Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Your Muzzleloader pic?

My .54 J�ger


My North Star West .62 with this year's Pa bird.

Well lest see , I have ?? Hunted deer with a spear. never got one . but i did get a Capybara . i also have taken Capybara with an atalatel .I have even killed a PUDU one evening with my army issue KaBar
I have taken mule deer , and elk with , primitive , traditional and compound bows . Though I never felt the want or need for a cross bow .
I think match locks would be very cool though and someday my just have to build me one .

The first two scratch built rifles I ever made were converted center fire .
1 bolt action , O3A3 and a Winchester 3030 . Both well before Tony knight found a market
Sometime in the early 1980�s , I stopped using center fires for big game .
In 1985 I purchased a traditions flintlock .I wasn�t real impressed tell I ran across a fella who showed me the ins and outs . In 1985 I built my first flintlock and have never looked back .
In 1990 I started upland game and waterfowl hunting with side lock and flintlock SXS and fowlers .
Found the same thing . And have not looked back .

In all honesty and speaking for myself . I have never felt a handy cap during a hunting season . Be it in the snow , rain , wind .
99% of the time . Im doing the above , right along side the center fire folks in the general season . I do pretty well I think . I fill my deer tag every year and my elk tag on an average , every other year .
Im a little picky with my elk though and a lot of times pass up what could be more meat in the freezer

While I would agree that hunting does cost a lot . Now days I fill my tags because I want to. Not because I need to .
If there was a life and death immediate need . Well ,,,, ??? Buying a tag wouldn�t be a real concern would it. .

I have 100% confidence in my rifles . I know that if I do my part . They will do theirs when the chips are down .


As to target rifles . If your thinking of hunting with one . Be sure to check your state laws .
Most dedicated long range target rifles , like the Rigby�s , Tryon�s and such are of small caliber . IE around 41 cal . Im not say all , just most and especially those renown for 1000+ yard shooting

I have my own preferences. Most folks here who know me . Know what that preference is as well as what my feelings about the modern inline rifles . So I don�t think that needs gone into .
But I would point out that this forum is NOT just about modern rifles and I did not see anything in the topic of this thread that dictated the topic was just about modern rifles . So maybe I missed it ???.

Anyway , good luck hunting this fall

PS
bfrshooter
my longest consistant range with the SC i showd above , is 325 yards off hand .
i have very little proble hitting a human chest size target at that distance .
i can hit at 400 but its a stretch for me .
so normaly im right in the running on the long gong shooting undell we reach about 350 and then im in trouble .

Bigblock,

I don't want to start a pissing match, and I don't care what sort of rifle you build but as an Iowa hunter, I understand the utility of long range hunting around here. I am never quite sure why anyone would pay that sort of money to do it, but I understand the use for a long range rifle.

That said, you can build or buy off the rack a traditional rifle that is purpose built for long range hunting. That god-awful ugly underhammer is just one example. And it didn't have to be that ugly - I just built it that way). That rifle will shoot as well or better than any inline and be more dependable (by virtue of being an underhammer). It can, and has been, fitted with scope sights (25X STS) and is sighted to be dead on for both 100, and 200 yds as shown and has been used on deer at those distances.

A Pedersoli Gibbs will do the same thing off the rack.

Anyway, if you were interested in the traditional style, you can do it without loosing one iota of range advantage or reliability - you might even pick up a bit of additional advantage if you work at it. But it does take some homework.

Good luck on the Iowa hunt - but for that money, I'd be out West.

Brent

My sons Lyman .50 GPR with a little customization.







My T.M. Wallis of Philadelphia original 1860's 12 gauge SXS.

I have a picture of mine but I am not about to post it just below ROMAC's work of art.

that is nice,isnt it?

nice SXS Romac .
cant say i seen hammers like that .
do you shoot it or is it just a safe queen ?

I have nothing against what anyone chooses to hunt with, be it inline or traditional. It is just my choice to use traditional because there are so many seasons to use any gun you want to.
Many use a .300 mag or larger for deer in rifle season but I gave up rifles for the revolver. I bow hunt first, then muzzle loaders, then the revolver is all I use in gun season.
I do feel for the fellas that have to spend a lot of money to hunt so go for it, an empty tag hurts.
I have just killed too many deer and kill too many each season so the hunt is more important to me then having something on the ground. I let deer go by when I don't feel like butchering but it is still hunting even when I don't shoot.
I let the bow down on the rope a few times because I didn't feel like a kill. One time I had 17 right under me bumping into my bow as they ate Paw Paws. I shoot 5 to 7 a year and have to quit when my freezer is full and I can't give any more away.
For those of you that can't do that, use the gun you need. I do not denigrate you in any way.
It is just that walking around in the woods with a flintlock and Yes, maybe a matchlock, is just plain fun without the need to kill every thing seen.
I do have a spear and several home made stick bows from Osage Orange to Hickory and I do go out with them without the need to kill anything. I do not get out of shape when I can't get a shot or miss. Too many times I don't want a deer and go for fun.
So for those that have to spend money and travel a long way, this is not against you at all.
Back when I started bow hunting there were so few deer that the average time for an archer to kill a deer was one in 17 years. I killed three or more a year in different states because I figured out the animal. You could only kill one deer a year in each state.
Now I have a friend that kills 17 to 20 a year in his state because he feeds poor people but he uses a rifle mostly.
I understand your position so don't get angry.

No anger here. I don't care how a man harvests an animal as long as it's legal. I would love to hunt deer here in Alabama with a big bore air rifle but based on our game laws the only way to do so is if the rifle is a muzzle loading gun. All rifles used in the state to harvest deer must be center fire with mushrooming ammo. Their is a guy in the state that did build a muzzle loading 50cal air rifle and killed a couple of deer with it. Guys are using big bores to drop game all the way up to animals the size of a Bison.

There's another one hiding in the closet, but these get used the most.

Shear beauty. To just handle them would be great.

Captchee it is a shooter, though I have not shot it yet. I got it in the spring and just had it checked out by a local gunsmith who confirmed that it is safe and in great condition. I'll try to get more pics of the hammers for you.

Here are a few. It has an oval with engraving with the owner's name and Philadelphia. I have it written down somewhere. I tried to do some research to see if he was famous but I came up empty. It has been cleaned up a bit since these pictures were taken.

Beautiful and very representative collection there.

Please tell us more! At least about the Rigby-style on top, i.e. maker, specs etc.


Johnny $

Love the savage ML.

Nice . Looks like she is in very good shape
Lets see
Does the 222 also show up on all the parts ? Ie locks , stock tang TG and such ?

1) sadly the barrels carry Belgium proof makings
2) the maker or possible maker I find 2 different Wallis. But n TM Wallis .
A) Wallis and Birch who produced a lot of small pistols in Philadelphia around 1850. no first name or initials are given . so this might be a maybe for ya

B) Daniel Wallis who had a shop in the Talladega AL area and produced guns for the CSA 1862-1864

This is some info that I had in my computer that I was able to uncover about the maker.

12 gauge percussion double made by Thomas M. Wallis of Philadelphia. I have not had much success finding much information about this gunmaker other than a copy of a patent application for "Supplementary Barrels for Revolvers" from 1876 in which he assigned half of his rights to William Wurfflein.

It has a silver oval on the top of the wrist with the name J. Birkenback(h)Philadelpia engraved in it.

1860 Census
Thomas M Wallis Gunsmith
Age in 1860: 28
Birth Year: abt 1832
Birthplace: England
Home in 1860: Philadelphia Ward 11, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Gender: Male
Post Office: Philadelphia
Household Members:
Name Age
Thomas M Wallis 28
Mary A Wallis 23
Philip Wallis 5/12

1870 United States Federal Census
Name: Thomas Wallis GunSmith
Birth Year: abt 1833
Age in 1870: 37
Birthplace: England
Home in 1870: Philadelphia Ward 19 District 60, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Philadelphia
Household Members:
Name Age
Thomas Wallis 37
Mary Wallis 35
Philip Wallis 11
Mary Wallis 9
Jane Wallis 7
Ida Wallis 5
Clara Wallis 3

According to Vorisek, Wurfflein was around from 1835 to 1915. Andrew died in 1871 and his son, William took over the business. They were known to have converted muzzle loaders, not an uncommon part of the trade during this time period. Sellers seems to use the 2 patent dates to date the time Wallis worked for Wurfflein.

an englishman using cheep belgum barrels . thats sacralage LOL .
very cool though , no mater what

Awesome

Awesome