Traditional Rifles ARE a thing of the past. Many of the inlines and such are a thing of the present and someday they too will become a thing of the past.
From my perspective, the muzzleloader one chooses to hunt with is a personal choice. I hunt with every one of my muzzleloaders, whether musketoon, zoave, Big Bore, New Englander, White Mountain Carbine, Hawken , volunteer, UFA 50 stainless, Super 91 ..451 Stainless, Super91 .410 Blue(teflon), Elite 98 .504 Stainless, T-Bolt .451 Stainless, T-Bolt .410 Stainless -Teflon, T-bolt .451 STainless-Teflon . None have scopes. None shoots sabots. All shoot cast lead with homemade lubes. The only thing commercial about he loads is the powder, the percussion, and the wad I shoot.
The argument about muzzleloading today not being muzzleloading smacks of two things to me. One is intolerance for progress of OTHERS. Remember, NO ONE makes you SHOOT AN INLINE. You can shoot whatever you want to in the forest.
Two. People shoot what they are exposed to. So WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
This is how we expose kids to muzzleloading. What do you do? Who exposes the walmar types to other choices? Do you? I am a traditionalist straight through, but I sure do get tired of hearing of how the season was made to be something it was not or whatever... It is what it is. WE CHOOSE to be who we want to be in the forest.
400 yard shots? Don't be rediculous, these long shots have been made since the day guns were borne. I know a bonafide 600 yard elk stoppage with a .451 double rifle with a Lyman cast bullet on top of 100 grains of 2F black Powder. This was in my mind a most unethical shot.. but a lucky one and dropped the animal. A purist behind the trigger. So please, lets not blame the gun. My volunteer is easily a 300 yard gun. Its a natural 200 yard gun as it sits, in fact. The Zoave ... or indeed, ANY of the rifled muskets are 150 to 200 yard guns if one took the time to practice these shots. But for me, I like to see how close I can get to game. Can I get to 35 yards? That is my game. Have I taken long shots... yes. Have I ever lost game to a long shot? Yes. That is why I don't take them anymore. Wounding the game is NOT WORTH THE SHOT. That loss made me sick to my stomach and I looked for that doe for the rest of the day and tore up my tag... after all, I had drawn blood.
There is a gentleman here who says he USED to get upset with the inline crowd but doesn't anymore because her recognizes that we are part of the same community. AMEN to that. If you get to know more people who are shooting inlines, get to know them and shoot and hunt along side them with YOUR CAP LOCKS AND ROCK LOCKS. Expose them.
Whoever said it is easier shooting an inline over a caplock of ANY kind or cleaning one, has NOT SHOT AN INLINE very much. The older the gun the easier it is to load and to care for, in my opinion based upon practice and observation. Shooting a big lead conical is clearly easier to tune than is shooting sabots and pellets. But they have to be exposed.
We are all in the same encampment. We don't need to be divided. We need to be tolerant and willing to invest into our sports.
Much Aloha,
