First time muzzleloader

Marmaduck

Marmaduck

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Raleigh, NC
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Heyo, im wanting to get a muzzleloader for hunting, missed the season this year cause finances didnt align. But I also dont know much about them. Any tips on what to look for/stay away from?

I’ve heard people say each gun is finicky about the powder and bullet type it uses, is that pretty standard to the firearm model or each specific ML has its own preferences that im gonna have to find out? I dont own enough land to shoot on and I’ve not seen any ranges that allow ML :/
 
Most outdoor ranges are ok with them. I used Caswell to sight in this year.

There's a pretty big spectrum of muzzleloaders available, from flintlocks to inlines. Similarly, you can shoot everything from patched round balls to Hornady SSTs in sabots. In NC, for hunting, I highly recommend an inline, both for performance and to cut the learning curve.
 
Marmaduck said:
Heyo, im wanting to get a muzzleloader for hunting, missed the season this year cause finances didnt align. But I also dont know much about them. Any tips on what to look for/stay away from?

I’ve heard people say each gun is finicky about the powder and bullet type it uses, is that pretty standard to the firearm model or each specific ML has its own preferences that im gonna have to find out? I dont own enough land to shoot on and I’ve not seen any ranges that allow ML :/
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A lot depends on your comfort level with traditional or modern. If you're ever over in the Winston area, I'll give you a good intro range session to traditional and that's both percussion and flintlock, but while I know how to operate a modern inline, I don't care for them. I like old school wood, steel, lead and real black powder.
 
Tim said:
@biffmann do you still have one available?
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Yes, I do.

NC - Traditions Inline Muzzleloader (price drop)

Hello all, Up for sale today I have my Inline Muzzleloader. Also have a bunch of ammo and other odds and ends to go with it. Gun: https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/traditions-northwest-vortek-strikerfire-backcountry-50-cal-nitride-barrel-r549240wa.html Scope...
carolinafirearmsforum.com carolinafirearmsforum.com

Price is OBO. Will sell as a package or just the rifle. HMU and I'm sure we can work something out.
 
Teodoro said:
Most outdoor ranges are ok with them. I used Caswell to sight in this year.

There's a pretty big spectrum of muzzleloaders available, from flintlocks to inlines. Similarly, you can shoot everything from patched round balls to Hornady SSTs in sabots. In NC, for hunting, I highly recommend an inline, both for performance and to cut the learning curve.
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ahh good to know... most outdoor ranges in Raleigh area are club membership only, might have to look into getting a membership at one.
 
Dave951 said:
A lot depends on your comfort level with traditional or modern. If you're ever over in the Winston area, I'll give you a good intro range session to traditional and that's both percussion and flintlock, but while I know how to operate a modern inline, I don't care for them. I like old school wood, steel, lead and real black powder.
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dude thanks! I'll keep that in mind if I'm passing through, don't get out that way a whole bunch. are flintlock/percussion effective for hunting?
 
biffmann said:
Yes, I do.

NC - Traditions Inline Muzzleloader (price drop)

Hello all, Up for sale today I have my Inline Muzzleloader. Also have a bunch of ammo and other odds and ends to go with it. Gun: https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/traditions-northwest-vortek-strikerfire-backcountry-50-cal-nitride-barrel-r549240wa.html Scope...
carolinafirearmsforum.com carolinafirearmsforum.com

Price is OBO. Will sell as a package or just the rifle. HMU and I'm sure we can work something out.
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I appreciate it, unfortunately the finances aren't quite ready to commit yet, so still in the research/info gathering stage. If you've still got it come springtime I might hit you up!
 
Marmaduck said:
ahh good to know... most outdoor ranges in Raleigh area are club membership only, might have to look into getting a membership at one.
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I've had OK luck going outside of the Triangle itself. Caswell is about an hour and a quarter from downtown Raleigh and free. I've also used DP up north of Mebane, and they have a day rate (but I did end up just zeroing at 50 there.)
 
Teodoro said:
I've had OK luck going outside of the Triangle itself. Caswell is about an hour and a quarter from downtown Raleigh and free. I've also used DP up north of Mebane, and they have a day rate (but I did end up just zeroing at 50 there.)
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Oh that's great to know! I'll have to check those out. I really don't go to the range to shoot long guns enough to merit having a membership with dues and stuff.
 
Marmaduck said:
dude thanks! I'll keep that in mind if I'm passing through, don't get out that way a whole bunch. are flintlock/percussion effective for hunting?
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Yup. Like anything hunting, you need to match your arm to the quarry. You don't need a 54cal for squirrels and rabbits unless you're only taking head shots. Conversely, a 36cal is very marginal for deer.
 
I have both a sidelock percussion cap, open sights rifle and a scoped online rifle. The inline rifle is effectively a modern rifle except you have a slow reload.

#11 percussion caps on the sidelock; 209 shotgun primers on the online. The online seems to have a faster ignition so less chance for wobble when you fire.

Both are accurate enough; obviously the scope makes it a little easier. The distances I have shot deer have all been short enough that the open sights would have been fine.

Both .50 cal; I use .45 cal sabots for hunting. Hornady XTP works just fine. I have some conical ballistic tipped bullets for better performance at longer distance but honestly haven't had to take a shot longer than about 45 yards.

Just my experience; YMMV.
 
To me, the three big advantages of an inline are ignition speed, separation from the weather, and ease of adding a scope.
Failing to follow through can ruin a shot with a more traditional action. Shooting an inline feels nearly identical to a centerfire to me.
With an inline action, the touchhole is buried down in the middle of the gun, away from foul weather. Contrast that with a flintlock, where you're priming powder is in a pan hanging off the side of the gun.
And a few years back I killed a deer at 110 yards with my inline. Having a scope made that a lot simpler for me.
Inlines have about zero panache or romance to me. They're tools optimized for killing deer while complying with a set of government regulations. But at the end of the day, that was what I wanted.
 
What you really need is pretty dependent on local conditions where you hunt. Most of the places I've hunted and like to hunt, you're lucky to see more than about 75yds. With that in mind, huge power really isn't needed. What is most valuable is accuracy and familiarity with the gun. With that in mind, I don't feel under gunned one bit with anything I own. As for weather, a flintlock does present a bit more problem but percussion, not so much. You have to remain cognizant of an exposed hammer for safety as well as moisture. Keep it covered and it'll go off.

Now for one more controversial thing- black powder substitutes. There's only one I'll ever use and that's if the real thing isn't available and I can't make any. Across the board, no sub is reliable in a flintlock. They can be iffy in a percussion gun. That's why you see stuff like "Hot Shot" nipples. Real black is much easier to ignite. Some say that subs aren't hard on a gun, but I say otherwise from 40 years of shooting muzzleloaders and black powder arms. That said, if there was no other way, the only sub I'd use is T7. As for percussion caps, since I compete with Civil War arms, I maintain a fair supply of real black and percussion caps, and by that I mean, Swiss (target grade) powder and musket caps (RWS and Scheutzen). In the world of percussion caps there is no #11 made that has the power of a musket cap. I have a couple round ball guns that are converted to use them and they just don't misfire and it's not like those guns don't get well used. They're in the rotation of guns I use when I'm teaching Scouts and others the dark arts of traditional muzzleloading. (Read my sig, I'm a certified Instructor and competition shooter) Not only are musket caps way "hotter", they're also much easier to handle with fumbly fingers.

If you're new to the muzzleloading thing, I recommend you hook up with someone knowledgeable and there is a NMLRA club in the Raleigh area. If you want, I can forward contact information of a person I trust in eastern NC. He can help you get started out right and that's hugely important for success in muzzleloading however you wind up doing it- traditional or modern.
 
If OP doesn't mind, I have a question about loads.

When it's mentioned that the load is xx grains of whatever powder, is that a measured or weighed charge?
 
1075tech said:
If OP doesn't mind, I have a question about loads.

When it's mentioned that the load is xx grains of whatever powder, is that a measured or weighed charge?
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Pardon the pun, but it's a "loaded" question. GENERALLY speaking it's a volumetric measure. If you're serious about load development, it's weighed (sort of but read on). There are differences in the size of the individual grains of powder hence the "f". Once an accurate load is established while weighing, powder will be dispensed via a VOLUMETRIC measure to dispense that weight and it's the same for smokeless powder as well. So, yes and no

Now all pursuit of accuracy is about controlling variables, doesn't matter smokeless or black, muzzleloading or cartridge. That means being very cognizant of how components can vary. In black powder, the composition is one variable, meaning just like gasoline, there are grades of powder and that's before we talk about the "f". Once made, it's "broken" into granules and sieved to sort for size and that's when the "f" comes in. Undersized granules will get through and we call them "fines". They're great for flintlock priming. Your better quality powder (competition/target) grades control not only the quality of the actual powder but also the percentage of "fines". That percentage of "fines" and the grade of the actual powder will have a huge impact on accuracy and fouling.

One more thing, unlike smokeless, black powder of a given composition has ONE burn rate and one only. The only control the users have is to vary the amount of surface area to ignition, hence the "f". Large granules are for artillery and as the size of the granules shrinks, so does the calibers it's suited for.

Long winded, yeah, but factual.
 
Thanks @Dave951 . I've always seen the different "F"s on powder but never knew what that meant.

For my inline, one of the loads mentioned was 80gr of BH209, but I could never determine if it was a volumetric measure or weighed measure. I know there could be a difference but did not know how much of a difference.
 
1075tech said:
For my inline, one of the loads mentioned was 80gr of BH209, but I could never determine if it was a volumetric measure or weighed measure. I know there could be a difference but did not know how much of a difference.
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That's the charge I use in my inline (by volume) and I've been very pleased with it.
 
I started with a inline a few years ago. Also used the pre weighed pellets to make it easier. Also get primers way before season or it’ll be a struggle to find them. At least it was for me.
 
I used white hots when I first got it but was never really satisfied with it.

I have a few containers of BH209, 230 gr 45 cal XTPs and 240 gr 44 cal XTPs I want to try with the crush rib sabots. Plenty of 209 primers.

It's a CVA Wolf 50 cal Stainless/synthetic.

Picked it up on clearance at a Walmart for $99. Put a Vortex Diamondback HP 2-7 on it.
 
shawnd7 said:
I started with a inline a few years ago. Also used the pre weighed pellets to make it easier. Also get primers way before season or it’ll be a struggle to find them. At least it was for me.
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If you'd switch to loose powder, you'll have better accuracy. All the pellets are is a crutch for those who don't want to engage in that part of muzzleloading. If you get better accuracy with pellets than loose, well Hoody Doody, yer a very, very rare fellow.

Also, real black, (the high grade good stuff) is scary in how precise you can get on the velocity variation shot to shot. Many of the long range cartridge rifle guys have loads that vary not more than 5fps shot to shot. You will never, ever do that with pellets.

That said, if you're happy with pellets, go forth, play and be happy but know there is a completely different level to this game.
 
Dave951 said:
If you'd switch to loose powder, you'll have better accuracy. All the pellets are is a crutch for those who don't want to engage in that part of muzzleloading. If you get better accuracy with pellets than loose, well Hoody Doody, yer a very, very rare fellow.

Also, real black, (the high grade good stuff) is scary in how precise you can get on the velocity variation shot to shot. Many of the long range cartridge rifle guys have loads that vary not more than 5fps shot to shot. You will never, ever do that with pellets.

That said, if you're happy with pellets, go forth, play and be happy but know there is a completely different level to this game.
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I’m sure there’s a much deeper level to it I haven’t delved into. I’ve just been lazy with it. I shoot a cheap inline I bought at Walmart, with irons. Maintained about 1.5” groups at 60 or so yards and where I used to hunt with it that’s about the farthest I’d have shot so I was happy. Haven’t been able to hunt in 2 years so it just sits in the gun safe now.
 
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