Which is better Muzzleloader or shotgun with a rifled barrel

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CompBoy

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I figured I ask this because I just figured out that Ontario has some restrictions on firearms you can use in the south and I wanted to see what you all would say

Which is better a Muzzleloader or a shotgun with a fully rifled barrel shotting the right ammunition.

By better I mean Range, Accuracy, harvesting the animal with the least amount of suffering. I know I'll need to practice before using it so take the shooter out will try to do the best I can. I won't be buying this till my cars paid next year. I figure that should be just about the time the smoke claers from this one. BTW I could buy another rifle but next year was suppose to be a shot gun and a bow with the price of the muzzle loaders out there I might buy a cheaper one just to try it out and see how it works. What I am trying to figure out really is should I purchase a combo pack of two barrels for the Shotty or should I buy a normal shotty and get a Muzzle loader. If I can get enough support for the Muzzleloader particularly in the humane kill I might be able to sell that to the wife and get another gun. :D

:popCorn:.
 
Figure out the area that you are going to hunt in first. Some areas are Muzzle Loaders only, so that kind of makes the decision for you. Other than that, Modern muzzle loaders are humane and more accurate out longer distances, 200 yards or so, but if you hunt in the area I do, shots are rarely over 50 yards, and the deer are usually moving, so a shotgun for me, makes more sense. Like I said, figure out where you are going to hunt, it will usually dictate what firearm you use.
 
Some thoughts: Its sure easier to load and unload a shotgun. We have a Near urban wildlife zone here where you can only hunt muzzle, shotgun, crossbow or bow. Not sure if your situation is similar.

On the accuracy front, if you're willing to drop the cash, a Savage smokeless powder muzzleloader is probably as accurate as you'd ever need and should be able to reach out to any reasonable distance (200 yards) easily.
 
X2 on the Savage ML's. I was at the range three days ago and it shot very well at 100M and 200M. I would put it against most deer rifles out to 200M. A 300gr XTP travelling at over 2300 fps is solid medicine for a humane kill.

However, as was said it is only one shot and unloading can be a pain. This said in our neck of the woods the gun only has to be deprimed to be considered unloaded so no need for a full unload between hunts. ( Please check you on regs however )
 
I'd take a Slug gun over a ML. However, the ML allows me to hunt longer in my area as there is a second season for it. You can use a ML in a shotgun season , but not the other way around.

For $600 you can get a Traditions ML and an 870 Slug gun.

FWIW I use a NEF ML and a 11-87 Slug gun in a couple WMU's and my rifles in a couple others.
 
Performance wise, if you look at the best in muzzleloaders and shotguns, they are pretty well equal. I like the versatility of the muzzleloader in that you control the load and can tinker with it but new shotguns with new shells are hitting velocities equal to muzzleloaders and offering some high quality projectiles.
 
How do they manage to get such velocities at safe pressures in a shotgun that has such a thin barrel? Muzzle loaders, like the Savage, have a tremendously thick barrel.
 
I've shot 39 whitetails with a muzzle loader and only had to give one of them a finisher. He'd have died from the first one but heck I was right there and his head weren't on the ground yet. Most have been under a 100 and a few under 20 since that's the terrain I hunt. The buck I shot last year I measured at 150 and that is the longest shot I have made. Before I got an inline I let quite a few pass in that same spot from the same stand due to not trusting "Ole Smokey" to complete the job. That buck was spun 90 degrees and died before the smoke cleared right where he was standing with a 250SST and a hunert grains of 777
Get both guns;)
 
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Also, have you checked out the price of good slugs.( It'll cost you $20 just to shoot one group:eek:) Shooting a front loader is quite cheap. A pound of powder,sabots, primers, and bullets are a lot cheaper and as a result you can practice more. ( For those of us mortals who don't have a pile of money )

Becoming proficient and a good shooter trumps all other cards.

For my savage I figure about $90 per 100 shots. Good shotgun slugs would be about $300 per 100 or maybe more.
 
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powdergun said:
Also, have you checked out the price of good slugs.( It'll cost you $20 just to shoot one group:eek:) Shooting a front loader is quite cheap. A pound of powder,sabots, primers, and bullets are a lot cheaper and as a result you can practice more. ( For those of us mortals who don't have a pile of money )

Becoming proficient and a good shooter trumps all other cards.

For my savage I figure about $90 per 100 shots. Good shotgun slugs would be about $300 per 100 or maybe more.
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Never thought about the cost part.
Even cheaper yet to go with home poured Maxis from the Lyman or Lee moulds. 'Ole Smokey' stuffs the Lee's into a couple inches at a hunert with a hunert grains of Pyrodex. That makes for cheap shootn'. Round balls and patch are way cheaper yet for plinking and such and until recently all that was alowed In Pensylvania. Lots of deer killed in Penn every year for a good many years with those little round balls. Past a 100yrds though the maxis drop of pretty bad as I'm sure most slugs do too. No doubt about it M/L are fun toys to shoot and dang consistant at meat in the freezer;)
'Ole Smokey' is the one covered in camo duct tape
2aan7mh.jpg

Here's my newfangled one showing and exit wound on a buck I shot the day after I bought it. I shot a doe with it the day before.
t0ghv4.jpg
 
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I don't want to open the can of worms, but really, the difference between a rifle and a shotgun is the rifle has rifling- hence it's name.
Simple, a shotgun is a smoothbore, a rifle has spiral grooves cut in it's barrel to give a twist to the bullet.

There is no such thing as a rifled shotgun!

If the Ontario government hasn't figured this out yet, it is only a matter of time, and I will guess a short time, until they figure this out, and adjust their regulations accordingly.
 
rifeled barrel

are u saying if i put a rifeled barrel on my shot gun i should reregester it as a rifel come on dude:shotgun::shotgun:
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Some thoughts: Its sure easier to load and unload a shotgun. We have a Near urban wildlife zone here where you can only hunt muzzle, shotgun, crossbow or bow. Not sure if your situation is similar.
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In an around the Lowe Farm north to Winterpeg. When I was out west that was the one I was interested in the deer seemed pretty tame wondering around during the middle of the day. I had been thinking about a shot gun till I took my hunter safety and the instructor suggested a muzzleloader instead. He liked the accuracy of it over the shotgun. I wonder though if he might have been a little biased towards the Muzzleloader. :)

On the accuracy front, if you're willing to drop the cash, a Savage smokeless powder muzzleloader is probably as accurate as you'd ever need and should be able to reach out to any reasonable distance (200 yards) easily.
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That's a little reassuring I'm just starting out and it will help with learning the other half if I am not worried about getting to close at first then gradually push to see how close I can get before taking the shot kinda why I bought the 30-06.
 
powdergun said:
Also, have you checked out the price of good slugs.( It'll cost you $20 just to shoot one group:eek:) Shooting a front loader is quite cheap. A pound of powder,sabots, primers, and bullets are a lot cheaper and as a result you can practice more. ( For those of us mortals who don't have a pile of money )

Becoming proficient and a good shooter trumps all other cards.

For my savage I figure about $90 per 100 shots. Good shotgun slugs would be about $300 per 100 or maybe more.
Click to expand...

Thanks that was something I hadn't look at till after I posted the question good slugs are expensive. It's kinda hard to figure out how many shots you get out of a pound of powder when it's talking about 100 grains or 150 grains. in the description of the gun.
 
H4831 said:
I don't want to open the can of worms, but really, the difference between a rifle and a shotgun is the rifle has rifling- hence it's name.
Simple, a shotgun is a smoothbore, a rifle has spiral grooves cut in it's barrel to give a twist to the bullet.

There is no such thing as a rifled shotgun!

If the Ontario government hasn't figured this out yet, it is only a matter of time, and I will guess a short time, until they figure this out, and adjust their regulations accordingly.
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Yeah I have to agree with you on that one while it may not be a rifle you'll see them rewrite the regs to make it Muzzleloader only season then I just wasted the money buying a second barrel and practicing. From the regulations overall I see a lot more of the muzzleloader/Bow seasons in and around the current area I am looking at as well as second seasons in muzzleloader/Bow then shotgun. From what people have said the muzzleloader is cheaper to practice with otherwise increasing the amount of practice possible. I'll still get a shotgun but maybe I'll take the money (with some added Shh, don't tell the wife) I was going to spend on a second barrel and pick up a muzzle loader.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about the regs changing. These people aren't smart enough to know a rifled barrel from a smoothbore.

The REALLY dumb part is in one of my WMU's I can shoot groundhogs/coyotes with my .338 Win Mag, but can only shoot a deer with a shotgun or ML. Anyone see the irony here??
 
blargon said:
I wouldn't worry too much about the regs changing. These people aren't smart enough to know a rifled barrel from a smoothbore.

The REALLY dumb part is in one of my WMU's I can shoot groundhogs/coyotes with my .338 Win Mag, but can only shoot a deer with a shotgun or ML. Anyone see the irony here??
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Your kidding me right :eek: Course these are similer to the guys that restricted the Colt-15 and left the Mini-14 on the market as a non-Restricted.
 
7.62mm said:
You can also use a shotgun for Waterfowl, Rabbits, Pheasants etc.. Just something else to consider.
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Oh I am getting a shotgun no way around that they are too flexabile not to besides the wife loves duck. Just tryin to figure out if I should pick up a rifled barrel or a muzzleloader instead. I'll get the muzzleloader last I don't think i need to worry about feds getting rid of that piece of arcane technology any time soon
 
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