Recomendation for first Muzzleloader

Hello All,

I hope I am placing this in the right forum if not would the moderator please place it where it belongs.

I am very interested in stepping into the world of Muzzleloaded black powder firearms. I am currently shoot trap and skeet so I understand the basics of firearm safety.

Basically I want to get into the world of Mountain men reenactment as it is my understanding they are more welcoming of kids than some of the other reenactment groups I have participated in.

There are are a few issues that need to be taken into consideration when helping me select said firearm. First I am a left handed shooter due to eye dominance and secondly I have a fused right wrist.Finally I am a single parent with full custody so budget is an issue. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

I'd go with a lefty Lyman Great Plains Rifle, your choice of 50 and 54 caliber. For balance and especially considering your wrist, I'd probably go for the 54 because it will have a little less barrel weight.

They're not cheap at $472 from this source, but they're well made and probably closer than most production rifles for a "mountain man" type of gun. I've been shooting several in both calibers for going on a decade, and my only regret is that they don't make more calibers. I like the rifle so much I'd buy more if I could get additional calibers.

BrownBear said:

I'd go with a lefty Lyman Great Plains Rifle, your choice of 50 and 54 caliber. For but they're well made and probably closer than most production rifles for a "mountain man" type of gun. I've been shooting several in both calibers for going on a decade, and my only regret is that they don't make more calibers. I like the rifle so much I'd buy more if I could get additional calibers.

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Thank you BrownBear. I do have a question that goes along for the novice would I be better off with a percussion cap model or a flint lock?

If I may,
First, welcome to the Forum.

Given your financial situation and your desire to focus on the Mountain Man era I totally agree with Brown Bear.

As for caliber I also agree that the .54 is slightly lighter.
With your shotgun experiance the larger caliber should not be an issue and the first thing you are going to notice when you fire it is that black powder does not create the sharp jab of your shotgun. It is more of a hard slower push.

I would recommend the percussion lock for several reasons.
First, it was more common in the era of the Mountain Man.
Second, I have found them to be closer to a modern gun with fewer things to worry about.

Flintlocks are great fun but there are more things to pay attention to in order to get the reliability of a percussion gun.

Feel free to ask any question you may have. We are here to help.

Both have their proponents and opponents. I wouldn't hesitate to get a flinter if you were shooting with someone else who was experienced, but if you're solo the learning curve may be a little longer. I don't know how much the range of motion in your wrist would affect the mechanics of a flinter either, compared to a capper. With either version you can rest assured that you'll have lots of helpful advice here on the forum. There's a little fine tuning with each, as usual with any muzzleloader, and there are lots of experienced users here.

While I'm somewhat of a flintlock snob I'll be the first to admit they are very tempermental. When I go shooting I'm always wondering if she's going to love me or hate me on that particular day. There is nothing more satisfying in my opinion in the world of muzzleoading than a flinter. Maybe before you make the investment you can get ahold of one for some shooting? I also am left eye dominant and prefer my flinters in L/H. I can easily switch hands and shoot but naturally shoulder a rifle to the left arm. I'd also kindly suggest you get a healthy dose of qualified instruction with whatever you choose. Black powder guns are just plain different and for safety concerns learn them well. Good luck and let us know what you have decided upon.

I will be attempting this solo in that the only clubs I have been able to find is either 2 hours north or 2 hours south, so I will be leaning on the experience of those gathered in this set of forums.

To simplify the learning process in that case, it might be a good idea to go with a capper. If you're more enthused than ever with our sport a few years down the road you can always add a flinter to your spread. I started out on cappers and only went to flinters after the fact. I still love my cappers too, but agree with Celt5494 on the fascination of flinters.

Welcome to this forum.The experience and knowledge of the people on this forum is incredible.I also just got into BP last fall. I bought the Lyman GPR 50 cal for hunting.What are you going to use the gun manly for? This will be the first step, so people who are a lot smarter than me can help you along the way. Be prepared for information over load.But it's great. :thumbsup:

I primarily will be using whatever muzzle loader that I select with the forums guidance for punching paper and doing whatever events are available at rondevouzs. I am not a hunter so this weapon will not be used to pound the bush.

If you are only going to punch holes in paper, than go with the .50 caliber gun. It will save you money in both lead and powder. It also will have less recoil for the kinds of loads you will want to use as a target shooter. :thumbsup:

I too, used to shoot a lot of registered targets and some skeet/sporting clays.
...and I am a member of that club 2 hours north of you!
Welcome!

I would go with the percussion gun, 50 cal, and the Lyman can be found in left hand persuasion!
Also to note, the lyman has more drop in the stock so will fit a tad better than others as the BP game has us using both the front and the rear sights!
We dont get to do the "Heads up" shooting style we are so acustomed too in the game of trap!

Lock time and powder burn are just a tad slower than what you experience with the shotgun, but the added plus is that when you go back to the clay fields, you will find yourself staying in the gun much longer!

One thing I would do is, check in with "The gun works" down in springfield. They are just down the road from you, have a web site and are great folks to work with. They usually have a good selection of new and used guns and all the stuff to go with it!

Another gun to be had conservatively...
The investarms hawkin. made by the same folks that make the lyman.

one last thing on the lyman... you want the GPR and not the Gph
GPR has a slower twist barrel for round ball and the gph has a faster twist for conicals
(Great Plains Rifle/ Great Plains Hunter)

brett sr said:

One thing I would do is, check in with "The gun works" down in springfield. They are just down the road from you, have a web site and are great folks to work with.

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Springfield is a good two hours from me also so is my better selection there or up in Forrest Grove?

Earl Scott said:

I primarily will be using whatever muzzle loader that I select with the forums guidance for punching paper and doing whatever events are available at rondevouzs. I am not a hunter so this weapon will not be used to pound the bush.

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Welcome to the forum!

If you are only going to punch paper, I would go with a .40, or even a .36. I shoot 000 buckshot out of my .36 and they are cheaper than having to buy a box of RB's.

If you want the larger caliber, go with the Lyman as already mentioned. Stay with a percussion for now. When the bug bites, get a flinter, but first learn the basics. Flinters need to have high quality locks to be reliable.

Earl,
no more store in the "Grove"!
Fritz closed up shop about a year ago!

locally for hands on touchy fely, the gun works is about it for vast selection.
of course, we can look at the pics online!

The bites as I used to love going in there and drooling then my job changed and I had to move to my curent location.

flintlock62 said:

Earl Scott said:

I primarily will be using whatever muzzle loader that I select with the forums guidance for punching paper and doing whatever events are available at rondevouzs. I am not a hunter so this weapon will not be used to pound the bush.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum!

If you are only going to punch paper, I would go with a .40, or even a .36. I shoot 000 buckshot out of my .36 and they are cheaper than having to buy a box of RB's.

If you want the larger caliber, go with the Lyman as already mentioned. Stay with a percussion for now. When the bug bites, get a flinter, but first learn the basics. Flinters need to have high quality locks to be reliable.

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The .36 is great for punching paper (and squirrel hunting too). For rendezvous shooting the .50 or .54 would be a better choice in my opinion. There are likely to be large metal targets and long ranges and you will give up a lot of hits with the .36 because it won't move or knock down the targets. On the novelty shoots there are some targets where the .36 will have an advantage but there will be more where having a larger ball is an advantage.
I say this from experience.
I shoot both .36 and .54 rifles and love both but if I had to choose only one for a rendezvous I would take the .54 every time. :thumbsup:

I know this going to sound like a silly question but what is considered long range? 200-300 yards or further?

For a rendezvous 75-100 would normally be about the longest. Around here anyway. One I have been to had a target at 200. Every one is different.

There are some matches that you could get involved with that shoot waaaaayyyyy out there. But then you'd be getting into specialty stuff. Not my area... :idunno:
Probably not yours for at least a while either. :wink:

When shooting at rendezvous woods walks I've had trouble knocking down targets at 40-50 yards with my .36 even with an obvious hit. There's just not enough lead to move some of them. They have to fall over to count most of the time.
Hit the same target with a .54 and it goes down!
Hit it with a .715 out of a Bess and the whole stand might go down. :haha:

100 yards and up, IMHO.