Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Best bang for the buck?

Heading to Indiana this fall, and with all the new inlines on the market it's hard to make a decision.
I'd be happy with a 200 yard range in a reliable gun for between 350 and 450$ 209x50
Any suggestions?

What style/action do you desire, break or bolt-action? Store sales on MLs heat-up about September 1st.

If it were me, as far as "action" types I'd go with a break action. There are several good ones to choose from and an "action" on a muzzleloader adds nothing but unnecessary weight and length. Drop the extra 5-6 inches and you have a much better handling rifle with the same length barrel.

TC Encore is nice. Whatever you buy, make sure it has an extractor for the primer. I've got a CVA Kodiak that the primer can get stuck. It's a lever action and poens the breech. I have to keep a little screw driver with me to get it out if I need to reload. My Encore has an extractor and pulls the primer out when you crack it open. The other good thing about the Encore is that you get other barrels for it. In addition to the muzzle loader, I've got a 12ga. slug barrel and a 30.06.

CVA Accura V2 - Accura Mountain Rifle or the CVA Optima are all great rifles.

CVA Optima with the Nitride barrel is a good bang for the buck.

This is a good time of the year to peruse the used rack at the gun shops, lots of nice muzzleloaders at good prices. Stay away from anything that shows neglect or corrosion, but most shops won't take them in if they're roached out. Ones that would make my short list would be the Knights Disc Extremes and T/Cs Encore, Triumph, Omega & Impact. If you're thinking of using Blackhorn powder, the T/C Omega is a good choice. No secret I'm not a fan of anything that gets here on a boat, but the shops I frequent usually have several for cheap.

Best bang for the buck probably won't be made in the US. That doesn't mean I don't use the US guns, but i'm not looking for the best bang for the buck.

I have a SS Rem 700 ML that I bought for a SML donor I'll let go of if interested. PM me.

In my case, it (American-made) was the best bang for the buck.

Around December 12th last year, Knightriflesdotcom was offering a Christmas Special on a new break-action Knight Vision for $199.

I wish now that I had purchased two instead of one at that price.

I got a Knight LRH new from them for $299 the first time they went out of business. Great gun.

That said, those deals are few and far between. CVA probably has the best bang for your buck currently.

I have a CVA Optima Elite, and absolutely love it.

Definitely interested in break actions.
I have a line on an Omega I'm looking into. Otherwise may just go with an Encore so I can make it a pistol and get more use out of it.

Does the weight of the rifle matter? If so, Encores are on the heavy side.

While these modern, in-line muzzle-loaders offer a man longer range and very good accuracy, there is just "something" about going into the woods with a traditional muzzle-loader.

I'd like to suggest you also consider a modern-made, percussion cap, short-barrel rifle like my deer hunting rifle. For just a $100, I bought a used, but in "very good" condition, an older CVA cap-lock in .50 caliber with a 24-inch barrel which weighs only 6.5 pounds which makes it very "handy" in the dense woods due to it's light weight and relatively short barrel.

This is "THE" perfect kind of "deer rifle" for me (and a great many others) which is not only dependable, but is also very accurate within it's own more "limited" range (more "limited" than an in-line), but which is capable of putting three .490" Hornady swagged lead rifle balls, one on top of the other, at 50 yards with iron sights... even with my older eyes.

Since I have a self-limited range of 80 yards when shooting at live game, this combination works out just fine for me... and 'most likely would for you as well.

My cap-lock has never mis-fired and with it's double-set trigger, it seems to "fire" the moment I slightly & gently touch the "set" trigger and that 177 grain lead rifle ball shoots THROUGH a deer out to at least 80 yards... and it's still a "traditional" muzzle-loader.

Since some States have a special deer season limited to "Traditional muzzle-loading, black powder rifles ONLY", having a traditional muzzle-loading rifle may add more "days" to your deer hunting season without any REAL disadvantages to either the accuracy of or the "stopping power" of your rifle.

Yes, it's true that, in some cases, you may need to take your shots at a longer range in order to bring that big buck "down", but I've never found that limiting myself shots of 80 yards or less was a "real" problem when hunting deer since if one sits quietly in the woods while leaning back against a large tree over-looking the junction of a couple of deer trails, I've had deer walk by me at only 30 or 40 feet away... and some of them were at least legal, "shootable" bucks... and, of course, doe deer are even less wary and easily more shootable IF a man will shoot a doe.

Ya see... some of us "old-timers" won't shoot a doe because shooting doe deer was prohibited for most of the years we hunted deer. Yeah... I'm "one-of-those" guys.

Finding those "Granddaddy" sized bucks usually requires going into the very most dense part of the woods and brambles in which, of course, a light, short-barreled rifle is a BIG "plus" and, certainly, the shooting ranges in such woods is almost always VERY short due to the density of the woods and the heavy under-brush. Under those conditions, limiting one's shooting range to 80 yards becomes a "moot point"... as you might imagine !!!

Anyway, with a used, short-barreled cap-lock in "good-to-excellent" condition, selling for $100 to $150 or so (I paid only $100 for mine and it's in "very-good-to-excellent" condition)... you'll not only save $$$, but end up with a rifle that is quick handling,has fine accuracy and is relatively (compared to an in-line) inexpensive with which to do "practice" shooting and just as good as an "in-line" rifle for gathering venison within a reasonable range.

That's just my "2 cents"... and perhaps something for you to consider as well...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

I wondered how long it would be before a diatribe like that would emerge...

For me, I could care less about the nostalgia that a traditional muzzleloader offers. I am after the additional days, nothing more. I have hopes that my state, like others, will eventually expand the season to include straight walled smokeless cartridges, like others have. If that were to be the case, I would not even own a muzzleloader. Until that day, my "modern" break over, 209 primer, scoped inline shooting Triple 7 will remain.

I have a sneaking suspicion I am not in the minority in this opinion.

+1.

I fail to understand why a "modern" muzzleloader would outshoot a "traditional" one. My "traditional" configuration will shoot as well as I can hold. Some have leaf sights, some have peeps, and a couple have (horror of horrors) scopes. Though I shoot 777, I do not think it gives me an accuracy advantage. The barrels are all 1:48 and shoot round ball, sabots, and conicals, though I am somewhat limited on projectiles by the twist. Except for the ability to shoot over 100 grains of loose 777 (which I think is completely unecessary for deer), I see no handicap at all. In fact, the set triggers are a decided advantage. Just because it looks like a modern .308, does not mean it shoots like one.

I haven't heard anyone say anything about either one shooting better. Although for conicals and sabots, a fast twist barrel is better.

What I fail to understand is why anybody cares what someone else chooses to shoot.

I have shot three Omegas and they had the tightest bores I have ever encountered. They were bought about the same time and I suspect T/C had a run of tight bores. An 18 year old girl has one of them and even though she is a farm girl and quite strong, she can't load her own rifle. We have tried all major sabot and bullet combinations, except Power Belts, which I do not like. My brother has a T/C Impact and it is much easier to load. You can buy an Impact for less than the price of most Encore barrels.