Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders New to the muzzleloader world

Muzzle loaders are new to me. Don't own one and haven't shot one. However; I'm looking to start hunting with one in my state.

Any reason not to look for a used one? Will be shooting Barnes sabots.

Not wanting/needing the latest and greatest or wanting to spend too much.

What brand and model would guys suggest. And of course any other recommendations.

Thanks

Have you window-shopped yet? What type of muzzleloader interests you?

Not yet, but will when I get to the city again.

I have a CVA Hawken with a brand new .50cal 1:66 barrel on it that I will be refinishing here next week if you are interested. I go through the entire rifle and polish the lock, trigger, bed the barrel,tang, trigger plate, etc. They are top notch by the time I am finished. I also have a used 1:48 twist barrel if that would be better suited?

Heres one I build and sold before it was even half way finished.
http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/19/04/51/92/img_4517.jpg
http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/19/04/51/92/img_4518.jpg


This is the hawken thats up next for my treatment. Thats the 1:48 twist barrel, The other barrel I browned a nice chocolate color and put traditional blade front sight and a marlin 80 elevator sight on the rear.

Based on the fact that you're going to be shooting barnes, I'm guessing that you're leaning towards something more modern. I wouldn't shy away from a used muzzle loader, but you do need to be more careful about the condition of the barrel, since the propellants that they have burned are likely to have been corrosive, and will cause rust if the previous owner hasn't taken care of them. In your price range, I like CVA inlines because of they're what I know, but there are other good choices.

I bought a stainless steel optima at a gun show last year for $140. The barrel was mostly good, but it had some rust down by the breech plug. JB bore paste wouldn't take it out, but I used some copper fabric that's made for cleaning out extruder barrels over a tight patch, and it came right out.

I like stainless for corrosion resistance, and I like the break action because they don't waste gun length on the receiver; it all goes into the barrel. CVA has a decent trigger. Inlines are cheap, and most of them have a quicker lock time than a sidelock.

I've shot a couple of sidelocks and a flintlock, but have never owned one. I can't really offer much of an opinion there.

BB, that rifle looks nice.

I am looking for an inline though.

Just through some quick internet searching I think a break or pivot action is what I would be looking for. If there is real advantage to one over the other.

Stainless steel does sound like a good idea. How often would you clean? Every shot at the range and after the deed is done in the field?

I own a Knight Vision and T/C Omega. Less maintainence than a bolt-action or plunger-action.

Knight Freedom Series Vision

Thompson Center Muzzleloaders

CVA muzzleloaders

If you get a rifle that has a breech plug that is Blackhorn 209 compatible, you dont have to swab between shots and it cleans up with Hoppes #9.

Go with the CVA wolf 50 cal. Walmart has them for 150.00 or so its a 200 yard gun with 100gr triple 7 . Its a break action with a 209 primmer set up. I have in shooting these for 50 years now . so good luck

Functionality wise I would then steer you toward a stainless CVA Optima as well. You get a decent gun for a decent price, especially for a beginner. Easy to clean and easy to use. No need to throw money at something you won't use again, but even if you get further into it, they're still a decent gun.

I see your from Utah, you will want to get either a 1x scope, DOT 1x, or open sights. You can use sabots and 209 ignition and BH209 powder. If you use BH209 don't bother to clean between shots, just shoot away the clean when you get home with regular cleaners. You can find Blackhorn 209 (BH209) at Sportsman's Warehouse cheaper followed by Cabelas.

I used to live close the Barnes factory, but I couldn't get Barnes anything to work with good consistency in my CVA inline. Great products, but good luck!

My current load on my CVA blued CVA Bergara Barrel is 250 grain T/C Shockwave, MMP HPH/12 sabot, 120 grains BH209, and CCA 209A primers. Shoots great but it's a stiff load....

I fought getting a muzzleloader for years. The nasty (and the need to nearly immediately) clean up after shooting and swabbing between shots, ect. just put me off. I missed opportunities to be in the woods because of it and am sure there are years I could have put venison in the freezer but didn't because of my stubbornness.

With the introduction of Blackhorn 209 and the use of shotgun primers I got interested because of the ease of use and that powder behaves more like smokeless. No (or much less) swabbing between shots and cleans up later with regular Hoppes #9 no big deal. I bought a T/C Impact, did a little research and bought some crush rib sabots and XTP bullets and stumbled into a MOA load on the first range session. It was stupid easy! I killed my first muzzleloader buck on a cold December evening last year just minutes before dark. My wife was with me, we had the woods to ourselves no other hunters were out that late in the year. I gutless deboned and quartered my buck and packed him out by starlight. It was a good experience that we shared and the deer steaks are fantastic! Get you a muzzleloader, you aren't going to regret it.

Thanks for the insight everyone. As mentioned UT only always for open or 1x scopes. What have you guys found easiest to use? Growing up I've always had a 1x scope on my BB gun, but shot the 22 with open sites. However, neither of these were 100 yardish shots.

I have a sightron S2 1x scope I had on a ML I bought cheap because it had no sights, it worked very well and was FAST in getting on target. sold the ML to my dad and he didn't want the scope so if you go that route let me know I have one I can part with. I also have CVA bases i would throw in if you went that route.

I use CVA inlines exclusively, the 150 magbolt is what I have now and I really like it, I actually have 2 but only use the new one. IIRC they were under $150. I see a stainless camo one on GB right now for $185, not a bad price.

I shoot the 300 grain XTP .45 bullets with a sabot and 2 pyrodex pellets. great accuracy and puts deer down right now. if I fire more than a couple shots while hunting I'll run a spit patch and swab the bore out to reduce fouling. 209 ignition goes bang everytime. its a great deer slaying combo.

hope this helps!

I have an older TC Black Diamond ,so I can't use BH209.Truthfully though and the 209 users probably won't admit it is that when hunting there is very little you give away using BP,777 or Pyrodex. I went back to FFG BP. The probability of needing or at least being able to fire more than two shots with a ML is extremely low. I have had no problem the very few times I needed to fire that 2nd shot with loading.

That brings it down to the ability to not clean after every shot with the BH209 vs swabbing after very shot at the range. To me that is not a big deal.

I have introduced a few guys to ML hunting and most started off with a less expensive Traditions brand or so in the $175-$225 price range and they work well enough to kill elk or deer. The most you give up is a steel sight base instead of plastic, but that is no brainer if you intend to use a scope. Other things like a 1/4 turn breech plug are just more bells and whistles. JMHO

Any issues in Utah with fiber optic sights?

A good bright front sight and a rear mounted peep are hard to beat in my eyes, YMMV.

I'm curious. Since you say you are a complete newbie to muzzleloading, and have not yet even decided on what gun to buy, why are you so sure you are going to use Barnes Sabots? Not knocking, just asking. Normally I get a gun and let it tell me what it likes to shoot.

I do believe the newbie is going to find that out.

In most cases thou, there's a plastic sabot out there that will fit any Barnes design and any sized ML bore out there. There are a half-dozen plastic sabot options on the market for 50/45 Barnes. Plus MMP and Harvester supply 40-cal sabots for Barnes 50/40 availability.

Barnes is currently the top, most-trusted ML bullet maker, rivaled only by some of the new-age craft-custom bullets now, like Precision (lead), Lehigh and Parker.

+1

No issues using fiber optic sights in Utah.

My favorite for hinting Utah is a DOT 1X of your choice. I just make sure you can control the size and the brightness. Very fast acquirement and easy to control. My second would be a 1X scope followed by iron sights in last.

There are a lot choices, from reflux to scope styles. I broke my last one, Nikon VSD, but I haven't replaced it yet because Colorado where I live now doesn't allow them.

If you know for sure that you will only use it in Utah and only with sabots, you can't get any better than the T/C Omega /Encore design. Very waterproof and easy to clean. T/C Impact is essentially an Omega barrel with cheaper stock, etc.

HOWEVER, if you think you might hunt Colorado someday, you will need to shoot conicals, and T/C rifles are not the one to shoot conicals with . CVA or Knight would be my choice there.

As stated, used is OK if you can look down the barrel with a good light to see if any rust. I love BH 209 in my Omega and it is less likely to rust a barrel. With a T/C omega/encore, you can use the stock breechplug to shoot Bh 209. With the CVA and Knight, you have to buy a special breechplug

Whatever you decide, stainless is usually worth the money. Not so much for the bore, because if you take care of that you are OK, but for the outside of the barrel when it rains, you are in a lot better shape.

I've had great results with my firearms with Barnes bullets, but the other reasoning is is that the local bow shop in town stocks them.



Does the Omega just not shoot the conicals well, or is there some other reason? I had a friend suggest the Omega, but what I have found go for a little more.

The CVA optima is what I'm starting to lean towards, so that's good to know about needing a different breechplug.