[Jeff Higgins]

I consider myself a fairly avid black powder shooter. At the height of my mid and long range match shooting career, I was going through three cases of powder a year. I no longer compete, so now I'm down to maybe a case a year. I use it in everything from 19th century cartridge revolvers, to percussion revolvers, to single shot breech loaders, to lever guns, to muzzle loaders. I've been shooting black powder guns since I was a kid - the very first metallic cartridge reloading I ever did was for the .45 Colt with black powder and bullets I cast myself. I can't even remember exactly how old I was... maybe 12? Dad's and uncles' guns...

Anyhoo, with that background, I'll tell you right now - I have some strong feelings about black powder shooting. Particularly with regards to the direction it has taken in the last couple of decades. I absolutely abhor, and have less than no use for, all of the modern contivances designed to make life easier for the black powder shooter. The modern in-line guns, the sabots they shoot, the substitue powders, all of it - all of it serves to diminish the experience, to detract from the real accomplishment of making it work. Kind of like the discussion we are having on the thread about all of the bodies on Everest - the climb, now that there are ropes all the way up, is nowhere near the "accomplishment" it used to be.

To me, "muzzle loader" deer and elk seasons should be "primitive weapon", such as in Pennsylvania (who require flint locks, real black powder, and round ball only - no in-lines, no sabots, no substitute powders). Game departments now allow everything right up to sealed breech bolt action stainless steel scoped rifles shooting smokeless powder and jacketed bullets, as long as they load from the front (regulations vary by state - this is the worst example) to be used during "muzzle loader" seasons. This has spawned a whole new industry of "modern muzzle loading". Talk about a contrived bunch of b.s.

If you want the full experience, there is no reason not to go with a traditional rifle. Do get a cap lock, but make it a traditional side hammer, browned or blued steel, wood stocked one. There are plenty of good ones to choose from. There is no reason to fear that these are in any way inaccurate, unreliable, hard to clean, or any of those other old wive's tales that drive so many to "modern" muzzle loaders. I have muzzle loaders that will shoot 2" groups at 100 yards at will, shooting round ball or, in the right gun, very heavy conical bullets. I can clean any of them faster than you can clean your bolt gun. I have never, even in 30+ years of hunting with them off and on up here in the Pacific Northwest, had one rust.

Black powder remains, even in the face of all the modern substitutes, the very best propellent for these guns. In all of my years of match shooting, I never saw a substitute (where allowed) even begin to match the accuracy of the real deal. I've lost track of how many 600 yard NRA targets I've "cleaned" and have seen "cleaned" with black powder cartridge guns shooting black powder. I've never seen a substitute do it. And, by the way, contrary to advertising and popular myth, the cleanup is the same regardless. The substitutes do not gain you anything here.

In summary, I would go with a traditional side hammer cap lock. Get one with a slow round ball twist, like 1:60 or slower. I would not go under .45 even for just a plinker - the smaller bores are more difficult, and may be rightly reserved for more experienced shooters. Oh, and please - don't even try to make your own powder. Just buy it - Coonies in New Mexico, Buffalo Arms in Idaho, and others sell it and UPS will deliver it right to your doorstep.