Muzzleloaders

[Woodcarver]

Jason, scopes were illegal on muzzle loaders in Wisconsin.  Has the law changed?

[farmerdoug]

ARKANSAWYER,  You are right on the cost in you buy the sabots and bullets at the store, I do not.  If you ask anyone around here that knows me,  you will hear that I am as tight a tightwad as they come. :D

I reload all of my pistol and rifle shells myself.  Shotgun I do not use enough to justify reloading everything.  I buy the sabots and powder in bulk and the bullets by the case.  Primers I buy locally for the muzzleloader but order the primers for the shells I load.  I figure that it costs me less than 30 cents a shot with the jacketed XTP's or 25 cents for cast lead for plinking.  Powder costs have dropped since they have introduced Triple seven because I still use Pyrodex and I have several pounds given to me by others that have changed to the Triple Seven.

Farmerdoug

[Jason_WI]

Woodcarver,

You can use a scope on a muzzleloader during the regular season hunt - but not in a state park that allows muzzleloading only during regular season. During muzzleloading season no scopes are allowed. Confused yet. Too many %^&*% laws.

Jason

[beenthere]

Those rules and regs in Wisconsin are bad enough if you can read english, let alone the thousands who are now hunting who don't even understand or speak the language of english. I'm fast becomming to the point that I believe if a hunter cannot read and speak english, he/she should have to hunt with a guide who can. 

We have the Hmongs who hunt for food, and maybe some for sport. They often hunt in groups of 25-30, and fan out, shooting every squirrel they can find if it is squirrel season.  Same with deer season. Surprised the killer that was just sentenced was alone, although that wasn't known for sure.

The hunting and fishing regs in WI are ridiculous. Fishing a trout stream one has to know the length limits different for certain stretches of the same stream. 

Done with the rant. But agree about the muzzleloader frustrations.

[Jason_WI]

Beenthere,

They usually shoot everything that moves. We have a friend that has land in Adams county next to State public land. He had a gun pulled on him by one of these non english speakers on HIS land. He called the Cops and DNR and they caught the guys. They had bluebirds, rabbit, and squirrels in their possesion during the regular deer gun season. What the heck do you eat on a bluebird, : Plus they were using a rim fire rifle and a illegal handgun.

Jason

[maple flats]

If you are still interested in black powder guns I have some experience. I have now or previously the following: Hawkin, kit cap lock 45 cal- 1/48 twist,fair accuracy out to about 80 yards., Tompson Center Penn match rifle, 50 cal, cap lock, 1/66 twist, good accuracy to 100 yds, cheapo in-line 50 cal, scope, 1/28 twist, good to 125 yds: and thompson Center Encore 209/50, scope, and with 150 grains fair accuracy to 200 yds, 100 grains, good accuracy to 150 yds. I have shot deer with all but the first one, all 1 shot kills and little or no tracking. The first one I should have shot one but it was too close. I stalked along a swamp in 6" fluffy fresh snow. As I took a step I spotted a 12 pointer (6 x 6) about 20' infront of me just over a log, he was looking across the swamp. Well I SHOULD have NOT tried to use the set trigger, but did, pulled the set trigger (which gives the actual firing trigger a hair pull) and then as I put my GLOVED trigger finger into the trig-BOOOOM-ger, it went off and so did MY BUCK. Lesson learned, DO NOT USE THE SET TRIGGER IF THE GAME IS REAL CLOSE AND REMOVE YOUR GLOVE FIRST.
All black powder guns are accurate enough IF you get enough practice. The inlines ARE easier, but the old ones are very deadly. A patched round ball pushed by 90-100 grains of 2F or 3F WILL get the job done if you do your part.

[Corley5]

In the end time didn't allow me to hunt during our ML season so no new muzzle loader for me.  The season started the same time that my new machine showed up.  I did look around at them and maybe next year.  Lots of good info guys 8) 8)

[sawguy21]

Beenthere,
Plus they were using a rim fire rifle .

Jason

[sawguy21]

Sorry, I got trigger happy ;D Is a rimfire illegal in your area and if so, what's the deal? Is it not as accurate as the centre fire and more likely to wound? I am not a hunter but am curious.

[bugboy]

I use a NEF handi rifle with a muzzle loader barrel.  The beauty of this rifle system is that you can buy additional rifle/shotgun barrels if you have a rifle receiver.  Extra barrels usually cost 40-110 $ depending on what you buy.  I have the .223 bull barrel as well.  I am planning on buying another barrel in .500 SW magnum.  That will be my rainy day muzzleloader barrel   8)  My muzzleloader barrel is topped with an old (and excellent) Bushnell Banner 3 x 9 x 40 mm.  I've nailed 3 deer with the ml this fall, using 240 gr HP bullets in front of 90 gr of loose pyrodex, all in front of 209 Winchester shotgun primers.

I like this setup because i can use the.223 barrel (topped with a Simmons Varmint 6 x 18 power, 44 mm objective) for other things, such as pounding varmints in between deer hunts in muzzleloader season.  Plus I only have to bring one gun and extra barrels.  The .223 barrel with handloads shoots about 1.5" at 100 yards, sometimes much better (.5").  Believe it or not, the ML barrel consistently shoots 1.5" groups at 100 yards.  NEF also produces a magnum ML barrel capable of taking 150 gr of black powder.  the barrel i have maxes out at 100 gr.

NOW, Thompson makes a similar product, which is better quality, but way more expensive.  in fact, for the price of a Thomson Center Encore i can get an NEF rifle plus 2 extra barrels, and maybe a scope or two.  i've read several posts on accuracy of the thompson and NEF and they are about the same.  So why spend the extra $$$ ??

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I use a Cabela's Hawken in .54 cal. I like it alot, been shooting .45 sabots with real good results.
The only problem is that ammo is beginning to get hard to find. It seems like everyone carries .45 and .50 cal ammo and has to order anything else. I am thinking of getting a .50 barrel for mine.

Jon

[Ron Scott]

I use a 50 cal. Thompson Renigade Hunter which has a large trigger guard with no set trigger for use with gloves or mittens. I've heard the same "horror story" mentioned above by others when the set trigger set the gun off prematurely whiler using gloves while about to take aim on a "trophy".

One such elk hunter convenced me to get the Renegade Hunter for that reason. It's been a good muzzelloader and I again shot a nice deer with it during the muzzeloadfing season, but have been thinking about getting an "in line". Just not sure on which one I like yet and want to invest in.

[Jason_WI]

Sawguy21,

This was during gun deer season in WI. The rim fire rifle they were using was .22 cal which is illegal to use for gun deer season. Fine for small game but not for deer season. I believe the smalest rifle one can use for deer in WI is a .223 cal. Smallest gauge shotgun is 28 ga.

Jason