I fired a .50 caliber Black powder rifle the other day. I think I am hooked. Any suggestions on what to look for or stay away from before I buy a rifle?
You looking into caplock, flint lock, or inline? Looking for fun, hunting, or both?
Some older muzzle loaders are good, some stay far away from cause you can't find parts, no warranty, company disown, etc. (older CVA (pre BPI) have no warranty but you can find parts but stay away from certain models, TC Scout and some other models are just bastards, older Remington 700s)
First questions to answer is what's your budget? What's your intended purpose? (Paper punching and informal target shooting, small or large game hunting, etcetera)
You can pick up a good, used Thompson Center or Lyman for $300-400 or you can get a handmade, custom gun for $1200-1500 on up.
I would like a modern Black Powered rifle. Inline as that what I shot and watched him clean. Just target shooting no hunting for now.
I would like to be around $500.00 or lower if that's possible.
It was really great fun to shoot. I was surprised at the low recoil when the gun fired. I shot it a few times but the giggles stayed with me the rest of the day
I'll let others help you with this endeavor. Traditional black powder guy, here. 90% flintlock long rifles and 10% percussion rifles/shotguns.
Be safe and have fun, Sir.
I second this suggestion. Knight started the inline revolution and made the highest quality modern rifles. I have one dating back to the early 1990s and it still drives tacks with sabot loads.
They went out of business for a bit but after restructuring they're back again and making great rifles.
If you can get a clean one with a good barrel and no corrosion you'll be quite happy.
Looks like Ike there is actually one on GunBroker now for under $200.
And keep in mind if you do buy used they can ship it directly to you as muzzloaders do not require an FFL transfer or background check.
I hunt with a Knight .50 cal Disc Extreme. It`s the camo stock and SS barrel, topped with a 3x9 Leupold VariX II. Know however, the Knight is not as easy to take down to clean as the newer break-action rifles.
I'm going to recommend CVA. I had a Buckhorn that I killed a bunch of deer with. Sold it several years ago and started using my Wolf. Both are great guns and would serve you well.
I as also bit by the black powder bug. I bought a clean used stainless TC Encore and couldn't be happier. My intension was to extend my hunting season. The 209 ignition is about as close to a center fire as you can get. I'm also shooting the blackhorn 209 powder which is a nitrocellulose based alternative to black powder. It's much easier to clean without the nice rotten egg smell or soaking your barrel in the bath tub. I put 20 shots through it at the range with no patching between shots and it was barely dirty when I pulled the breech plug.
Take some time and do a google search for blown up black powder rifles. There were a couple of pretty common brands that had a bad batch of barrels that were coming apart and injuring people.
Let's get a couple of things clear here. Modern inlines are not black powder rifles. They are muzzleloaders that were designed to use substitute powders and usually fire modern designed projectiles.
Black powder rifles are mostly traditional designs that use real black powder and lead round balls and sometimes pointy bullets. Normally ignited by flint, or a percussion cap.
No I am not against the modern type, but have never understood how anyone could call them BP rifles.
If you can stretch a little over $500 and be a little patient, you're not too far off price for a used Savage 10ml. It's made to shoot several different smokeless powders. It's a whole different animal when it comes to measuring charges, (weight, not volume), but they're really a lot of fun, without the corrosive mess of bp or bp substitutes. Savage quit making them a few years back, but they do turn up used from time to time on GunBroker. Muzzleloading is a bunch of fun!