Your first muzzleloader?

Sharon 50 cal Trade Rifle. Built it as a school project my Freshman year in High School.
A roommate decided he needed it worse than me.

Traditions .50 Kentucky kit build.

My first was a TC Hawken 50 cal. caplock. I was in my late teens and got an uncle teach me to load it. I still have it to this day. It led me to a Jack Garner 62 smoothbore. I enjoy hunting with both of them, but the 62 gets way more time in the mountains.

My first rifle was a Navy Arms Remington Zouave around forty years ago. Got into black powder through a friend and neighbor who was into Civil War reenactment. Shot with them a few times but only got hooked on muzzleloading and not the reenacting. Many rifles and pistols have come and gone since.

As a paperboy at a small newspaper the pressman was my idle. He took me shooting one day and I fired off his TC hawkin .50. HOOKED. Fess Parker for an entire summer just before this helped me become an addict. Well a week or so later the pressroom camera man sold me his CVA .45 kit rifle and as other I "built" it. I recall I did a fair job. First time out with it we had a heck of a time getting it to fire. Course we didnt know it was full of grease. Finally it shot and from then on I shot the heck outta it. Next was a flintlock .45 pistol (European I'm sure?) and it was a great shooter. No idea where either of those went. I now am full fledged addict with over 20 BP arms. I was able to buy the printers nephews old army in a case with a mold for $100.00 and still have that Ended up working as a printer for 10 yrs in that lil place and still drop by. My "idle" is now pushing 70 and still at it!

Whats cool is that so many of us started with a cheapo CVA kit! My most accurate at the present is a CVA. Great old barrels. Too bad they went Yippie on us

My first was a brass-framed 1851 Navy imported by Hawes, now long gone. This would have been in 1969 or 1970, when I was in high school. Got it at a small gun shop in Humboldt County, California, before that state had gone so pink and the average citizen was considered to be a reasonable and prudent person unless proven otherwise.

I was about 20 years old when, "Jeremiah Johnson," came out. Fell in love with the movie, mostly about the scenery and lifestyle of wilderness living. Got my first muzzle loader shortly thereafter, a T/C .50 cal. Hawken. Sure wasn't as many fine builders or quality smokepoles out there in 1972 as there are today. Anyways my T/C wasn't authentic, but it opened the world of BP shooting to me.

My first was a Hopkins and Allen Minuteman sold by Numrich arms as a kit for aroumd 90 dollars It looked as though assembled by a chimp with no thumbs but it shot true. It was blooded on a cottontail rabbit on the run at 20 to 25 yds. I was 16 at the time everything I learned was on my own no one I knew shot black powder guns

T/C Hawken, 45

In 1988 I bought a New Englander, .50 caliber. I didn’t know much about them back then but I did learn the hard way. Since then, I have acquired many more and still learning. I think there are 8 or 9 here at the house now and room for a few more.

With just starting out in BP, I needed something simple, and the Traditions "Kentucky" single-shot percussion pistol in .50-caliber has been perfect for me; albeit, it has a horrible trigger. A Traditions "Trapper" percussion in the same caliber soon followed. I recently received a Traditions "Plains Hawken" in .50-caliber and received a lesson in adjusting a double-set trigger that was not set at the factory. I hope to add a Pennsylvania rifle to the collection soon.

Although the Traditions "Kentucky" pistol is not (what I would consider) the best, it has introduced me to the world of BP. I am also discovering that I prefer to shoot the "Kentucky" over several of my more modern firearms.

My first was a used TC unmentionable (Firehawk) in .54 cal. Had no idea what I was doing so after I shot up the supplies that came with it I went to one of the local gun stores (all are extinct now) to get more supplies. I noticed a TC Renegade flintlock in 54 leaning against the wall. I asked the owner about it and he said you don't want that as they are not reliable and out of style. He had taken it in on trade. Being the sort that doesn't always listen to out of style remarks I asked if he could show me the bore so we dropped a bore light down it and it was pristine as was the rest of the gun. I asked how much and he said $100. He got the $100 and then some for powder and supplies and I never did buy unmentionable supplies again. Still have that 54 Renegade and she shoots great.

Shot a muzzle loader for the first time as a 14 year old scout at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1977. I put a hole in almost dead center of my bandanna, I was hooked. The smile still has not worn off from that first experience. When I finally had enough to buy a rifle of my own, I bought a Uberti, Santa Fe Hawken in .54 cal. percussion rifle from Bullseye shooting center in Austin Tx. Followed that a little later with an Armi San Marco, Colt 1860 Army revolver. Still have those first two along with many others since then.
Still a rush.....

Like Juice Jaws, I too bought a Ruger Old Army for about the same price at about the same time. I was only 18 at the time and too young to be able to buy a cartridge pistol. My parents found out I had it and they made me return it before I could ever shoot it.

Later on that year when I went to college I bought some kind of Italian `51 Navy. It shot itself loose. Don't know what happened to it, but I don't have it now. Unless you can count a breach loader 1863 Shiloh Sharps, I pretty much stayed away from ML'ers once I could get cartridge guns for another 15 years when I bought a Miroku flint pistol. Another not so good gun so that too stayed in the safe mostly.

Bought a few originals in the mean time, but never shot them. Couldn't see the point in taking the risk of damaging it with a nice original. First real ML'er was a 40 cal custom Lancaster I bought on Gunbroker about 7 years ago. Has wire work in the butt stock with the initials "F P". I tell everyone it was Fess Parker's gun. It's not a particularly well done build. Now a days I pretty much just build them myself. I'm too picky for most modern day factory recreations to be satisfied with anything else. Period originals on the other hand are another matter entirely.

My first rifle was a ??? My husband and I purchased it at a rendezvous and there is a long story about how we ended up at a rendezvous! One Sunday, we were out for a drive in the mountains of New Mexico. Saw a number of paper plates with arrows on them and decided to follow the arrows. We came upon a field where a lot of vehicles were parked. We decided to park and see what was going on. Started walking up a dirt road and came upon a field with modern tents, campers and RVs. Continued to follow the dirt road and it finally opened onto a meadow that was filled with white canvas tents/tepees. I said, "Now this is my kind of camping!" As we walked around and spoke with buckskinners, we ran into a couple of people that I worked with. Got to talking and one of my co-workers introduced my husband to a guy selling this 45 caliber rifle. Next thing I knew, we had purchased a rifle.

That was 34 years ago. In all those years, I have not been able to find any markings on the barrel or lock to indicate what company made them. It is a sweet rifle and I still shoot it. The guy we purchased it from said he had had the rifle for 30 some years and the guy he got it from had had it for at least that long. I am thinking it is a handmade barrel at least and not from a "company". Anyway that was my first rifle.

My first was a DGW flintlock kit that was listed as having a "roman nose" profile stock. They hadn't gotten around to defining the various "schools" yet. This was in the late 60's...

Hi all. New to this forumn but not new to muzzleloading. Been a lover of blackpowder guns ever since seeing “The Gunsmith of Williamsburg”in junior high school. My first muzzleloader was a traditions .50 cal Kentucky kit. Built it in 1986. I shot that gun a lot but decided it was a little light for Elk. Max recomended charge was 80 FF. Happened to find the last available parts for a Sharon .54 Hawken at a store in Denver called Old West Arms. Bought everything they had and built a Hawken that I still hunt with today. Amazing barrel. Just shot a non typical fork horn Mule deer in the Colorado Black powder season. Should of been a forky but had 5 small points on one side, 3 on the other. Lots of non typical deer in my area. I missed his father two years ago. Absolute monster. Dont ask me how Love that rifle and PRB’s. Boy do they work! Didnt have any idea when I bought it just how good it was. Dumb kid lucks out. Very fortunate. Just finished a fairly simple .36 cal Kentucky for bunnies and turkey. Used as many parts of an original, very abused kentucky that I found at an antique store, as I could. Think it may have been a Leman but not sure. Goinging hunting with that next week.
Love all these first rifle stories.

My first ML was a made in Japan, Tower 69 cal flintlock smoothbore, purchased in the early 60s. Fond memories are buying my first pound of Dupont 4F for $.95 in a hardware store. The building is still there, but hardware and blackpowder is long gone.

My first muzzle-loading gun was one I made at about age 8 years, it was a matchlock of sorts. Had a lot of fun with that gun.
Keith.

Like many others mine was a CVA Kentucky Rifle Flintlock kit roughly 40yrs ago. I thought I did a really good job on building it to my critical & wise 13yr old eye. I shot the snot out of that rifle & was well pleased with the accuracy.