What to look for in a muzzy?

[BuckRut]

Looking at buying my first muzzleloader and it looks like there’s a lot to sort through. What deal breakers should I be looking for and what features are out of my price range? Looking to stay below 1k.

 

[Antares]

Making sure it meets the legal requirements of the areas you want to hunt is a good place to start. That will probably narrow your choices, or at least inform your decision.

 

[Teodoro]

Hopefully you already know this, but start by figuring out where you're going to hunt and reviewing the legal requirements for that area. If you're in an area that requires open sights, you probably don't want a gun with a built-in rail. And you probably don't want a .36-caliber long rifle if you're in a zone that requires a .45-caliber projectile. Pennsylvania has a late season that's flintlock only.

The second thing to nail down is whether you're looking for a historic/traditional type of gun or a modern inline muzzleloader. This is a super super personal question. I'm just looking to take advantage of another season, so I have a modern inline.

The third decision point, in my opinion, is what kind of hunting will be doing with the gun. I use mine in Eastern creek bottoms where it's kind of unusual to have a shot over 100 yards. I think pretty much every inline sold could handle that. If you will be packing it on backpack hunts and are likely to get opportunities at longer shots, it starts to make sense to look at nicer equipment.

I know this is all pretty basic. But it's a pretty wide open question, and I think this is a pretty good starting point.

 

[Westhunt]

As already mentioned, start with what's legal in your area. After that, I really like break action models that have a tool free breech removal. I have a CVA accura LR-X and I don't need a wrench to remove the breech plug for cleaning. I had a knight muzzleloader that shot great, but cleaning was a little more time consuming.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[BuckRut]

Thanks for the input guys. A little more info. This would be solely for get some more tags out west here and I’m definitely looking at inline. We have a traditional muzzleloader late season here in Montana but I’m not really interested in that since I am already hunting for 3 months straight here without it. Are there any companies making models in the 1k range that can handle the pressure of smokeless powder as well as using black powder? Or is that only a 5k price range type of thing?

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

A basic muzzy for places that require open sights is cheap, don't know about the question for smokeless versions since I can't use them and never researched.

IMHO if you're working with open sights don't over think it. I've got two CVA's, one stainless optima and one nitrided accura. The accura feels better in hand but they both shoot well. I've got williams front globes with both fiber optic and cross hair inserts and on the back I have a pic rail ramp with a peep (this lets me add a scope on without messing with the open sights if I ever went hunting in a place that allowed a scope). I use blackhorn 209 so I got the appropriate breech plug. Those setups are well under a grand and I'm good out to around 150yd with them.

Unless you're in a place that allows scopes, smokeless, etc. you don't really need to overthink this because the distances are so short any decently accurate muzzy will do.

 

[mlevimadden]

I don't know anything about smokeless muzzleloaders either since I've never used one. I've been hunting with a CVA Accura V2 for 11 years and it's been great for me. I like the break action and tool-less breech plug. I'm also shooting Blackhorn 209 out of mine. I used to live in a scope legal state and was able to get some 1-1.5 MOA three shot groups out of it at 100 yds, which is plenty good enough for muzzleloader distances on big game.

If you're looking for a long-range setup though and in a scope and smokeless legal state, I'd plan to go that route. Most black-powder muzzleloaders start running out of steam quickly around 200 yds for making an accurate shot and killing big game.