MUZZLELOADING

Thompson/Center muzzleloaders are in stock now at Albright’s Gun Shop. T/C muzzleloaders stand for quality with their modern designs, extreme accuracy and easy cleaning. T/C’s rifles absorb shock and vibration taking the bite out of the recoil and helping with control and comfort in every shot you take.

Although T/C is our featured muzzleloader you can easily order any type of Muzzleloader from Albright’s Gun Shop. In the market for a new one? Feel free to call us with any questions at 410-820-8811. 

Did we mention Muzzleloaders are a great gun for young and learning hunters?

Muzzleloader Options for Youth

I wanted to share some of the experiences I’ve had using a muzzleloader for deer hunting.

I first hunted with a muzzleloader in the 70”s with a Traditions made Hawken .50 cal rifle.

I did not have much success, experiencing hangfires, failure to fire and accuracy problems.(operator error)

Then got married had kids and didn’t hunt again with a muzzleloader for a good many years until around 2005.

I was then introduced to my first “In-line” muzzleloader, a Remington 700 ML .50. Wow what a difference.

Now I had a real tack-driver in my hands using 200gr. T/C Shockwaves over 2 Triple 7 pellets. I soon found that a slug gun was not needed as one shot was all it ever took to dispatch a deer.

This was also my first experience with lighter bullets as the hawken experience was with 370gr Maxi-ball loads over 120gr of FFG blackpowder. Recoil was greatly reduced and shooting became much more accurate.

Ok so fast forward to 2018. More deer available, and more time to hunt. I have acquired a number of in-lines and tried a wide variety of loads, from 185gr .451 HP with 100gr T7 FFFG up to a  400gr .475HP Hornady XTP with 110gr Blackhorn 209. (This last load is a thumper)

So the day came when my neighbor Matt Baker’s son Matthew wanted to hunt with his dad who had deer hunted 4 years with me. He was then 9 years old. We knew we needed a lightweight rifle with a light load. No manufacturer offered what we needed.

We came up with a Knight American, cut the barrel to 16” (took 2.4lbs off the gun) and loaded up with 60 gr of Pyrodex P and a Hornady 200gr .429 XTP HP. This load delivers approximately 1500fps. 44 magnum power, plenty for deer. My personal opinion is that this is a perfect load inside of 75yards, with recoil like a .410 shotgun.

I have seen the deer Matthew has shot with this load, and all but one had pass-thru performance. The one recovered bullet weighed 178gr found under the far-side hide. Matthew has taken, I believe 14 deer in the past three seasons with this load.

I work at “Albrights Gun Shop” in Easton and have had a number of opportunities to discuss guns and loads for young beginning hunters in the past couple of years. Matthew Baker has grown and moved up to a Thompson Center “Impact”. Several other youngsters have also tried this load with good success.

Emily Adams 8yr old got her first Muzzleloader deer, a fine buck last season and our gunsmiths great grandson Haiden Collins 8yr old has also taken several deer with his T/C Impact, and last years buck was a whopper.

The bottom line is simply that you can take your child hunting without great recoil or expense, and don’t have to wait and risk them losing interest.

If any of you reading this has any questions about powder, sabot, bullet or gun selection please call the store or come by for a visit.

If you do not know what Harvester “Crush- Rib” sabots are or have not heard about the advantages of “Blackhorn 209” powder contact me, Chuck Walker at Albrights Gun Shop 410-820-8811