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Of the Outdoors: Muzzleloaders: A Blast From The Past
By Gary Howey
Hartington, Neb.
By Gary Howey
Hartington, Neb.
If you're like me, always looking for ways to spend more time in the outdoors, then hunting with a muzzleloader might just be for you.
Muzzleloaders got their name because of the way they were loaded which is down the barrel or muzzle of the gun. Primitive shooters used a ram rod to force the powder charge, patch and bullet down the barrel of the weapon.
Additional priming powder was then used to ignite the powder charge of these weapons. They were quite accurate for their time but because of the time it took to reload them, shooters weren't able to get many shots off in a minute.
Muzzleloaders are available in shotguns or rifles and are available in several calibers including: .36, .45, .50, .54 or .58.
They were the best weapon they had at the time and were used to hunt numerous wild game species.
Hunters pursuing smaller game such as coyotes use the .45 caliber, while
Rabbit and squirrel hunters like to us a .36 caliber or a 12 gauge muzzleloader with No. 6 or 7 shot works well.
Hunters after game birds are fond of the 12 gauge muzzleloaders loaded with No. 6 or 7 1/2 shot and if you're going after turkeys, a 10 or 12 gauge muzzleloader using No. 4 or 5 shot is a great choice.
For deer I’d use the .45 or .50 caliber muzzleloader, while elk and moose hunters need to use a .50 caliber or larger. If you’re going after dangerous game such as bear and water buffalo you'll want to use heavy charges shot from .54 or .58 caliber muzzle loader.
When I first started looking into muzzleloaders, they seemed to be a lot of work. There was a lot of talk about the guns not going off and these misfires made me more than a bit apprehensive about taking up this new sport.
The original or the traditional muzzleloaders were the flintlocks, cap, wheel and the match locks just like those our fore fathers used to fight the Red Coats during the Revolutionary War.
A shooters using these primitive muzzleloaders needed to carry a variety of equipment including; a powder horn, patches, ball ammunition, bullet lube, bullet starter, capper and cleaning solvents.
They also needed to be very careful about keeping their powder dry when hunting in wet conditions as moisture and gun powder don’t work well together, with misfires being a common occurrence.
Numerous companies still manufacture the traditional muzzleloading rifles including; C.V.A., Thompson Center Arms, and Traditions.
Many primitive hunters really get into the old way of doing things. They dress in buckskin, camp out in Tee Pees and hunt using only traditional equipment.
Their annual rendezvous draw huge crowds just as they did in the old days when they were attended by mountain men, trappers and Indians native to the area.
Like all things major improvements have been made, the designs improved with new powders and bullets designed especially for new in-line muzzleloaders.
Knight (Modern Muzzle Loaders), Austin & Halleck, C.V.A, Thompson Center Arms and Traditions are just a few that manufacture in-line rifles.
Looking much like a high powered rifle, these modern type muzzleloaders are very accurate. They load easier and faster because of the new powder pellets used in place of loose black powder and because of the sabot bullets replacing the old patch and ball.
They are also less likely to misfire because the 209 primers they use are sealed and hunting in damp conditions no longer seems to be a problem.
Muzzleloaders now have a choice of powders as they can use either black powder, Pyrodex or Triple Seven pellets.
The pellets are available in 30 or 50 grams of powder. These pre-measured pellets make loading faster and easier. Since Pyrodex burns cleaner than black powder, cleaning the in-line muzzle loaders doesn’t need to be done as often, allowing a shooter to reload and fire more quickly.
Triple Seven pellets are an even cleaner burning powder, requiring less cleaning than even the Pyrodex which means you can spend more time shooting and less time cleaning.
Bullets for the new muzzleloaders can be one of several styles; cap and ball, maxi-ball or sabot. With my modern muzzleloader, I've used the Hornady LOCK-N-LOAD SPEED SABOT and been very impressed with how quickly I can reload as well as the accuracy of the load.
When muzzleloading seasons first opened, many states didn't allow the use of magnifying scopes as the only legal sights were the open sights, red dot scopes or zero magnification scopes.
Because of the work done by groups like the North American Muzzleloading Association that has worked with numerous states convincing them to allow magnifying scopes on muzzleloaders would be the best thing for the animals that were being hunted and for the hunters that were pursuing them.
In the upper Midwest, regulations differ from state to state when it comes to the use of scopes on muzzleloaders. Recently Nebraska joined several other states that now allow magnifying scopes while in South Dakota the use of scopes on muzzleloaders is still not allowed.
Muzzleloading is becoming more and more popular every year, giving hunters another opportunity to spend more time in the outdoors after the other seasons have closed.
Gary Howey is an award winning outdoor communicator from Hartington, NE. His Outdoorsmen Adventures television series airs throughout the upper Midwest during the fourth and first quarters. For more information on the outdoors, go to www.outdoorsmenadventures.com.
Hartington, Neb.
If you're like me, always looking for ways to spend more time in the outdoors, then hunting with a muzzleloader might just be for you.
Muzzleloaders got their name because of the way they were loaded which is down the barrel or muzzle of the gun. Primitive shooters used a ram rod to force the powder charge, patch and bullet down the barrel of the weapon.
Additional priming powder was then used to ignite the powder charge of these weapons. They were quite accurate for their time but because of the time it took to reload them, shooters weren't able to get many shots off in a minute.
Muzzleloaders are available in shotguns or rifles and are available in several calibers including: .36, .45, .50, .54 or .58.
They were the best weapon they had at the time and were used to hunt numerous wild game species.
Hunters pursuing smaller game such as coyotes use the .45 caliber, while
Rabbit and squirrel hunters like to us a .36 caliber or a 12 gauge muzzleloader with No. 6 or 7 shot works well.
Hunters after game birds are fond of the 12 gauge muzzleloaders loaded with No. 6 or 7 1/2 shot and if you're going after turkeys, a 10 or 12 gauge muzzleloader using No. 4 or 5 shot is a great choice.
For deer I’d use the .45 or .50 caliber muzzleloader, while elk and moose hunters need to use a .50 caliber or larger. If you’re going after dangerous game such as bear and water buffalo you'll want to use heavy charges shot from .54 or .58 caliber muzzle loader.
When I first started looking into muzzleloaders, they seemed to be a lot of work. There was a lot of talk about the guns not going off and these misfires made me more than a bit apprehensive about taking up this new sport.
The original or the traditional muzzleloaders were the flintlocks, cap, wheel and the match locks just like those our fore fathers used to fight the Red Coats during the Revolutionary War.
A shooters using these primitive muzzleloaders needed to carry a variety of equipment including; a powder horn, patches, ball ammunition, bullet lube, bullet starter, capper and cleaning solvents.
They also needed to be very careful about keeping their powder dry when hunting in wet conditions as moisture and gun powder don’t work well together, with misfires being a common occurrence.
Numerous companies still manufacture the traditional muzzleloading rifles including; C.V.A., Thompson Center Arms, and Traditions.
Many primitive hunters really get into the old way of doing things. They dress in buckskin, camp out in Tee Pees and hunt using only traditional equipment.
Their annual rendezvous draw huge crowds just as they did in the old days when they were attended by mountain men, trappers and Indians native to the area.
Like all things major improvements have been made, the designs improved with new powders and bullets designed especially for new in-line muzzleloaders.
Knight (Modern Muzzle Loaders), Austin & Halleck, C.V.A, Thompson Center Arms and Traditions are just a few that manufacture in-line rifles.
Looking much like a high powered rifle, these modern type muzzleloaders are very accurate. They load easier and faster because of the new powder pellets used in place of loose black powder and because of the sabot bullets replacing the old patch and ball.
They are also less likely to misfire because the 209 primers they use are sealed and hunting in damp conditions no longer seems to be a problem.
Muzzleloaders now have a choice of powders as they can use either black powder, Pyrodex or Triple Seven pellets.
The pellets are available in 30 or 50 grams of powder. These pre-measured pellets make loading faster and easier. Since Pyrodex burns cleaner than black powder, cleaning the in-line muzzle loaders doesn’t need to be done as often, allowing a shooter to reload and fire more quickly.
Triple Seven pellets are an even cleaner burning powder, requiring less cleaning than even the Pyrodex which means you can spend more time shooting and less time cleaning.
Bullets for the new muzzleloaders can be one of several styles; cap and ball, maxi-ball or sabot. With my modern muzzleloader, I've used the Hornady LOCK-N-LOAD SPEED SABOT and been very impressed with how quickly I can reload as well as the accuracy of the load.
When muzzleloading seasons first opened, many states didn't allow the use of magnifying scopes as the only legal sights were the open sights, red dot scopes or zero magnification scopes.
Because of the work done by groups like the North American Muzzleloading Association that has worked with numerous states convincing them to allow magnifying scopes on muzzleloaders would be the best thing for the animals that were being hunted and for the hunters that were pursuing them.
In the upper Midwest, regulations differ from state to state when it comes to the use of scopes on muzzleloaders. Recently Nebraska joined several other states that now allow magnifying scopes while in South Dakota the use of scopes on muzzleloaders is still not allowed.
Muzzleloading is becoming more and more popular every year, giving hunters another opportunity to spend more time in the outdoors after the other seasons have closed.
Gary Howey is an award winning outdoor communicator from Hartington, NE. His Outdoorsmen Adventures television series airs throughout the upper Midwest during the fourth and first quarters. For more information on the outdoors, go to www.outdoorsmenadventures.com.
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