The first is my "plain jane" .50 cal Cabela's Blue Ridge rifle. We picked it out of the Cabela's Bargain Cave in Kearney, NE back when I was 16 or 17 for $150 bucks. My Dad does an amazing job of haggling. I have been loading it with 65 grains of FFg and a .490 Hornady sprue-less round ball with .010 patches. After this past deer season I have decided to up my charge to 90 grains of FFg, and my Dad has put a new silver front sight on it to improve the sight picture in low light conditions.
The second is my .62 cal smooth rifle. I won it as a kit in a shoot about the same time we picked up the Blue Ridge. I had the gun custom built from the kit by a very talented gentleman from Indiana. It is called a "smooth rifle" instead of a fowler because it has rifle mounted furniture and a front and rear sight. I load it with 65 grains of FFg and a .610 round ball that I cast myself with a .010 patch. The smooth rifle is very versatile as it throws a round call as well as it casts shot.
The final smokepole is my Dad's Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mtn. Rifle that was customized by a friend of the family over 20 years ago I suppose. The amazing thing about the carving on the stock is that he did it all with a jack knife (I'm not kidding). Dad loads it with 90 grains of FFg his deluxe .490 round balls from a specially fabricated popcorn bottle, and .010 patches. Dad also tends to use a felt wad between the powder and patched ball to limit any scorching of the patch.
7 comments:
Wow!...those are some beautiful guns.
I have to agree with Mark . . . Wow! Seething in Jealousy! LOL!
Do you have a black powder only season?
Thanks to both of you.
Rabid,
Sorry I missed the second half of your comment. Yes we have a n early muzzleloader season, and a late season. Early is in October, and late is in January. How about there?
Our Season in Maine runs the first two weeks of Dec. depending on where you hunt you may be able to hunt one week or both.
Very cool. I don't have a muzzle loader of any sort as of yet. In my area of New York shotguns (with slugs) and bows are the primary means of getting venison. No rifles allowed downstate. I believe muzzle loaders are allowed in the shotgun counties, but a shotgun seemed more versitile for my first gun.
How reliable is a modern flintlock like yours?
Packman,
As long as you keep your lock clean, and your flint sharp, and you pan dry, and your touch hole open they are very reliable. That all sounds like a lot but it really isn't. Last year I got my deer at 40 yards in a rainstorm using the smoothrifle.
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