piney

I was around 13 years old and my brother-in-law had me under is wing on the hunting thing. I already had a shotgun and bow license. He let me use his kit CVA .45 cal. cap lock rifle, that seemed to be a little on the rough side. I remember that big can of Crisco for patch lube, and i'll never forget the first time I smelled that smoke cloud. Hooked for life.

jayman035

well I'm new to muzzle loaders. and this was my first gun. I'm hooked for life on these primitive weapons. i got this gun inOctober and after spending 2 nights cleaning the gunk out of it and giving it a new paint job, and finding a nut small enough to attach the sling. i finally got it out to the paddock to kill some hay bails.it shoots within 2" of the bulls eye( i need to spend more time sighting it in). i love the smell of gun powder and nothing gives me that rush like my CVA staghorn and this gun bagged me my first deer.



not a week goes by that i haven't shot this gun, i kinda feel sorry for my hay bails [8D]

serious redneck

Mine was a .45 CVA derringer that my dad and I build from a kit back in about 75. Cant hit the broad side of a barn with it, but it was a lot of fun shooting it. Since then I have bought more BP firearms than modern. Love that sharp smell of real BP hittin ya in the face.

Happy Day to all of you.

UncleNorby

In 9th grade my class planned a trip to NY City. I had some money but I wanted a muzzleloader instead, didn't have enough for both. Went with the gun, no regrets.

First "shot" I had at a deer did not go well. I didn't know how to clean it right, and had Hoppes #9 and oil in the barrel over night before loadingin the AM. I did pop a cap but it did not dry all the oil. A nice little sixpointer bounced his way to my stand. I calmly drew a bead and SNAP! The deer moved a fewyards and I got another cap on.....SNAP! Well, three more caps and he was gone for good.

I had to remove the nipple, clean outsome crud and insert a few grains of powder in order to get it to go off. I figured it out and have not had that issue since. I've shotquite a few deer with a muzzleloader since thenbut that memory is as fixed in my head as any of the successes.

spaniel

At 17 I got sick of wounding deer with the cheap clip-on sights available for shotguns at the time and I could not afford a decent slug barrel. So I bought a Traditions Deerhunter for $119 at K-mart. I had no one with any experience to teach me, just some neighbor who had the same gun and had recommended it after killing a doe at almost 200 yards the previous year (lucky shot I say now).

I spent a day trying to shoot round balls with homemade patches with little success (1-48" twist). hunting season was close so I switched to Bufffalo Ball-ets. I killed my first ML deer with it that season. I spent a year on the learning curve (hang-fires etc, switched to Hornaday 240gr HTPs) since I did not have the internet to learn on but after that I must have killed 40-some deer with that rifle.

It is still in my closet, but I switched to inlines some years ago after that particular gun began to lose accuracy for some mysterious reason -- about the time HTPs became unavailable, coincidence I don't know. When I have time some day I will play with it, I would love for my daughter to take her first deer with it.

Buck Hunter 1

50th birthday I bought one atan auction on a whim. Shot a decent buck and it started me on this BP path. I ahve npot shot my CF gun in 1 year, nothing but the Pro Hunter, Wolf and soon the Deerstalker flint.

Gotbuck

I pretty much bowhunted all my life but got into this craze about 6 years ago with a Traditions Lightning I got off an auction site in new condition. I shot open sights until I recently put a scope on it. It shoots 100 grains of Pyro with 250 gr Shockwaves with awesome results. Since then I have quite a few other guns I don't need like a TK2000 shotgun that loves turkeys. Man what fun it is to shoot that cannon. Upcoming muzzleloading season starts after Thanksgiving and my dad is looking forward to using one of my guns as he still uses centerfire guns during the gun season and has never shot a muzzy.

IndyHunter83

'92 - I was 10. My dad bought me a .32 cal. Cherokee. Been hooked ever since.

Rock Fish

My 1st shot with a muzzle loader was over 40 years ago. My 1st Muzzle loader was a 58cal Buffalo Hunter made by Antonio Zoli which was sold by Navy Arms. It wouldn't shoot the mini's but was very accurate with a patch and ball. Since then I've owned countless BP rifles, pistols and a shotgun.

gearheart

Silver Dollar City in Missouri.25 years ago.They had a demo going on and asked for volunteers. I'll try anything once and this looked like fun. The prices scared me off so I let it rest for about 20 years. I met a friend in Scouting who had 2 BP guns and was willing to lend me one for deer season. We hunt together. My friend'sson is now old enough that heno longer has a loaner so I had to buy my own. I found a deal on a TC WMC but the barrel was toast so I added a GMB.You guys have been a tremendous help getting me started.