We are less than 5% of the muzzleloader hunters!

[rattus58]

"In the October 2005 issue of "Outdoor Life" on page 78, Ralph Lermayer has an article, "A Fab Five of Muzzleloaders" where he describes five in-line arms. His lead paragraph says,"Before 1985, nearly all muzzleloader hunters carried traditional sidelock guns. Today, more than 95% of them pack in-lines."

I would like to see Mr. Lermayer's footnote on that "more than 95%" figure and have sent him an email requesting same. Here in PA in the October ML season "any Muzzleloader" is legal, but after Christmas until mid-January it is "Flintlocks Only."

At our club, I would say that in-lines make up 50-60% of the muzzleloaders on the firing line. Do we really make up less than 5% of the muzzleloader hunters?

Adam"

While I was perusing through the threads and posts, I ran into this thread started by Adam. I found this an interesting thread for several reasons.

1) Why is it that inlines have so dominantly taken the field regardless of the number.

2) What are we doing to reverse this.

One. I don't know what the number is, it could be less, it could be more, but in a regular muzzleloader season there is definitely a preponderance of inlines. One obvious reason is are the Big Box House sales.. Cabelas, Bass Pro, RNC and a lot of other choices, tend to promote the inline because of the similarity in style to more familiar centerfires.

Another reason for these numbers I'm sure is that there is just so much information about inlines out there. Everything you seem to see and hear about is an inline this, an inline that, 200 yards here, 150 grains there, 3 pellets here, green sabot there and every article you can find in the free press is about inlines.

One thing I have seen too is that many articles in the mainstream talk about hunting with inlines with extreme promise of 200 yard capability and centerline performance is almost like a lullaby to the neophyte muzzleloader.

This ballad of modern performance conjours up visions of long range shots on elk, deer, and pronghorn instead of coonskin caps and long guns that may have preyed upon those of my generation. So what is the answer?

Compound bows enjoy the same popularity as do inlines, but there is a growing number of archers who are tiring of the hype of the heavy compounds and opting instead to experiment with the recurve and long bow.. and a large number are enjoying it more.

One thing we as muzzleloader shooters need to do is to introduce more shooters into the simplicity of the sidelock. More articles and opinions need to be sent into the mainstream mags. If nothing else, the number of emails, the number of articles submitted will que these magazines to the growing interest in sidelocks of various persuasions.

In my opinion ....

Aloha...