Muzzle Loader for my kids.

[libertyman777]

I need a ML for my kids. We have a hunting area here on an Army installation. They have bow only areas and muzzle loader season opens a month before gun season (rifled slugs only for gun season). I've got the slug guns covered but I'm new to ML scene. Never even fired one.

I primarily want a SAFE rifle. Ease of cleaning is important too. Both my children shoot firearms. My daughter is 16, son is 12. Neither are recoil sensitive per se, but I don't believe either will handle full power loads.

Our hunting area is located in East Central Alabama and I think a shot over 100 yards will be the exception rather than the rule.

All input is welcome.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[ENCORE]

A lot depends on how much you want to spend, the quality of the rifle and how long you want it to last. Shooting to 100yds is within the range of just about every new muzzleloader sold. There is a difference in quality and some clean easier than others. I'm a 100% T/C shooter, having given up CVA and Knight a long time ago. The Omega is a great shooting rifle and are very reasonable in price. Moving up, there's the Encore FX (dedicated muzz) the Encore and the Pro Hunter.

ALL...... new T/C rifles are capable of shooting BH209 (Blackhorn 209) also without any modifications to the breech plug. BH209 cleans up with just plain ol' Hoppe's, just like any of your centerfires or shotguns.

CVA makes less costly rifles such as the Accura V2, Optima and their top of the line, Apex.

 

[lhtaxidermy]

I have a TC Impact that my kids use, who are ages 6 and 10. It has spacers in the butt stock to adjust the LOP which is very nice. It shoots very well 75gr. powder charge and a 220 gr. dead center bullet. The all lead bullet preforms very well with a reduced powder charge.

 

[mnoland30]

I'd like to know what you bought, and how it worked out. I've shot Dead Centers for years and they are great out to 200 yards in the 340 weight. But for kids, I'd try the lighter 180grs. They make some in a .357 with two sabots that shoot better than anything else in my Kahnke muzzleloader. I think out to 100 yards, it would be the bomb. The pure lead on the 340 gr. usually expands to over an inch. Don't shoot at bone though. The first elk I shot in the shoulder joint, and it split the bullet. Cracked the bone, and fortunately one half of the bullet went through the neck and the other half through the lung. With muzzleloaders, penetration is always the issue. The higher the sectional density, the better the penetration. Dead Centers always expand.

As for cleaning, I took one of those 1/8" barbs for irrigation line, threaded one side and hooked a tube to the other (or you can drill out a worn out nipple). Put the tube in hot, soapy water and run your patch. It draws the water up inside the barrel and flushes it. I run a wire brush, a couple of dry patches, and an oiled patch, and I'm done. I take the breech plug out once a year just to check that everything is clean, and it always is. I find that faster and easier than cleaning a regular gun.