight in hammer jaws.

These "points" before each shot can make a caplock shooter mutter under his breath, "dang glad I don't own a flinter".

It mainly depends on your patience level; like learning to drive that Chevy with the "stick-shift". If you master the flintlock, shooting a caplock will be a breeze, not that you would want to anyway. Once a "flinter", always a "flinter".

'nuff said.

 

[scooter3844]

I just bought a thompson center renegade unfired for 125.00. it too is in .54 caliber. I have shot both inline and traditional. I chose to go back to traditional for the traditional aspect of it. What is the opinion on the thompson center all ikeep reading about is th lyman?

 

[Crawdad1]

Thompson Center made an excellent traditional rifle. Accuracy is fair to good with patched round ball or conical out of its stock barrel but their locks are extremely reliable.

 

[OYE]

Be sure before purchasing to check your state hunting regulations to see if there are any restrictions on various types of muzzleloaders and or sights during the muzzleloader season. Some states have many restrictions.
OYE

 

[Noz]

I might disagree with my friend above. Starting with a caplock rifle is like learning to drive with automatic transmission. A flintlock rifle is like learning to drive with manual transmission.

If you can drive "stick", you can drive anything else. Yes, a flintlock is more involved, and requires more patience and understanding. But again, once mastered, you can handle shooting any caplock, which you would find likely, a waste of money.

A flintlock does not require the shooter to be concerned about the availability or selling price of percussion caps. There's no HazMat charge on a purchase of a dozen flints.

There's nothing wrong with either choice. But flint shooters are held in high regard for the apparent handicap, unknown to them, they seem to face.

As noted here, your best bet for an accurate beginner's rifle is the Lyman Great Plains rifle in .50 & .54 caliber. Lyman offers the widest choice of opportunities in their line; left-handed, right-handed, flint, percussion, & kits to build.

Being in the muzzleloading firearms business since 1972, the Lyman G.P. rifle has been my best seller, new & used, and will cloverleaf groups at 50 & 100 yards.

"Flinters" are folks who LIKE to tinker, & piddle with their rifle.

Flintlock hunters and competition shooters, prior to shooting, have to check at least a half-dozen "points" before pulling the trigger; 1) flint must be sharp, 2) flint must strike frizzen square across frizzen face, 3) left side of flint must not scratch the barrel, 4) flint must strike the frizzen between 3/4 to 2/3 the height of the frizzen, 5) vent must be clear for spark to ignite barrel load, 6, flint must be tight in hammer jaws.

These "points" before each shot can make a caplock shooter mutter under his breath, "dang glad I don't own a flinter".

It mainly depends on your patience level; like learning to drive that Chevy with the "stick-shift". If you master the flintlock, shooting a caplock will be a breeze, not that you would want to anyway. Once a "flinter", always a "flinter".

'nuff said.

My advice on the cap lock over the flint lock is based on personal experience. I bought a flint lock from a "big name" builder. I paid in excess of $700 for the gun, I spent a couple of hundred more on professional "tuning" etc. I sold it in a fit of frustration for $250. The buyer told me later he had spent over $400 including the purchase of a new lock for it before it was remotely reliable.
I have a caplock CVA that loves conicals and will shoot well at any range I am likely to find a deer. Much cheaper and reliable out of the box. I also shoot 7 pairs of Colt style cap and ball pistols in CAS.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I recommend attending a Rendezvous to meet black powder enthusiasts. They can teach you how to shoot a smokepole. You can even find second hand ones at a reasonable price at a rendezvous.

BTW, if you want range and hitting power, a replica of a Civil War minie rifle is hard to top. 535 grains or so minie ball can hit a target at 500 yards (but you should be good at distance estimation and have adjustable sights).

 

[4v50 Gary]

I recommend attending a Rendezvous to meet black powder enthusiasts. They can teach you how to shoot a smokepole. You can even find second hand ones at a reasonable price at a rendezvous.

BTW, if you want range and hitting power, a replica of a Civil War minie rifle is hard to top. 535 grains or so minie ball can hit a target at 500 yards (but you should be good at distance estimation and have adjustable sights).