New to BP... H&R Sidekick?

[dubious]

Hi folks, I'm new to BP and contemplating what gun to get. I've only shot one round out of Muzzle Loader once at the range. I'd like something that is 100 yard accurate, easily scoped, and can take a deer without hesitation. My ideal muzzleloader preferably isn't black stocked with quad rail mounts, surefire lights, laser dots, an Aimpoint, and a 75 ball drum.... I'm steering towards a more traditional look.

I'm inclined towards the H&R Sidekick right now... since its the only wood stocked under $200 Muzzle Loader I can find. They have a pretty good reputation for nice triggers and easy cleaning as I understand it. I'm somewhat dubious of their little primer pocket thingies. Does the standard Sidekick come drilled and tapped for scope?

A tempting siren is the TC Omega Z5 (or somethin) on sale on Cabela's for $250, which often sells for $400 or so. Wow. But, the synthetic ultra modern style is a little bit of a turn off. I was impressed with the whole loading system on that thing though... its seems very easy to clean and use. $250 is a little more than I want to spend right now though, and I'm pretty sure the H&R won't disappoint.

A Black Powder pistol is also interesting to me... those uberti navy colts look nice, but I hear they shoot way high. What do you guys think about pistols in the $150 range?

And finally, are there any rules as to what kind of sabots and bullets and balls you can use in any given caliber? I.E. Do you have to use 50 Cal. TC Sabots only with .50 cal TC guns or can you use them in H&Rs too?

Thanks so much Musket Fans.... you don't suppose I'm going to develop a horrible, debilitating addiction to black powder collecting, do you? Nah....

 

[Roswell 1847]

The original Colt C&B military pistols were sighted for 125 yards.
In those days when few repeating rifles were available the revolver was a primary arm rather than CQB or PDW as it is today. Even during the Philipine campaigns the 1911 was used as a primary weapon. Those who were the best shots sometimes wore a wrist cuff with extra magazines tied to it with a cord through a lanyard loop on the floor plate for rapid aimed fire and quick reloads.
During a calvary engagement the troopers emptied their revolvers at the massed enemy while charging or standing a charge to break the other guys formation by wounding horses which would be trampled by following horses causing a pileup. They then went to the saber for CQB.
John Mosby developed the tactic of passing out captured pistols to his men so that they each had four or more revolvers while the Union troopers only had one issue revolver with six shoots. This gave them a huge edge.

By the time of the Battle of Brandy Station the only horseman on the confederate side who used his saber during the engagement was a German Military observer who got caught up in the moment and charged along with the confederates.

Replacing the front bead sight of a Colt Navy with a higher one is easy.
Reshaping the hammer nose is less easy and should be done only if you wish to also file the notch out a hair to one side to correct windage.
Never lower the hammer nose orientation at full cock by filing the full cock notch. That reduces the hammer fall and hammer inertia which results in caps blowing off to jam the mechanism.

 

[Pancho]

Dubious, on another thread I found a online gunstore that has more inline muzzleloaders listed than any I've ever seen. It's www.rrarms.com. One of our members has bought from them and has no complaints.

 

[Pancho]

Dubious, There is no fast rule about what sabots will work in what gun. The only rule is that a slow twist rifling such as a 1 in 48" twist will not shoot sabots they were designed for patched balls. A fast twist rifling which most inlines are are designed to shoot sabots and unsaboted maxie balls. In all cases the rule applies that every gun is different and a certain amount of careful experimentation must be done to determine the powder charge and projectile your gun likes. Plastic sabots are very accurate and have really become popular with the inlines due to the fact or fiction that sabots can leave a plastic residue in the barrel. The inlines with readily removable breach plugs made it easier to see what you were cleaning. The traditional ML's don't have a breech plug that is meant to be removed so the only way of knowing what you're doing is by checking the swab for fouling. It is conceivable that you could have plastic build up with out knowing it in a traditional ML

 

[arcticap]

While plastic sabots are designed with different diameter tolerances in the thousandths of an inch for a better fit in different barrels, they are all basically usable & shootable in any barrel of the proper caliber, just a little bit tighter or looser and slightly more or less accurate.
Some are sold as easy loading, some have 2 petals and others more, some are larger in diameter for a tighter fit and more accuracy, and some like Powerbets have a plastic skirt attached that expands and which are designed to be much easier to load into a barrel whether it's fouled or not.

Check your state's regulations before you buy to be sure that the muzzle loader meets legal requirements for hunting in your state.

 

[Misfire99]

I have an H&R Huntsman. That is the predecessor to the Sidekick. It shoots very nice. It has the "little primer pocket thingies." They work very well. You can get packs of ten and load up the "thingies"/ primer carriers and then the primers are very easy to handle. Easy enough to do it with gloves on. It takes a little bit of work to get the spent primers out of the carriers but it's not to bad. I use a car key over a divot in the bench.

The only bullet that I have had any trouble with is the power belt. They did go down the bore easy but they couldn't hit a barn if you were in it. I haven't tried them yet but I paperpatched some to see if that would help. I have shot the Buffalo Bullets and TC Maxi-Ball, both shoot well.I don't go nuts with powder charges so I keep them to about 80 grains of triple seven. If a forty five seventy can drop a buffalo with seventy grains of powder I suspect eighty grains will work just fine.

I have a few front stuffers and the H&R has a feature that is very nice. It's very easy to get the breach plug out. But the tool that H&R gives you is just about useless. I bought a half inch drive drag link socket from snap-on. Ground a little bit off the edges and used my air gun to back out the plug. I had bought my huntsman used and I don't think the plug had ever been out. That's the reason I needed air support to get it out. But I put it back with anti-seize and it comes out smooth now.

It has very good accuracy and a nice feature is you can get shot gun barrels fitted to it. Even rifled shotgun barrels. But the down side to this is because you can get shot gun barrels for it the BATF lists it as a fire arm not a muzzle loader so you need to use a dealer with an ffl to get one. For the money it can't be beet. It is drilled and tapped for a scope and H&R has the mounts. You will need to get them from H&R because they come with a hammer spur. This allows the hammer to be cocked without interference from the scope. I don't have one but the next scope I buy will be a mil dot. I suspect with that I will be able to make clean shots out to one fifty to two hundred yards with out voodoo or wishful thinking.