Your favorite BP rifle
What is the caliber? Is it rifled or smooth bore ? Is there that much difference in 50 vs 54 Caliber? Do you use real Black Powder or some thing else? In-line or side lock? tell me what you have and how much you like it, so I can make a smarter choice before I buy one. :) :wink:

Ron, depends on what you need/intend itfor. IF you hate to clean one and are not into traditional hunting, buy an in-line with chrome lined barrel and be done with it. IF you want to get back to the feel of our ancestors, then buy a sidelock or flint lock. With that said I use a flintlock smooth bor trade nrifle that was used in the movie "Last of teh Mohiccians' and made by a gfamous man who is now dead, Curly Grotoski (I know I did not do his loast name justice in spelling!) in 58 caliber and I use FFg black powder in it. I shpoot a .562 round ball. Now that is my favorite but I own 3 flintlock long rifles in 45 caliber, a 58, 62, and 75 caliber smooth bore flinters, 1 45 caliber long rifle percussion, a 32 long rifle in percussion, 3 Hawkin percussions in 50 and one in 54, a 22 parlor rifle in percussion, a 32 hawkin in percussion, 3 doublw barrels 91-20,1-16,&1-12ga) in percussion, and 2 45 caliber in-lines. I KNOW I forgot a few in there some where.

Hi Ron. I own 3 ML rifles. One is a traditions in-line with bolt, in 50 cal. Very accurate out to 200 yds. I use 130gr of pyrodex pellets with 300gr sabots. Kicks like a mule but since I only use it for hunting, it doesn't matter. Usually 1 shot kills. My other two are Thompson, Encore, Pro Hunters in 50 cal also. One has the thumb-hole stock and the second has the traditional pistol grip type stock. What I like about the Encore is the flex stock that helps reduce recoil. The swing hammer to make cocking easier and best of all, the 90 degree speed breech. I rotate the breech plug 90 degrees to remove. On others, you turn about 12 turns to get out. Another feature of the Encore that makes me like it over the regular BP, ML rifles, is the easy cleaning!!!!! Might not seem like a lot but cleaning a ML is a PITA!! With the Encore, tilt and take off the barrel and breech plug and go for it. It's all stainless and with the barrel off the action, you don't have to worry about water in the bolt or trigger components, that are many times made of regular steel. I can just put it in a bucket of soapy water and scrub without worry of contaminating the rest of the gun. The gun is extremely fast to reload, with the easy 209 primer and the first inch of the barrel not having rifling allowing the sabot to fit accurately and easily into the barrel before being pushed down. You don't have to carry a starter with you and with the "T" ramrod, pushing the sabot down is simple. The final reason for my liking the Encore is that I can switch barrels to convert into a center fire rifle or shotgun and in the case of my second one, a pistol. This one was bought as a pistol and I added the rifle stock and ML barrel.Here are the pics of my Encores from the web site and the link if you'd like to read all about them. Good luck. http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/proHunterMuzzleloaders.php

IF money ois not a concern and going to hunt with it with sabots or moder projectiles Ron, teh Encore is teh best bet for the money IMHO. Remember, IF shootring round ball the best twist is 1-60 or greater, if shooting both round ball and heavier bullets, 1-48 twist will do, but is shooting teh newer sabots and otehr projectiles, 1-28 twist is standard. 1-28 will shoot rb great as long as you let the barrel cool down to ice cold after each shot, a young gal won the state 4-H a few years back by taking 15 minutes for 5 shots, 4-H you have to shoot rb and she was using anh in-line. TCs custom shop, Fox Ridge Outfitters will make a 1-66 barrel for teyh encore at a $300+ price tag.