Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Which Rifle Starting Out?

"Be prepared; the writer, Randy Wakeman, is a confirmed CVA hater."

One of his redeeming qualities.^

If you check the online reviews from retailers like Cabelas, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, etc., the guys that actually bought the T/C Impact give it very good marks. It's priced low enough you can put some decent glass on top and still be within budget plus you get an American made product.
I would also agree with DDan if you're inclined to go more traditional. That's how most of us started out.

I don't believe our boy is so inclined. He's decided to use BH, which precludes the sidelocks unless he gets a 209 conversion nipple. I think he wants it easy-peasy, which is fine. Everybody has their own pain threshold.

My brother has an Impact and it is very accurate. It has the usual TC tight bore and can be hard to load. My brother uses the Hornady 250 grain SSTs in the easy load sabots. The rifle is an easy 150 yard deer rifle. The trigger is great too. The shroud that covers the back of the barrel takes some getting used to, but all in all it is a fine rifle.

I have been using the Barnes expander sabots in my TC woods rifle, and they were hard to load, but I tried and it works, seating the sabot by itself and then dropping the bullet in and seating it. Barnes expanders are tapered on the base and work well using this method. I have my ramrod marked to ensure that I have everything seated proper. I have noticed no loss in accuracy by doing this. miles

I read here in this thread all the drama related to inlines and related components. He may have made up his mind but the only pain one might experience with a rig such as I suggested happens if you are the target, or maybe shoot youself in the foot.

I read this earlier and called around. There is no one who sells black powder in my area... can the substitutes be used in the rifles you mentioned?

buy a tc triumph ,blackhorn 209 powder ,win 209 primers,295 powerbelts and hunt.

tc has a very good trigger and its easy to clean

blackhorn is clean shooting accurate

win 209 work very well in the triumph

295 pb kill great but don't go over 110gns of powder.

if the triumph is to pricey for you then buy the impact.

Substitutes don't work as well in the traditional rifles without some conversions. A musket cap nipple will help with Pyrodex in a traditional gun. 777 degrades ridiculously fast (better shoot it all in every year). I can't speak for BH209 in those guns at all.

BP is very stable and works well in all of those MLs; tradition, inline, or modern. There are several online vendors that will ship it directly to you. You can probably find a traditional shooter in your area through here or through other boards that have a greater population of traditional shooters. Not only would they be a great resource to get your going, they'd likely be a good source for BP and/or a split order on BP.

If you like the traditional guns, get one and work through it. If you're sold on an inline, go that route. If you want a modern gun, get one. Each will have it's own needs that you'll have to cater to.

For what it's worth, I shoot or have shot several in each category.

Go total balls out stupid simple for your first go round into muzzleloading.

Stupid easy to load.

Stupid easy availability of bullets.

Stupid easy to clean.

I'm liking regular black powder more than subs, but that's me.


Any perceived deficiencies of the gun not having all the bells, whistles, latest and greatest, etc are either perceived, or easily overcome.


Just my advice.

That advice is solid and sounds a lot like a modern inline that can be cleaned from the breech, stainless barrel and action, in .50 caliber, using 209 primers and any choice of powder. I agree with you on preferring BP to substitutes.

OK...

This may be a stupid question, but can BP be used in any modern inline such as the Triumph or the Impact?

If used do i need to change ignition sources?

I'm gonna be away for the next couple of days. can access the 'fire on my phone but a PITA to post.

Thanks for all replies, and consideration...

As I'm traveling thru some urban areas in Wisconsin, I just may bring home a new ML, depending on what I find...

Absolutely it can. It will work with the inlines and with 209s. It'll also work with traditionals and musket caps or #11 caps. And, it is all that works with flintlocks. I do that with each every year.

FFFg in a .50 caliber will be JUST fine. FFg will work, too, if that's what you can find.

I agree that the setup you suggested is a good one, but maybe not as simple for a newbie as it seems to those of us that have been using this stuff for years. Tho OP wants to use a scope, which is awkward on a sidelock, and can't find BP locally. As a novice, buying a used, discontinued, sidelock is fraught with peril, as many have issues, such as pitted bores and split stocks that he has no experience with. He's pressed for time and just wants to hunt.

If he indicated that he wanted to go traditional, I would have suggested a Lyman Great Plains Rifle, or the Hunter version for conicals and sabots. They're good guns that are still in production. There are a lot of used TCs out there, but many are in bad shape. I bought a very clean .45 Hawken earlier this year, but good ones are getting harder to find.

BP is available from Grafs, among others, but the Hazmat fees jack up the price unless you buy a lot.

A big plus 1.






So what. Go on the hunting rifles forum and read all the drama people encounter with centerfires. It's more a reflection on the operators than the rifles.

I'm going to offer a slightly different opinion that agrees with Leon's brother on a great TC load.



AFAIK, all TC barrels are the same 1 in 28 twist shallow groove rifling that were designed to shoot sabots and do it extremely well ... as in very accurate.

I've tested five different sabots using a 250 grain SST and the most accurate, and easy to load, is the red Hornady High Speed Low Drag sabot. This sabot/bullet combo has shot very well in my TC Omega with 777 or BH209.

I chose to go with a SST because they can driven at higher velocity, have a slightly flatter trajectory (vs a PB), and they're one of the least expensive projectiles @ $15.99 per 20.

My go to load for deer is ...

250 SST HSLD sabot
WW 209 primer (less blow by than a CCI 209)
BH209 110 grains by volume (77.3 by weight)

Ten shot average speed: 1992 FPS

This load will produce 1" groups @ 100 fairly consistently (wind is often a factor where I shoot) but never over 2".