Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders .54 or .58?

Can't go wrong with either. I have both and I like the .58 better because the rifle is shorter and lighter. It is a Chamber's ESR and the stock design keeps the recoil very manageable but a heavy load like a 290gr round ball over 140gr of FFg will definitely get your attention.

My custom 58 cal is a hoss at 11 lbs, recoil with 140 grains and a patched round ball is nil, a real pleasure to shoot, carries nice too for a heavier rifle, balance is great.

Johnny, I'm nearing the end of build on my .58 Chambers English gun. What velocity are you getting with 140gr of 2F? Are there any other loads you like?

My 62 is based on an 1760's Berks County rifle. That Hoyt barrel is a 46" swamped with a real beefy 1-1/8" breech but a real slender waist. With a nice chunk of maple on it, it comes in at just over 10lbs, but the 2-3" wide buttplate and long barrel mean recoil is nothing to get excited about at all with 324gr balls and 120gr 2F.

My own personal flintlock rifle is a 62 cal. I have used it for 21 years now and I have enjoyed many hunts with it.
62 seems a bit bigger than is needed fort deer and antelope, but so what?
It works!
It's very good on elk, and the one moose I killed with it dropped on his chest when the ball broke his front upper legs bones. It was dramatic.

My load is 140 gr of 3F Goex and a .600 ball cast from wheel weight metal, air cooled.

Nice rifle, I'm damn glad to hear that, it tells me my 8 Bore you built will work for animals as large as moose, I've always wondered that.

WOW!

How about some more pics and specs of that?!?!

seeing wood like that makes me want to chop down the maple trees in the yard and pray I won the lumber lottery...

Just keep cutting....

Since we're showing our big bores...















That rifle was built by Mr. Allen Martin, and it's based on the John Schreit rifle out of Reading PA, circa 1760's. My rifle has a nice curly piece of maple that Allen shaped and finished, a Hoyt 46" swamped barrel with a 1:56 twist, an R.E. Davis "Colonial" lock that Allen tuned for me to give a nice crisp, 2-3lb single trigger (which I prefer over a set trigger), polished brass front sight and low rear sight.

It's a lot of rifle, lol, but I really enjoy it. It's a pleasure to shoot, recoil is not harsh at all, and you can hear the ball slap the target face when shooting it, which always puts a goofy smile on my face.

cal?

And a couple of its handywork in the field....

62

4ager, the specifics are as follows.
The barrel is a 37" Colorain 62 cal, called the Marshall profile, 62 cal.
The lock is a modified Jim Chambers Round faced English. I modified it by making the inside bolster .120" wider so it would set out a bit and that allows for the same distance of wood on the off side so I can get that every early wide section through the lock panels.
Triggers are Davis #4.
The mounts are also the "Marshal" set in brass except foe the side plate which is hand made, and the rod-pipes are the "cannon barrel" type.
The stock is hand made also. There is a gold band inlaid into the muzzle end. The rear sight is a 2 blade type zeroed at 75 and 150 yards.
Here are a few more pictures.







I am a poor photographer. The color is correct on the top pic. The rest are not. I don't know what I did wrong, but I better stick to building guns, not taking pictures.

I'm in lust....

Dang, I was trying to yank out of my brain why that rifle's architecture was looking so familiar, and I couldn't dig out that it seems based off the Edward Marshall rifle.

That is a beautiful rifle. Thank you for sharing it!

Yes it is, loosely,
but also on a few other Christian Springs rifles. The art work however is European.

It's an "advertising rifle" or to put it in another way, it's a "fantasy gun".

My personal tastes vary and some of the front-suffers I like run much plainer, but when you want to show off the skill set, it's best to have something that makes people look twice.

But when I show this rifle to someone they don't have to ask if I can make a Hawken or a Southern gun.
Yeah,,, I can.

I do.

I like building guns that are exactly what the customer wants, not just "pretty close". I think my biggest job is simply to delight my customers. I get a kick out of that.

10-14 hours a day and 6 days a week, but it beats working for a living.

That might be why I was having some mental confusion, lol.

I looked at it and thought Christian Springs, but had jaeger-like thoughts in my head seeing the carvings, too.

I really should have had Allen do some engraving on the side plate on my rifle, but the piggy bank said no, lol. I'm sure he'd still do so if I asked him when the funds are present, although I'm already finding pennies for another rifle from him.

Once I left shooting production muzzleloaders, I found out that's kind of a one-way trip. You don't tend to go back, and having one and only one just never seems to work for anyone.

I don't blame you at all. Allan Martin is one of the bust builder in the USA today.

I rate his work as "just a bit above superb".

I hope to go to the big muzzleloader show in early Feb.
http://www.18thcenturyartisanshow.com/

Alan Martin will be there. Another builder, Mark Wheland, that was his apprentice will be there. I hunted with Mark and his brother, they are super nice and conservative people. I am thinking of having him build me a nice Jeager in 54. I am in a buying mood, so I may just find one on a table.

http://www.markwhelandrifles.com/

Due to the late flintlock deer season, and history of the flintlock in PA, we are blessed with great builders. Most guys shoot Thompson or Lyman, but a lot of very nice custom rifles get dragged through the woods around here.