Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Beginner in need of advice

They certainly aren't the greatest. But for the price, they aren't that bad. Mine worked very well. It was very accurate. 1:48 inch twist held a couple of inches off the bench at 50 yards using Hornady patched round balls and Great Plains bullets. 1:48 was plenty to stabilize the Great Plains.

One thing I liked about the Traditions was the hook/breech barrel. Where all you had to do was knock the wedge out to get the barrel off. It was kinda tight early on and I found I had to loosen the tang screw a bit to get the barrel back on, but it loosened up over time and the feature worked well. Made it a breeze to clean. It also had very decent sights.

It does have that crescent butt plate so shouldering it is different than with a flat butt rifle, so the OP would have to learn that. But it sets in quickly.

Overall for $450 or so, it's hard to beat. I sold mine a few months ago and now I have nothing that is really suitable for patched round balls and I am kinda kicking myself over it.

Here's what mine looked like when it was new:



Here you can see the drum wasn't timed to the hammer exactly, but it worked well anyways. Not an uncommon issue.










A used T/C Hawken may be a good option. I live in Virginia and Green Top in Richmond, Va has several used, .50 and .54, for sale. Nice looking guns, too.