Muzzle Loaders Of The Last Decade

I thought it would be fun to take a trip back to a little nostalgia to look at a few of the muzzle loaders of the in-line craze when it came to NYS. When I first jumped into the late ML season in NYS, we were not allowed to use in line muzzle loaders or any sort of optical sight.

I started out with a CVA .54 Cal Hawken rifle shooting patched round balls. I loved those days, however I also now love the accuracy and reach of the current crop of in line muzzle loaders. My brother at the time hunted with a TC .54 cal Hawken also using patched round balls. I acquired a few other cap lock guns on my way to my current Encore 209/50 and my Thumb hole stocked stainless Omega both in .50 cal with a 1 in 28 twist. Those other guns included a TC Renegade also in .54 cal, and a Lyman Deer Stalker carbine.

Along that journey, NYS eventually allowed in lines, the scopes and conicals and eventually saboted pistol bullets such as the Hornady XTP's etc.

I tried in lines from CVA since that is where I started in muzzle loading and went through a series of different rifles including Traditions, Knight Rifles, earlier model TC guns and my pick of the litter at the time.........a Ruger 77/50 bolt action with a black synthetic stock and a stainless bbl and action.

I took a nice 130 class 8 point buck with the Ruger Model 77/50 using Pyrodex pellets and a Barnes expander saboted bullet.The earlier guns of course all used percussion caps instead of the current Breech plug with 209 primers. The breech was more or less exposed with the percussion caps sitting on the nipple but exposed to the elements of snow, rain, drizzle etc. It was not uncommon in those days to find your percussion cap had fallen off the nipple at an inappropriate time such as when getting ready to squeeze the trigger. I often used a more modern version of the "Cows Knee" with Velcro on it to wrap around the rifle's stock and breech area and prevent moisture from entering into the breech and percussion cap. This was easier prior to the introduction of scopes being allowed in NYS and only allowing fiber optic front and rear sights.

Some earlier in lines from by gone days included the:

• My favorite of the day was the Ruger 77/50 bolt action with the Ruger integral scope bases (ONE less thing to go wrong). This was a handsome, well balanced ergonomically great rifle. They could just not keep up with the constant changing platform, ignitions systems etc. of the rapidly growing muzzle loading industry. I let the rifle go years ago and wish that I still had it.
• I also owned a TC Black Diamond in line for a while and really loved that gun. The Black Diamond also came available with all three ignition systems in the #11 percussion cap, musket cap and 209 shot shell primers. They claimed their Flame Thrower ignition system gave 300% more fire volume.
• Traditions Lighting LD bolt action ML with THUNDER DOME breech plug with a choice of (3) ignitions including (209 shot shell primer, #11 percussion cap and also musket cap) and Tru Glow fiber optic sights.
• Austin and Halleck Model 320 LR in synthetic stock and stainless with a 26" extrusion formed barrel that Austin & Halleck claimed was the secret of their published accuracy. The rifle also sported a match grade trigger and a short .199 hammer throw.
• Kahnke Gun Works produced a lever action look alike without the lever. They featured one screw bbl removal, 1 in 26 twist rates in either stainless or blue and available in .50 cal, .54 cal, .45 cal and .36 cal.
• Parker Productions was selling their Hydra Con bullets for ML around that time (I STILL have a few of these left in my supplies). These were marketed as Custom Hydraulic Conicals.
• Remington had its day marketing the bolt action model 700 in line ML introduced in 1996 and out of the game in 2004. These were also available in .45, .50 and .54 cal.
• Knight introduced the MK85 in line in 1985 featuring a Green Mountain bbl advertised at being milled to 10,000 of an inch tolerances and Knight rifles were guaranteed to produce 2.5 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I owned one of their Knight Wolverine models utilizing the plastic disc holder for the 209 primers. I believe their Cadillac model was the Knight disc Extreme and I almost bought one of these back when.

Those were FUN years and interesting to try and keep up with the technological changes of that time. I would NOT trade either my Omega or Encore 209/50 for any ML I owned in those days, but it is still fun to look back.

I MAY have left one or more of your favorites out. If so, I apologize.

Dan