New Member in Illinois

I've been shooting centerfire firearms for 50 years. I've been shooting competitively and teaching others to shoot for over 25 years.

I am interested in vintage rifles and a few people I know shoot at an informal black powder rifle match at my local gun club. They are a great bunch of guys I look forward to shooting with them.

I just picked up my first black powder rifle, so I could shoot with them. It's a .50 caliber Thompson Center Renegade I purchased from a hole in the wall gun shop the day before Thanksgiving.

I've been to the range to fire the Renegade three times and I am hooked. I joined to learn more about my rifle and look forward to learning the tricks of the trade from the muzzle loading community.

Welcome to the addiction! :wink: It's a learning curve but not difficult. This site is a wonderful source of information and help. It'll be more a matter of experimentation to find the best combo to make the gun do it's best. When you change ball size, patch thickness or powder charge, do only one thing at a time...the gun will tell you when it's happy! :thumbsup:
Never hesitate to ask questions, no matter how trivial they may seem to you. There are several centuries of experience here and helping someone just starting out is a joy. Perhaps we can save you those 'oh manure' moments we all experienced along the way! :haha: :hatsoff:

:hatsoff: Howdy and welcome.I haven't found a black powder club that isn't freindly and a good bunch of guys,yet.Enjoy the site.Griz

Another soul fallen into the Black Arts!
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

And Welcome to the Forum! :hatsoff:

Richard/Grumpa

I've already picked up a few pointers and am glad I joined this forum.

What part of Il are you at? I plan on moving in a little over a year to the Scott AFB area.

Welcome Bent sight! :hatsoff:

I live in the Peoria area Mooman.

Welcome to the forum.

I grew up in the Peoria area (Bartonville) and still have relatives there.

Mooman76 said:

What part of Il are you at? I plan on moving in a little over a year to the Scott AFB area.

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Cool! Belleville is an old town with a lot of history. Fort Chartres in a bit farther down the river with another century of French History beyond that. My grandparents live at Signal Hill, the border between Belleville and East St. Louis. My folks went to see about my Mom's Mother who had a mild stroke, but I blessed the world with my presence before they could be back to Texas...I was actually born in Belleville...oh horrors! :wink: :haha: :rotf:

There are a number of muzzleloading gun clubs in the area. I belong to a traditional gun club on the Missouri side. There are several other opportunities to be part of the muzzle loading experience in the Scott AFB and St. Louis, MO vicinity.

Fort de Chartres is a great national asset that we have in the area. There are several major events that happen there and several activities that are part of units associated with the fort. April is the Trade Faire. June is the Rendezvous, October is the F&I Encampment and November will be the Woods Walk. All are events worth making the special effort to attend.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm looking forward to checking them out and probably participating too!