Muzzleloader Suggestions

[Itasca0217]

Does anyone have any experience with muzzle loaders? Any suggestions as to what brand, Knight? TC Arms? anything will help.

I hunt in Itasca State Park, the longest shot I will take is 100 yards probably. usually thicker than not.

[jay83196]

I'm sure its similiar to other things what feels good in your hands and amount you plan to spend. I have two TC, an omega and a encore. I like them both the hinged open breech on the encore is nice for cleaning. I have thumb hole stock on omega and feels awesome in hands. I would say bullets are big thing I like hornady sst, I have heard a lot of bad things on powerbelts. I would also go with 50 caliber its most popular and easy to but stuff for.

Good luck...

[monstermoose78]

CVA is good i like the wolf and F Farm has it on sale for 180

[CigarGuy]

I started a similar post under the muzzy forum.

[walleyewess]

I have a CVA accura V2 and love it Highly suggest it to anyone who is looking for a muzzy.

[sportfish]

CVA is great for the money , T/C if you have more money

[alumamusky]

+1 On the CVA Accura II. They come with the Bergara barrel which I have heard many people add to the T/C for better accuracy. Never shot a T/C but held it and preferred the CVA. Had a Knight Disc that shot great but not as easy to clean.

[Boar]

TC Omega

[WIMN]

Are muzzleloaders pretty beginner friendly? I have a tight schedule and it's kind of annoying to fit everything into 1 or 2 weekends for rifle season, would be nice to be able to extend my chances of getting a deer with a muzzy. What kind of range abilities do they have?

[Boar]

Yea i guesse easy to maintain but ua need to really keep an eye on the fouling in ur barrel, if ya dont keep it clean it will corrode the barrel where the powder is ignited especially, they clean easily thou. they take time at the range to site in an find what shoots wel thru it. Yhey are flipping fun tho.

[Boar]

I'm confident to hit a deer at a 100 with my TC

[alumamusky]

As far as user friendly yes they are easy to use, they just need to be maintained. I would pay a couple extra bucks for stainless barrel. Look for one that is easy to clean such as a break open or like the T/C OMEGA like boar suggested. I always swab the barrel between shots(except when in the field) or it will build up and be tough to load where the bullet seats.

Look for triple 7 powder or the white hots and a sabot bullet around 250 grains. Easy shooting to a hundred yards, if we could use scopes 200.

[DRH1175]

I have the regular blued synthetic TC omega and loves how it shoots. My Father in law has the camo synthetic SS thumbhole. I like his even better. I am partial to the TC cause that is what I have shot. However, I don't think you can go wrong with CVA either. The biggest deal with muzzloaders is you have to get out and shoot them to get confident. Try a few different bullets to see what shoots the best in yours. For powder i have shot it all. 777, white hots, shockey gold, and Black horn 209. BH209. Is the cleanest, smokes the least, and is the most accurate of all the powders in my Omega. The best part is it cleans up with regular hoppes#9 that I use for all my other guns.

[DRH1175]

As far as bullets. The Hornady sst or TC shockwaves are a great place to start. I prefer the XTP Hornadys because I can buy a box of 100 for like 26 bucks. And only use my Muzzleloader for MN Muzzleloader season and these do fine for 100 yds or less.

[Wanderer]

IMO, the biggest thing to keep in mind about in line muzzle loaders is they're basically just a barrel, trigger and stock. I can't say that I've heard anyone really say "Stay away" from this or that one. I have had friends who had problems keeping their front fiber optics in on their CVAs but I've loosened mine up on my T/C Pro Hunter too.

If you're just looking to for a gun that goes boom and will knock over a deer in under 100 yards, any modern in line will get the job done. Everything after that is fit, finish and "user friendly" features. My daughter has a Wolf that fits me fine and didn't cost much. I had a Knight in .54 cal that was cheap and brought down deer easily for me but it wasn't as user friendly. This was back in the early years of in lines and it had a #11 primer. I borrowed a T/C Omega with a thumbhole stock and was pretty happy with it except I didn't like the drop block action as it tended to keep closing on me while I was cleaing the gun and would pinch the cleaning rod.

I liked it enough though because it fit well and I knew the accurate load to put in it so went to buy one this year. Problem was I found a Pro Hunter with a stainless barrel and thumb hole stock next to it. It fit great and had a hinged action and I was looking for a better grade shooter for some open prairie shooting with a scope. I've messed around with it enough to be quite happy with the performance but even with the high end features its still a muzzle loader and requires more thought and care to use than a regular modern fire arm with cartidges. They will never be that easy, nor should they be.

Long story short I recommend figuring out what you're comfortable spending and then finding the smoke pole that fits you best in that price range. Figuring out the load that shoots best and a powder you're happy with using are the two biggest factors in my opinion. So far I'm happy with 2 pellets of White Hots pushing a 250 gr Hornady FTX in .45 caliber wrapped in a black Harvester .50 cal sabot. I bought a 50 ct. box of each.

[DRH1175]

I love the BH209 powder. But that takes a little more as you need a powder measure etc... My Favorite pellet are the white hots. That is what I set up my Father in law with. He loves how easy it it. Swab between shots at range a good cleaning when you get home. In the field you can't get much easier than pellets that is for sure.

[96trigger]

I shot my remington genisis today. Man that thing is accurate with 100 grains of 777 and hornady sst's. Two shots, 1/4 inch from the bullseye off a bench at 50 yards. I am hoping to shoot my first deer with it next weekend. The genesis was remingtons brain child, made by traditions. I would buy another traditions in a heart beat. The genesis is a sweet little gun that for whatever reason, didn't make it. I bought one on clearance with a stainless barrel for $180 a couple years ago.