Muzzleloader Suggestions Please

Mount Sweetness

Mount Sweetness

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Southern Ontario
Thinking about buying a Muzzleloader, it would rarely get used, possibly 3 days of hunting whitetail per year.

Here's my question:
I'm into well made interesting guns, that not only function well but are also interesting/nice enough to "collect"......in other words the gun won't get used much but when it does I want to cherish the experience and be proud of the gun, I generally like wood stocks...

Encores and ProHunters look top notch but they cost a little much for me and you don't see many with wood furniture..

I have noticed TC has an Omega X7 with a laminate wood stock and lightweight 24in barrel with peeps. I have also wondered about the old school Lyman DeerSlayer style...

Many guys recommend Traditions and CVA, but like I said, I'm after a certain look and feel, not just a tool.

New to Muzzleloaders.....What would you recommend?
 
Well, for starters, I'd recommend that you use it more than 3 days a year if you plan on hunting with it:p. I'll assume that you mean you'll hunt with it for a couple of days, but will shoot it enough at the range to learn how to use it.

For scoped use, I think the Encore is tops, but if you're happy with open or peep sights, the Lyman Deerstalker is a cool little gun that performs very well. I used for years, equipped with the Lyman aperture sight that mounts on the tang, and it worked very well. I swapped it recently for another one, this time with the fast-twist barrel for sabot projectiles. This one shoots even better.

If you are willing to step back a bit further in time and use patched round balls, the Lyman Great Plains Rifle is also a hoot...but your range will be more limited with round balls vs. slugs.

Good luck and enjoy...there'e nothing like that cloud of stinky smoke on a clear autumn day.

John
 
I recommend the Savage 10MLII. It can use smokeless powder, and that makes maintenance a breeze. With 44 grains of SR4759 I can push a 250 grain bullet 2300 fps. Accuracy is superb. Only downside is that its a heavy gun.
 
I have heard many good things about the Savage as well, I don't know if they can be beat for accuracy and velocity. But...big long heavy guns, not usually my thing - I go for light short slim guns as I walk plenty, I'll have to think about it.
 
The Toby Bridges slant is a whole can of worms. He's a disgruntled ex employee of Savage. I see the barrel as so overbuilt for the light load it handles, a blow up was probably caused by a double charge of some sort or double projectiles.
 
The Deerstalkers are not quirky, but they aren't inlines...they are, like any traditional muzzleloader, a bit of a pain when it comes to cleaning. You will not routinely remove the breechplug to clean them, so it will of course be less convenient than something more modern that is easily disassembled.

My current Deerstalker, with the fast-twist barrel, is about a 100-yard gun for me, with open sights. Once I put a peep on, I expect that to stretch to at least 150 yards. This is with saboted slugs and my middle-aged eyes.

The older one, with the compromise 1-in-48-inch twist, could do well with either slugs or round balls, but accuracy would start to fall off with heavier loads.

If you just want to extend your season by getting in on the muzzleloader hunts, you will probably be happier with an Encore or something similar. Easier to scope, easier to clean, and easier to attain maximum accuracy.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Why is the TC Impact so much cheaper than the Omega?

I can get an Impact for $239 on sale..
Click to expand...

Not sure, but the Omega has really come down in price too. I bought the Impact this fall and so far I really like it. I have shot a couple of hundred rounds from it and it behaves really well with 100 grains of Pyrodex select with either my hand cast 400 grain pure lead bullets (Lyman Great plains) or 260 grain Extreme elite sabots from Precision Rifle. Nice light gun but I had to remove the rear sight to get my scope mounted properly. Not a big deal, but unfortunate since I may need a backup set of irons some day.
 
The Deerstalker is a fine rifle, and would be something you could enjoy. I used one in .50 cal for about 16 years and liked it very much. I won a few shooting matches with it, and shot a lot of whitetails, some as far as just over the 100 yards. I now have a Lyman Trade rifle in .54 and although I like it, I wish I had waited for the Deerstalker that was not in stock at the time. By the way I only use patched round balls and real black powder for target and hunting. Because of what I shoot, I find clean up no problem at all. When I used to shoot bullets and Pyrodex, clean up took a little longer, but was still no big problem.
 
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