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Is It Just Me?

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So, if someone’s eyes no longer allow traditional sights, that someone should hang up the traditional muzzleloader and take up an “unmentionable” of some sort?
Walk

I'm getting closer to that point. I'm good to 50 yards if there's enough light. Under some circumstances maybe further. It used to be that longer shots were about getting a rest but not now.

I recently acquired a TC barrel that was drilled and tapped for a scope. The holes are 10-32 so I'll fill them with screws then cut off flush.

I'm not a reenactor or hard tied to tradition, but the fun of these guns is shooting the old way. When I need a scope it's time for the 270 or the bow.
 
Wagh ain’t I some, I’m the original iron jawed brass bellied copper clad corpse maker from the wilds of Arkansas.
Least I was just yesterday or the day before, OMG that was thirty years ago.
Right eye had 20/15 vision in it
Now it’s 20/25, the ground is harder then it used to be, hills is steeper and when the first stars start peeping through the blanket is more inviting then the jug of pie.
I’d rather not see a scope on a traditional gun, but if the shooter need it he needs it. It’s sad but true.only the young dead don’t age and weeken.
 
Is it just me or does putting a modern scope on a sidelock seem an abomination? I see sidelocks on auction sites high lighting they come with a, fill in the blank, scope. It is disturbing to me. And if you don't use that scope you have to have screws fill in the scars left by the holes. Am I alone on this? Thanks

You are not alone.
 
I have a 1946 copy of the Pennsylvania Game News, the state commissions monthly magazine. There is an article in there with a picture of the founders of the newly formed Pennsylvania Blind Sportsmen Association, formed to promote hunting and fishing opportunities for the blind. >>>I suppose I could over look a scope for a legally blind hunter, I would over look it from several miles away.
 
Is it just me or does putting a modern scope on a sidelock seem an abomination? I see sidelocks on auction sites high lighting they come with a, fill in the blank, scope. It is disturbing to me. And if you don't use that scope you have to have screws fill in the scars left by the holes. Am I alone on this? Thanks

Here is how I look at it and life in general, its your Dime spend it anyway you like and don't tell me how to spend my Dime
 
Here is how I look at it and life in general, its your Dime spend it anyway you like and don't tell me how to spend my Dime

For some unknown reason some people are attacking my statement because they read in to it what is not there! There is no invisible ink with a hidden message! I’m not telling anyone how to spend their dime or their life. The OP you quoted does not put down anyone for using a modern scope on a sidelock or flintlock for that matter. It gives my feelings on the appearance of a modern scope, on the aesthetics of the lines of a traditional firearm. If someone wants to put 20 inch wheels with wide white sidewall tires on their Yugo, then go for it. But it’s not for me.
 
I might consider a Malcom (sp?) type 'scope on a percussion rifle, but that's about as far as I would go. But that as far as I would go: what you want to do is entirely up to you. If you want to shoot something that looks just flat silly, well, that's your business, and I'll gladly defend your God-given right to make a complete fool of yourself if that's what makes you happy.
 
I might consider a Malcom (sp?) type 'scope on a percussion rifle, but that's about as far as I would go. But that as far as I would go: what you want to do is entirely up to you. If you want to shoot something that looks just flat silly, well, that's your business, and I'll gladly defend your God-given right to make a complete fool of yourself if that's what makes you happy.

MSW, I agree with your statement. I like the Malcomb's but they can be expensive. And if someone wants a modern scope on a traditional rifle, then do it. Unfortunately some members read the OP as an attack on using modern scopes. Carefully read it does not say that. It merely expresses my feelings on ruining the lines of a traditional rifle, that is the aesthetics.
 
I prefer to use traditional equipment because I enjoy it. Other people watch football because they enjoy it. You couldn't force me to watch a sporting game on TV, as I am only interested in things that I can participate in, and I ain't 7 foot tall so no basketball either. I am sure that there are people who look at me a little cockeyed because I don't have a favorite sporting team. So if someone wants to do it differently from the way I do that's OK. I am only out here to please myself.
 
I think a scope on a longrifle is an abomination. But if I couldn't see well enough to shoot well using a peep I'd do anything to keep shooting, including installing a scope. Abandoning muzzleloaders is the greater abomination
 
To each his own my issue with scopes on muzzle loading guns is not knowing how deep they are drilled and tapped. I wont buy a barrel from an unknown source if they drilled and tapped it. If a guy needs a scope to keep shooting its ok but I prefer to keep shooting peeps and open sights as long as I can.
 
For some unknown reason some people are attacking my statement because they read in to it what is not there! There is no invisible ink with a hidden message! I’m not telling anyone how to spend their dime or their life. The OP you quoted does not put down anyone for using a modern scope on a sidelock or flintlock for that matter. It gives my feelings on the appearance of a modern scope, on the aesthetics of the lines of a traditional firearm. If someone wants to put 20 inch wheels with wide white sidewall tires on their Yugo, then go for it. But it’s not for me.

I am not attacking your statement and know what you were saying, all I was saying its your rifle do what you want with it. And I think my 20 inch. whitewall wheels look good on my Yugo??
 
I am not attacking your statement and know what you were saying, all I was saying its your rifle do what you want with it. And I think my 20 inch. whitewall wheels look good on my Yugo??

Thanks for clarifying that post. And I agree that if it's yours then you can do what you want with it. And I bet your Yugo has a most unique appearance.
 
The way I look at it, as the laws are written, the existing technology establishes the baseline for the equipment, and you can do anything you want so long as it is within the law, and your personal capabilities.

Many people with superior eyesight and athletic abilities can actually shoot iron sights better than they do optical ones, but the majority of us do not. If we choose to hunt with a stick bow during rifle season we certainly can do that, but we have voluntarily handicapped ourselves relative to the average hunter out there with modern firearms. The same is true if we choose to hunt with a traditional ML'er. We're less handicapped than with a bow, but still handicapped relative to more modern equipment.

Once the gun is loaded, it really isn't (functionally) that much different than a modern single-shot gun, save for the constraints of the propellant and projectile. There are people out there (and there used to be a commercial company) that make muzzle loaders designed to fire smokeless powder, so even those limitations are neutered.

Once a technology that gives you an advantage is invented, it's usually pretty expensive, hence, not common. Only super techie or rich guys would use it. Take night and thermal imaging equipment for instance. 30 years ago It cost $4000-$5000+ for that stuff. Nobody had it so no game laws were written to limit the use. Now it's <$1000, and much more commonly owned, so laws were written to limit its' use, and keep things "sporting" for the game. Subsistence hunters don't care that much about game laws anyway, so they are always going to be operating outside the law.

Well spoken!
 
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If a scope keeps you in the field, so be it. But I wouldn't add one to a nice custom gun.

There's a chapter in one of my black powder books about a guy (Al Georg?) who hunted with an 1858 Remington and a .36 H&R underhammer, both fitted with scopes. He wanted to show just how effective a BP gun could be.
 
The way I look at it, as the laws are written, the existing technology establishes the baseline for the equipment, and you can do anything you want so long as it is within the law, and your personal capabilities.

My beef isn't with someone slapping whatever they want on a legal weapon and using it. But the above quote gets to the crux of the issue in that those folks that always want the shortcuts cry and whine and utilize the 'modern gunning' industry to lobby their cause to muscle in on what was meant to be a primitive season. I'm not talking about a person with really poor eyesight that absolutely requires a scope and gets a special permit for it to participate. That's acceptable to me.

I liked the late muzzleloading season because it was a very private, quiet time to be in the woods and it was dedicated to a small group of like minded people. But over time, at least in my state, it has turned into nothing short of a single-shot rifle season considering the "existing technology." The people that push for this always say..."We're not taking away your right to hunt traditional...you can still do that." True, but what they are doing is polluting what was a special season and increasing bodies in the field, making it now necessary to wear all the orange stuff instead of the choice of truly traditional clothes, etc. until it's no more than a normal gun season. I do hunt the regular gun season with my flint or side locks and could care less, during that season, that the guy next to me is shooting the most modern of equipment. As said, one can choose to "handicap" themselves during a modern season...I just don't think it should go the other way around.

Heck, on the lease I was on for years everyone else used the Savage 20 GA shotguns, with scopes that looked like they were better suited for a varmit rifle, during the regular gun season. They were a great bunch of guys I liked to hang out with and during that season I didn't care. I actually marveled at how they could put a 20 GA rifled slug (well really a long-range bullet) into the zone at 250 yards. But if they started to lobby to do that during a traditional ML season we'd have had words about it because that level of technology doesn't belong there. While slug guns aren't allowed in the season, how different is that technology from a modern breech loading "muzzleloader" with electronic ignition and sealed bolt action breech with the same scope on it, other than being single shot?
 
Well said Spikebuck. The muzzleloading season in most states is just that. It is not a primitive season as was envisioned when most were originally started.
 
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