What Muzzleloader are you using? I have only shot a few rounds though a MZL while at Scout camp.
I really like the idea of getting one for my contender from Bullberry.
What Muzzleloader are you using? I have only shot a few rounds though a MZL while at Scout camp.
I really like the idea of getting one for my contender from Bullberry.
For the standard boxer primers, I have mostly used the sizing/decapping die. Even steady force and not "slamming" the primed case up into the die. For the 209s, I punched the whole primer assy. out as normal and poked the primer out of the battery cup with a tiny punch (just small enough to fit the flash hole). I have also used the depriming "cup" and stem from a Lee Loader on my small arbor press...
The first muzzleloader I bought was a Knight Bighorn. I mail ordered it and regretted it. It was well made, but handled like a sewer pipe with a stock attached, had finicky ignition, and was too long and heavy to sneak around in the pucker brush here.
I bought a CVA Optima, which cost literally half what the Knight cost. It's shorter, far lighter, and plenty accurate for the ranges I hunt.
I was unaware that Bullberry made .50 MZL barrels for the Contender. I think most places top out at .45 for the Contender.
I'd note that my CVA cost about half what that Contender barrel costs. Would the Blueberry be "more" accurate? Probably.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
Our state seems hell bent on reducing the number of hunters each year by playing games with equipment and seasons. They've reduced hunters access so much by restricting equipment that many have just given up. Most of the ones that still hunt are archery hunters because of more units and longer seasons. I used to hunt upland birds a lot but the state went to non-toxic shot for upland. I can see it for waterfowl, but upland, come on man. My shotguns were old and steel was a bridge too far. I was digging around in my reloading storage awhile back and found 10 lbs of Nice Shot which was tungsten for use in old doubles. I sold it for about $20/lb. Recently the state has seen the mistake they made because of dropping license sales for both fish and game. They contact me every year wanting my input and license purchase but homey won't play anymore, especially since they made it next to impossible to purchase a pistol or semi-auto rifle. I'm sure they wouldn't understand. You reap what you sow.
If I wanted some venison I could just shoot a doe from my back deck and nobody would know. So many people shoot around here it would like any other day.
Last edited by Borderland; 04-02-2021 at 11:06 AM.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
Our state (Ohio) fur sure wants to get some deer kilt, since you cannot drive ride down the road without hitting them. I need to hunt some more to get my hunting kill ratio back up higher than my car/truck/motorcycle count. I can't confirm all my kills kills with the car and truck, but the one I hit with the motorcycle I was able to watch flop around and expire.
But muzzle loaders were more popular back when the gun season was shotgun slug or ML only, and the ML could be scoped and accurate. Then handguns were added. Then it was decided that a shotgun with a rifled barrel was still a shotgun. Then it was decided that if a handgun was OK then a rifle shooting a handgun cartridge was OK. Then it was decided that if a .454 Casull was OK, then any straight wall rifle cartridge was OK. So now that 444 Marlin and 45-70 and 450 Bushmaster are legal nobody wants screw around with those messy muzzle loaders.