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Murphinator

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Recently I went to a range to shoot my newly bought (used) Pedersoli Mortimer Flintlock rifle. I got it in a batch of muzzleloaders bought from a neighbor for only $1,500 for all 6 I purchased I might add. Anyway there was an older shooter that set up to the bench next to me and pulled out a beauty of a "mountain rifle" as he called it. It had a 4x Tasco brass tube scope 32" long and the rifle had a 32" or 34" barrel. The rifle was only .36 cal but he said this was his plinker and he had a bigger caliber at home for hunting. Now I have an itch to get a nice percussion rifle and set it up with a vintage looking scope. Does anyone have a reccommendation for a caliber ? I was thinking .58 but Ive see a lot of .50 and .54 rifles set up this way. Also does anyone have a rifle reccomendation ? Ive seen a lot of older 1970s CVA rifles and Numrich Arms for sale in local shops. I will post a few stock images of the rifle setup I want to go for. This will be for hunting and target shooting.
 

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I see someone's wallet is beggin for mercy lol. Anyways a friend of mine hunts with two rifles set up with these vintage scopes. One rifle is a .58 caliber CVA Mountain Rifle "CVA Big Bore". The other is a .451" Whitworth Rifle. Ive seen him pull some incredible shots off with his rifles and he puts in the time to hone his skills. Ive only seen 3 deer taken with his .58 but over the past seven years Ive known him hes taken 11 deer with the .451" Whitworth. You'll also need to look at a few things as well. What game are you hunting ? Im assuming as a fellow Marylander you'll be lining up Whitetails. But think about future rifle use, will you hunt Elk or Moose ? Now you can cast up to I believe a 395 grain "Great Plains" Slug for a .50 caliber rifle that is .508" in diameter Lyman makes the mould. My friend shoots 627 grain slugs out of his .58. They are .575" in diameter. His .58 has a 4x Tasco and his Whitworth has a 6x Hi-Lux Malcolm Scope. Hi-Lux makes good scopes and they are the only people who produce that style actively I believe. Tasco I believe stopped their brass tube scope production in the early 1990s.
 
I use a Hi-luxe Malcome 6x on a sharps sporting rifle in 45-70 good scope, I believe what you have posted are pics of are Malcome scopes. Do a search on the Malcome scopes theres a lot of info. out there on them.
 
Well there are some choices and while not exactly historical, they can be pretty cool. For a rifle, Whitworth or Volunteer. Both are 451cal and the Whitworth can be loaded with cylindrical bullets.

For a scope, there's these guys. I haven't had the opportunity to personally examine their products, but they look good.

https://hi-luxoptics.com/products/malcolm-6x-long-telescopic-rifle-scope
 
Having tried hard over a period of six months to get to grips with a Hilux scope and mounts on a Pedersoli Sharps, and failing dismally, I persuaded my buddy to ditch the thing and go for a Montana Vintage Arms set up.

It took a while, but it was well worth the time, effort, and serious amount of money. Although both scopes were reportedly x6, the difference was night and day. The MVA version was an eye-opener - the Hilux was...................................not.
 

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