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What was your first Muzzleloader?

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I'm curious to know what was your first BlackPowder firearm? Was it a rifle or a smoothbore?

What made you want to buy it?

How experienced/knowledgeable with this sport/hobby were you, when you bought your first BlackPowder gun?
I built a Numrich arms minute man in 1972 when I was 13. It’s a .45 cal cap lock rifle. Even though I have others now I still shoot it in fact even took it deer hunting last year. It’s a straight shooter and favors heavy loads ( 100 gr. 3F and a round ball)
 
A .50 caliber CVA Blazer kit in 1986 like the one in the photo. I still have the rifle, never fired it and probably never will. I believe there was a recall for this rifle. And does anyone have a bad hands on experience with this rifle?

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I also bought a cva blazer [used] from my local sporting goods store. Used it a couple of times , the screws holding the round disc to the barrel stripped out.I tucked it away and kind of forgot about it.ttThat was probably 1992,on the sister forum I read about a recall. cva honored the warranty and gave an Optima .I since gifted it to my son in law .Apparently the metal in the barrels were of a substandard quality,and could possibly rupture.shoot them an email .
 
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Back in the early 80s I bought a Markwell Arms Hawkins in 50 cal.I liked the patchbox on it better than the CVA. I bought it at Irvings sports(long gone) at Landover Mall (long gone) from a guy named Linwood who was big into BP. Still have it.
 
My first bp gun was CVA blazer.[see previous post].My first new gun was a TC New Englander .I purchased it with a 54 cal. barrel,I later purchased the 12 ga. barrel for it.Still haveit,use it.love it.
 
My first muzzleloader was a Thompson Center Hawken 50 cal built from a kit. I bought it at about the same time NJ established a ML deer season in the mid 70’s. Crummy picture, but I shot this buck with it that first season. I was hooked for life!!! I still have it and it shoots exceptionally well.
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I got my first ML when I was 15 in 1969. It is the top shotgun in the picture below. It is a 28 ga. shotgun. Hunted rabbits and squirrels with it. Used newspaper for wads and plastic toy pistol caps for caps. I bought it through the mail from an ad in the back of a Field and Stream magazine. Even checked the box, "yes I am 21 years of age". The lower shotgun is a .410 shotgun my younger brother bought the same way after I got mine. (He always wanted what I had.)
The pistol I bought later that year at a local department store (my Mom had to purchase it for me). I loaded it with shot for a follow up shot. It was originally percussion but I recently converted it to Flint. There are no markings on it but I believe it is a Pedersoli as the lock fit without any trouble. It is .44 cal. I shoot a .430 patched ball.

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a cut down civil war surplus 1837 dated Prussian M1809. Never did shoot it but it fascinated me enough to pick up some more stuff
 
First rifle was a TC Renegade in .54. Kicked the snot out of me. Worse than the pump shotgun I hunted with. Then a flint Pedersoli Kentucky in .45 but it was not reliable. Moved on to PH Enfields (2-bander and musketoon) for many years, along with a Navy Arms 1858. In the last twenty years, it has been "all flint, all the time" starting with a lefty TVM Early Virginia that I still shoot mostly. Along with the other six lefty flintlocks!

ADK Bigfoot
 
I also bought a cva blazer [used] from my local sporting goods store. Used it a couple of times , the screws holding the round disc to the barrel stripped out.I tucked it away and kind of forgot about it.ttThat was probably 1992,on the sister forum I read about a recall. cva honored the warranty and gave an Optima .I since gifted it to my son in law .Apparently the metal in the barrels were of a substandard quality,and could possibly rupture.shoot them an email .

I did contact CVA in 2017. Here is their response. I might try contacting them again.

Greetings,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

The only rifles that are eligible for the recall would be 1995 and 1996 inline muzzle loaders.

Thank you,

Customer Service
800.320.8767
www.bpiguns.com
 
I'm curious to know what was your first BlackPowder firearm? Was it a rifle or a smoothbore?

What made you want to buy it?

How experienced/knowledgeable with this sport/hobby were you, when you bought your first BlackPowder gun?
My first black powder gun was a hand cannon made from a scrap of wood & a brass curtain rail. Not sure how old I was, probably 8 or 9 years of age.
Keith.
 
My first was a .45 Tingle half stock percussion in 1968. No previous experience with BP firearms, but always fascinated since I was a kid watching Davy Crockett shows. I think it was s/n 69 out of the factory in Shelbyville, IN. I pawned it while stationed at MCAS in Cherry Point, NC in 1971 and still regret selling it to this day!
 
My first ML was a 50 cal. CVA Hawken percussion. I bought it new for dirt cheap. I got my first muzzleloading deer with that rifle. I kept it for 4 or 5 years, and sold it for more than I paid for it. I then bought a 54 cal. percussion Lyman Great Plains Rifle, which I still have.
 
Back in the 80’s a pietta 45 Remington 58 copy didn’t have a clue and couldn’t make it work for me Then 20 year’s later a Lyman 50 cal trade rifle and Lyman plains pistol
 
I credit Louis L'Amour with sparking a love of early American history in me sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I had hunted with unmentionables for many years but it wasn't until 1986 that I bought my first fire-breather... a 54. Great Plains rifle. The very next Missouri hunting season it slaked it's thirst for blood on a big 8 point whitetail ! I experienced such a powerful feeling, a connection really with the stories I had been reading for years! Little did I know the path it had put me on.
 
Mine was a H&A buggy rifle under hammer .45 gain twist. My grandfather bought it for my twelfth birthday. Killed anything that moved with that rifle. Had to mow yards for powder & caps . Shot pheasants in our sweet corn coon too. I still thank my grandfather for putting me on the right trail. 1962 sure different than today. Think I'm on my second semi-truck of powder.
 

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