Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Quality muzzle loader

I’m thinking of putting in for a ML tag in Kansas. I don’t own and have never owned a muzzle loader. We have a week long season in my home state. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna get a fairly nice one. I’m not talking mega expensive ones that are good for 300+ yards. I would spend up to $1000 I suppose. Any suggestions and reason why, that would be great!

Thanks
Nick - Ga

Ole Jim Shockey has killed everything in the world with a T/C 🤠

I’ve had a few MLs. Never had any major issues with any of them, but the Knight Ultra-lite is far and away the best I’ve used.

Very accurate with a variety of bullets, the stock really works for me, and with Talley LWs and a FX2 6x36, it weighs just a hair under 7lbs.

I’ve heard a few complain/mention that they take a little longer to clean. They do, probably 30 seconds or so more than my Omegas and TCs with speed breeches. Even though I don’t understand it, seems that matters to some.

I’ve also heard that the breech plugs on these are only good for ~100 shots. I’ve been waiting on mine to show issues, as I’ve way more than that through it, but haven’t seen anything yet. Guy named Bestill will make you a new one that looks great and should last forever, along with getting proper crush on your primer of choice.

Damn Inlines! And folks using them think they’re Danl Boone!! LOL

I like the T/C hawkens myself

The question.

Do you want to hunt with a muzzle loader,
Or,
Is a muzzleloader an excuse to be able to hunt that season?

Be honest with yourself, it's important.

If you have an interest in blackpowder, frontloaders,, do a little research, and spend $1k or a bit more on a custom gun. You will be glad you did, after you get it.

If it's just a chance to hunt, get an inline, scope it, and enjoy a modern, mid range, slow to reload, single shot.

But, check your State laws concerning inlines, there are some weird twists.

Are you looking for traditional or in-line? Not sure what your state laws are out there. I've drawn a muzzleloader tag for several years and have used both traditions and CVA. I've had pretty good luck with my CVA wolf but I will say that barrel length and type of powder you use has a lot to do with performance. Example: CVA wolf has a 24 inches barrel and doesn't seem to burn up all the powder with 100 grains worth of pyrodex pellets, whereas I can use 110 hrs of black horn 209 (and yes that's by volume so technically not a true 110 gr charge) burns more consistent and tend to get better performance.

With that said, I don't think you need to break the bank for a nice set up. Traditions, CVA or Thompson Center all make great rifles. I'd stick to a 26 inch barrel if you can tho. The CVA optima, traditions buckstalker and T/C impact of bone collector are all great choices for a decent price. Also can't go wrong with a encore. Just a tip tho, a tooless thumb breach plug will make your life easier at the end of the day.

Hope this helps.

EVERYTHING I’ve ever owned made by T/C has been of the upmost quality!

I have lots of muzzleloaders, traditional sidelocks, plunger guns, break open and drop action. It’s tough to beat break open guns for simplicity and ease of cleaning. The plunger type are my least favorite to clean and access to the breech with a scope on them is awkward. I like T/C’s drop action Omega but it’s no longer made. My next in-line will be a CVA Accura .45.

I hate inline's and have a good Traditions for sale. I got it when a friend passed and I bought all the guns from his son. BP is like archery with close shots. Fellas bring inlines here and can't load a second shot until they push the rod against a tree. I will not side with Shockey and his hunting, Scoped rifle. Good hunter so why not a flint lock? He would do as good but he gets free stuff.

If you are thinking traditional - I have no suggestions. If you are looking at Inline - I've been hunting with my Encore for 15 years - no regrets. Remington's inline is interesting, very interesting. Thompson Center has a few different designs I would be comfortable trying as well. Lot's of brands with bad triggers - be careful and make sure the trigger will be good, as fixing / replacing them will leave you thinking you could have just as well purchased the more expensive option.

I have a TC Impact I got for 200 bucks. I am not too impressed with it's accuracy but it is easy to clean. I also have a TC Encore and like the barrel change from muzzleloader to 45-70 Gov. I have not been impressed with the accuracy neither but I did get my last 3 shots in 3" @ 50 yds with a bench. I am looking into a muzzleloader like a Traditions Hawken or the Davide Perdesoli Hawkens . I was next to a guy yesterday , he was shooting a kit gun he did 40 yrs ago and only shoot real black powder and round balls . With open sights, he was better than the scoped 06 next to him. I see guys at the range bragging about their accurate inlines but I have not been impressed with their groups when their talk turns to groups, I'm not impressed , but the serious muzzleloaders seem to have the old 1860's muzzleloaders. Sure , sometimes I see inlines putting out good groups on the message boards but I think they are not showing all the fliers.

in all honesty evry ML on the market right now will kill deer dead stone cold . Flip a coin

Cant go wrong with a t/c or a traditions.............

Knight told me 750 shots.

Gave mine to my son, who has a much longer season than I do. Great rifle, with some minor quirks, but great shooter, and oh so easy to carry!

I love my knight mk-85 especially from the safety aspect.

My mk-85 shoots nice groups instead of patterns. I shot a fist size group at 200 with mine preparing for my elk hunt last fall. Im more of a sidelock kinda guy and swore off inlines as they never appealed to me. To make mine a little more traditional I stuck with no 11 caps and put a peep on mine instead of scoping it. Its about as close to being traditional as an inline can be I suppose.

I've used just two muzzle loaders in the 30+ years I've been hunting with them -- a TC Hawken until I needed a scope and a TC Encore since then. The Encore is easy to use, dependable and very accurate, I've never thought of a good reason to try another brand.