Muzzleloader for survival

[BumpShadow]

I was just curious what people's thoughts were. I would think that it in a world were the infrastructure for making modern bullets would be gone, a muzzleloader would better than a improvised gun. You could use ground matches and maybe improvised bullets if you need to. What do you guy's think?

 

[Sailor]

By the time I run out of ammo, we will be using lasers instead of bullets.

 

[dieselman]

i feel like a bow would be much better than a muzzleloader

 

[sloughfoot]

It is why I keep a couple around all the time.

NoBody can foresee everything. You just never know.....

 

[BumpShadow]

By the time I run out of ammo, we will be using lasers instead of bullets.

We already have lasers. Their ok, no replacement for a good rifle though. You will still need power packs. too. When the SHTF, laser's won't be a very good choice for the same reason modern bullets wouldn't be.

Besides, you only have as many bullets as you can transport.

i feel like a bow would be much better than a muzzleloader

Actually, Bows are hard to supply. Arrows are not easy to make, and break easily. Bow string is even harder to make. Bow making is a pretty exact science. Muzzleloader's are a good middle ground.

 

[.452browning]

I personally don't think a muzzleloader would be a good SHTF weapon. If you ran out of convention ammo for modern rifles and pistols and want to make improvised bullets for a muzzleloader you would have to have a bullet mold, powder, and lead or something other to make a bullet. Black powder would be a pain to keep dry and carry around IMO. If this was the 1700's it would be excellent. But with today's technology it just makes more sense to me to use modern weapons. But a muzzleloader is better than nothing.

 

[gunbunnies]

You shouldn't forget the lowly 12 guage pump shotgun... You can improvise a reloaded shell in the field if you have primers... Black powder is makeable, some card board, or wrag for wadding, some pebbles or anything like screws or tacks will do for shot and some more wadding material and some of natures glue to keep it all together.. Black powder corrosion shouldn't be hard to handle in a closed barrel system such as a pump and your still in the game even after most modern supplies are used up... Just my thought on the subject...

 

[BumpShadow]

I personally don't think a muzzleloader would be a good SHTF weapon. If you ran out of convention ammo for modern rifles and pistols and want to make improvised bullets for a muzzleloader you would have to have a bullet mold, powder, and lead or something other to make a bullet. Black powder would be a pain to keep dry and carry around IMO. If this was the 1700's it would be excellent. But with today's technology it just makes more sense to me to use modern weapons. But a muzzleloader is better than nothing.

Could you clarify your post a little please. If you have convention ammo for a modern rifle, why do you have a muzzleloader? And, although I agree making ammo for a muzzleloader would be a pain, at least its possible. making convention ammo is impossible without a huge amount of support. Modern smokeless powder, primers, and casings are impossible to make in a backyard. Where as I can make black powder out of manure, sulfur, and charcoal and a little practice. Bullets can be made from polished rocks if need be. Just my thoughts.

 

[BumpShadow]

You shouldn't forget the lowly 12 guage pump shotgun... You can improvise a reloaded shell in the field if you have primers... Black powder is makeable, some card board, or wrag for wadding, some pebbles or anything like screws or tacks will do for shot and some more wadding material and some of natures glue to keep it all together.. Black powder corrosion shouldn't be hard to handle in a closed barrel system such as a pump and your still in the game even after most modern supplies are used up... Just my thought on the subject...

I agree, if you have primers. Although a large bore muzzleloader is basically a small shotgun. And you wouldn't need primers.

 

[96firephoenix]

when the bullets for the guns run out, I'll pull out the crossbow. you can make the bolts easily enough.

 

[gunbunnies]

Bumpshadow, yep the same at the pull of the trigger but you can shoot more rounds quicker through the shotgun running black powder than you can through the muzzleloader.. Same supplies except for the primers to run either one... and same soap and water to clean them.

 

[Sailor]

You limited to how much you can cache not carry.

If you are really planning for the use of a ML in this manner start practicing now on making it with out any modern materials.

 

[.452browning]

Could you clarify your post a little please. If you have convention ammo for a modern rifle, why do you have a muzzleloader? And, although I agree making ammo for a muzzleloader would be a pain, at least its possible. making convention ammo is impossible without a huge amount of support. Modern smokeless powder, primers, and casings are impossible to make in a backyard. Where as I can make black powder out of manure, sulfur, and charcoal and a little practice. Bullets can be made from polished rocks if need be. Just my thoughts.

i will be happy to explain more. i was half asleep so i must apologize. the first reason i wouldnt want or need a muzzleloader is that i already have tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition for my firearms. i keep rounds from everything from defensive rounds to hunting rounds from .22, .22mag, 5.56, 7.62x39, 30-30, 7x57, 9mm, 45acp, 12gauge, and so on so there should be no reason i "should" have to use a muzzleloader as a primary firearm in SHTF for defensive use or hunting. yes making modern cased ammunition is extremely difficult to make at home compared to a blackpowder muzzleloader for sure, but again that is why i have so much ammunition stored in waterproof/weatherproof cases to keep it dry and safe. don't get me wrong i have several muzzleloaders and shoot them regularly ranging from hawkins .50 rifle to 1860 army .44 so i have worked with them enough for me personally to know i wouldnt want to carry them primarily for SHTF. in a SHTF scenario i wouldnt have to want to worry about carrying loose powder, loose ball, primers, and such. I want to be able to stick the cased rounds in magazines and loose rounds in my chest harness and pockets. its simpily for ease of use.

i know you can polish a rock to fashion a bullet....one of my favorite tales of this was in stephen ambrose's book "undaunted courage" about the lewis and clark expedition. a gentleman was seperated from the group for several days and had to fashion a pointed stick to put down the barrel to use as a bullet. ended up killing an animal to save his life. it is possible to carry the loose powder, ball, and primers or makeshift anything you need to keep a muzzleloader in action. but in a SHTF scenario i already have a lot to worry about besides worrying about what i need to keep a muzzleloader working. So i just choose to keep thousands of rounds for my firearms to make sure it will be a very long time before i run out. If i run out of ammo.....i turn into daniel day lewis from last of the mohicans and run around with the muzzleloaders

Now if a person doesnt have a good amount of ammunition to sustain themselves with food and defense and have a decent knowledge of how to produce homemade blackpowder and polish a rock or make their own bullets....muzzleloader may make more sense to them. like i stated before......better a muzzleloader than no weapon at all.

 

[Iroquois]

If crossbows were so great we would never have developed rifles. A regular bow shoots faster and just as accurately, if you practice.
If you are serious about black powder for survival you need a flint lock. If you can find percussion caps you can find primers instead and load cartridges.
You can find lead, but use caution. Anything but pure lead is dangerous. I would use
wheel weights, but I'd skim the lighter metals off the hot lead, and cast smaller diameter bullets. You want use a thicker patch with harder lead but I would only do this
in a real SHTF situation. A STUCK BULLET WILL GET YOU KILLED
You can make your own powder using softwood charcoal. The full recipe is in Foxfire
[#5 I think]....USE YOUR HEAD!!! I haven't tried this and only recommend it as a last
resort.
If you're serious find a local Black-Powder club ,they can teach you more than
most of us,and give you a place to practice..

 

[gunrunner0]

i feel like a bow would be much better than a muzzleloader

Just ask the indians.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

As .452browning said, if you can find percussion caps for your (modern) muzzle-loader, you will be able to find them for regular cartridges. You're looking at going back to flint-lock or match-lock if you can't get caps for your firearm.

 

[asystole86]

bullet mold is cheap and lead can be had from old wheel weights bp can be made its easy enough

 

[Libertarian01]

To All,

I've thought about this some myself and have come to the conclusion that a muzzle loader would be pretty low on my list of weapons for SHTF.

Even if I didn't have all of the ammo that I do, modern ammunition is so plentiful here in the US that running out would be virtually impossible. Suppose that ammo production stopped worldwide, today. There would be billions of rounds available for use, enough for the next five (5) generations to go through and still not run out.

The muzzle loader is not as accurate as the modern rifle, so using one for hunting would be overall less efficient. Sure, there are some guys that are crack shots w/ a muzzle, but I'll be they are just as good (if not better) with a modern rifle.

For combat purposes it would be darn near useless. Of course it worked well in the past fighting lower technologies, but consider that I am going to put you into a fight starting at 100 yards. You and your opponent can choose between a muzzle loader or an olde K98 Mauser. There is one of each. Which would you choose?

All that said, I would say that IF all other basic needs were met, owning a muzzle loader might come in handy because I cannot foresee all possible circumstances. As such, a situation may exist where access to a muzzle loader would be prudent.

I would think a bow weapon would be FAR more useful than a muzzle loader, or even a modern firearm. It would have the advantage of silent shooting w/ reasonable killing power.

Now I've talked myself into getting a crossbow. Darnit...

Regards,

Doug

 

[justjoe]

black powder will be great, in about 300 years when all the smokeless ammo is gone. Meanwhile I will keep plenty of modern ammo for self-defense and a half dozen snares to feed the family. Dependable and reusable for game, large and small.