Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders New England Firearms Huntsman .50 cal

aka... H&R Topper Jr. with a ramrod. I picked up one of these at the local sporting goods store this weekend thinking I might try my hand at muzzleloading this year. Mississippi now has a primitive weapons season between the 1st and 2nd gun season in early December (~ 2 weeks) and in January after the 2nd gun season (~ another 2 weeks). Last year they approved the use of scopes on muzzleloaders not just red dot sites. The little gun was inexpensive at $112. The fire sights are nice and easy to see, so I doubt I will put a scope on it. It is really easy to take down. Just remove the screw from the forend and the barrel comes right off. The breech plug has a tool to unscrew it from the barrel. Very easy. It has a little orange holder that centers the 209 shotgun primer under the firing pin and breaks open like a single shot shotgun. The trigger is light. I have not had it out to the range yet. Maybe next weekend. Has anyone had any experience with this firearm shooting pyrodex or have any suggestions for a new ML shooter. Thanks, Bob

Just wondering how you like the H&R? I saw one at a gun store in Utah a few days ago and thought it was a neat design, at a great price.
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<br>I found that in my home state of Oregon illuminated sights are illegal in muzzleloader season. Same with red dots and scopes. Peeps are okay as well as plain open sights. Kind of an odd rule. In line guns are permitted. The H&R is the best gun for the price I have seen so far but I am very new to muzzle loading.
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<br>Have you had a chance to test yours out yet? I'd like to know what you think of it.
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Bob, check out my reply on the Big Game board under Spike's 'graphic' thread. I like this gun design very much and was quite pleased (and surprised) when I picked one up at the gun store and dry fired it. The trigger is not bad at all -- and I'm trigger-finicky. After yesterday, I'm in love with the thing. I plan to do some woodwork in the off season on the stock and foreend.
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<br>Jeff

Hi, Things have been busy at work so I don't get much time to post. I did get to take the muzzleloader out once, earlier. It was a comedy of errors. The range was drenched, I had to wade through 4" of water to place the target stand. Then the high dollar Barnes X sabot bullet gets stuck in the barrel. I had a time trying to dislodge it. Had to drop the load to the bullet and then remove the breech plug. Removed Pyrodex pellets and proceded to hammer the bullet out with the ram rod. One I got it dislodged I went to the heavy powerbelt bullets. They slid down without any problem. The frist shot went through the bulleye at 50 yards. I then moved my stand to ~ 80 yards. The pattern was tight horizontally but vertically it was spaced out. The accuracy decreased as the barrel became fouled and my eyesight is not that good with open sights. All in all acceptable for close brush hunting. I still need to work with it some. Not too bad for my frist time out with a muzzleloader. Thanks, Bob