Gonna try Muzzle loading for deer this year, what do I need and need to know?

[Pheasantdawg]

Don't shoot inlines, but after thinking about it, the problems I've seen people have with NW legal inlines are the same ones traditional shooters have. Improper fitting caps, mushroomed nipples, clogged breach, failure to remove oil from the breach, etc. Additionally, inlines are very light rifles and tend to kick like the dickens when loaded with heavy charges and heavy conicals most inline shooters seem to gravitate toward. As has been stated, there's a learning curve, not just finding an accurate load, but a reliable one.

 

[djharteloo]

Update: Last night I bought a CVA Wolf Northwest inline muzzleloader (Sorry Andy) and they price matched from a shop in southern Oregon so I paid $205 for the rifle. I'm gonna go out and shoot it and mess with it to see if I can get proficent enough with it before modern rifle season (again, the entire reasoning behind the purchase was to hunt in the Battle Ground unit thats firearms restricted).

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Well good luck.
As said before .. practice with different loads to see what works best for the rifle.
Practice shooting in all weather and different shooting positions , under various lighting etc ..
Remember "Powder , Patch ( if needed ) , bullet when loading...
Andy
Edit for spelling... Thanks for the catch tac...

 

[djharteloo]

Well good luck.
As said before .. practice with different loads to see what works best for the rifle.
Practice shooting in all weather and different shooting positions , under various lighting etc ..
Remember "Power , Patch ( if needed ) , bullet when loading...
Andy

Thanks man. I got several different powders (Pellets and loose), the caps they recomended (RWS 1081) and a couple types and weights of bullets. I figure over three months I'll be able to find a solid load.

 

[tinkerbill]

Update: Last night I bought a CVA Wolf Northwest inline muzzleloader (Sorry Andy) and they price matched from a shop in southern Oregon so I paid $205 for the rifle. I'm gonna go out and shoot it and mess with it to see if I can get proficent enough with it before modern rifle season (again, the entire reasoning behind the purchase was to hunt in the Battle Ground unit thats firearms restricted).

I didn't think about it until just now but what about the loan of a BP firearm for this hunt then pressures off giving more time to research the right firearm? Of course that is not an option now, unless you can take it back for refund?

 

[djharteloo]

I didn't think about it until just now but what about the loan of a BP firearm for this hunt then pressures off giving more time to research the right firearm? Of course that is not an option now, unless you can take it back for refund?

I don't think they'll return it. And It didn't cost me enough to be super concerned about it. And since I live in Camas inside the Battle Ground Game Management Unit I'm sure I will have plenty of oppritunity to use it over the years.

 

[Norwestr55]

Joe Meek has a great story about a bear chasing him up a tree...
Jacob Fowler has one as well.
And we all know the Hugh Glass story , thanks to The Revenant
Just kidding on that last one ... can't stand that movie.
Andy

I watched that the other night and if they would have billed it as a work of fiction rather than the Hugh Glass story
it would have been a pretty good flick. But having read the real story many times, I was in an outrage thru the whole
movie.
"WHAT???? THAT DIDN"T HAPPEN!!! WHAT THE HELL???? WHERE"D THEY COME UP WITH THAT???? "


Came to suggest one of Lymans Great Plains Rifles but I see the OP already picked up an inline. I had a GPR
yrs ago and not knowing much of anything about muzzle loaders thought it was a good option. I just looked at prices (Midway) and they're going for double what I paid way back when.

 

[RVTECH]

I'll never forget however many years ago when ODFW drafted very specific regulations about ML rifles, ammo, powder etc. Basically it made anything other than traditional open ignition with loose powder and ball or conical (no sabots) not legal for hunting. It caught a LOT of hunters off guard who already had their tags but did not realize the new regs were in place and all they had were their inlines. It was a weird hunting season to say the least - devoid of people other than the few of us who were already shooting traditional. In the area my friends and I were hunting we only saw a couple other hunters - at the time I believe there were something like 100+/- tags for the area and there might have been 15 or less hunters in the area.

I believe it stayed that way for a couple years until pressure from hunters forced ODFW to lighten up on the regs for inlines.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Well there is lots of room between using say a in-line or a Thompson Center "Hawken" and going
"full Daniel Boone" ...
Let me know if you need help to get yer Daniel Boone fix...
Andy
View attachment 380050

damn andy, im 100% sure i saw your doppelgänger at the steam up yesterday. i should have snuck a picture. you woulda got a kick out of it!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Well if we ever do cross paths ... Please come on over and say Howdy!
Andy

 

[Ura-Ki]

We, like most states are heavely restricted to open ignition systems and percussion cap on the moderns, we also have a sights restriction with no optics, or fiber optics, a minimum of .50 cal lead conical hollow points, and no pellet powders, must be loose powder and ether the real deal, or subistute of. It really sucks, but it is what it is. Even traditional must meet the minimums, and are almost as restricted!!!
I would much prefer to use my .44 cal black powder repeater revolving rifle, but it dosnt meet the minimums, and except for the general rifle seasons, it's not really worth it, but still more fun then it sounds! Plus, there is nothing like the big smoke of the black!!!

 

[tac]

Remember "[/SIZE]Power , Patch ( if needed ) , bullet when loading...
Andy

Uh, 'Powder', maybe?

tac

 

[tac]

Parker-Hale Musketoon - shoots a .565gr .58cal Minié bullet over 90gr of FFg - pal of mine in Eastern USA has taken everything that moves on four legs, including BIG hogs, with his.

I have no doubt that the same holds true for the West coast animals.

Mine is a good shooter, too, making numerous holes at 100 yards, some of them pretty near each other, too.

tac

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Uh, 'Powder', maybe?

tac

Yep Powder , Patch , Ball....
Thanks for the spelling lesson and catch tac
Went back and edited in the proper spelling.
Andy

 

[etrain16]

Mike, may I refer you to the Webster's Dictionary of American usage?

Definition of EFFICACY

tac

I think you meant that post for a different thread?

 

[tac]

I think you meant that post for a different thread?

At least one of you is awake.

Thanks, I've pulled it.

tac

 

[Bon Sauvage]

This is going to be the first year I hunt the western Washington Modern Firearm season with a muzzle loader for part of the season (Friend has a large ammount of land in the Battle Ground unit thats firearm restricted). I plan on using a completely North West legal muzzle loader so that if it works out this year, next year I will do the regular muzzle loader season.

As far as equipment, I'm thinking a CVA Wolf Northwest (about $205 brand new) using Hodgedon pyrodex pellets and either Power Belt or Hornady bullets with CCI caps. I figure I will get about a maximum of 200 yards with 100 being the longest shot I would take on an animal.

This is the first time I will be attempting anything black powder other then shooting one a handful of times.

What else do I need or need to know? On the property I plan on hunting with it (120 acres), I plan on doing some spot and stalk and some sitting in a blind type thing.

Thanks!

Friend, I am always glad to meet another member of the muzzleloading fraternity. If you would like to try some real black powder shoot me a PM. I'll give you a pound.

 

[best defense]

This is going to be the first year I hunt the western Washington Modern Firearm season with a muzzle loader for part of the season (Friend has a large ammount of land in the Battle Ground unit thats firearm restricted). I plan on using a completely North West legal muzzle loader so that if it works out this year, next year I will do the regular muzzle loader season.

As far as equipment, I'm thinking a CVA Wolf Northwest (about $205 brand new) using Hodgedon pyrodex pellets and either Power Belt or Hornady bullets with CCI caps. I figure I will get about a maximum of 200 yards with 100 being the longest shot I would take on an animal.

This is the first time I will be attempting anything black powder other then shooting one a handful of times.

What else do I need or need to know? On the property I plan on hunting with it (120 acres), I plan on doing some spot and stalk and some sitting in a blind type thing.

Thanks!

First you need to know where the deer are located.

Second you need to know how to sneak up close enough to a deer to be able to hit it with a muzzle loader with the first shot because there will likely not be an opportunity for a second shot.

Good luck hope you get one.

 

[djharteloo]

First you need to know where the deer are located.

Second you need to know how to sneak up close enough to a deer to be able to hit it with a muzzle loader with the first shot because there will likely not be an opportunity for a second shot.

Good luck hope you get one.

I hunted the spot last year with buckshot and had a few pretty good opportunities but couldn't gey closer then about 75 yards. I go up to it and check sign and have found a few sheds on the property.

 

[saread]

Go over here: Muzzleloader Hunting
Probably more cumulative muzzleloader knowledge than anywhere I've seen. They ain't hard, but there are some things to get a handle on. Hella fun to shoot.