Is inline muzzloading a dieing breed?

[camellips]

I know Knight is making a return to the market. Other than us die hard muzzloading enthusiast is there really a market for inline development in the marketplace?

In general I do not see the average hunter hanging with it. Most consider muzzloading a hassle just to get into the woods a extra couple of days during the season.


What are your thoughts

[hunter]

I carry mine during the regular season, but maybe I am not average.

[topusmc]

I hunt with my ML each time I get chance, and I shoot it all year. As for the in line falling off, its hard to say. I do not see the amount of hunters during ML season as I have in the past. Those that I do see are hunting with in-lines, and I see a few duing the shotgun season. I do not see any on the range when I am shooting there. This leads me to believe that a lot of ML hunters do not take it serious enough. Now on the other hand. In De. there are several hunts that require a pre season draw, and ML is one of them. I have hunted at all the area's that require it. The hunting stands are always filled with several stand by's in the wings. I guess they don't like to hunt on public land.

[10ga]

Here in VA MLing is still growing. Most all the growth is inline as that is the easiest for most hunters. Just buy a gun, box of pellets, pack of 209s, and couple packs of bullets and you are just about done. Sigh in and then hunt, 2 week early season. Several years ago the tagging system changed due to MLing. In some areas bow and ML hunters were taking OVER 50% of the antlered buck kill BEFORE regular gun season came in. Now there is a limit of 3 bucks by any method and many areas have a 1 buck ML limit. I usually help/introduce several hunters on proper ML techniques every year. They are always amazed at how accurate and effective MLs really are. There are many who use ML all season as much of this area is shotgun or ML only. Of course the ML is more accurate and has a much longer range than any shotgun even with slugs. Here in VA ML is still growing and mostly inlines.

[Deleted]

i too use mine all year round. What hassle of cleaning? Its easier to care for it than to spend big bucks on it and then just let it turn to crap because the person is lazy and has mush between his ears.

I think they are running out of ideas though for inlines. New styles and such.

[camellips]

Apr 20, 2010 11:07:57 GMT -5 frontiergander said:

i too use mine all year round. What hassle of cleaning? Its easier to care for it than to spend big bucks on it and then just let it turn to crap because the person is lazy and has mush between his ears.

I think they are running out of ideas though for inlines. New styles and such.

Running out of ideas for inlines is really a problem because I think Knight had it right all the years until they started tinkering away from the meat of the design. The BK series and even the Wolverine models were amazingly accurate right out of the box. Then they had to go and screw with it. Never did buy one of thier bolt offerings because I had two Knights that worked.

Savage has a nice nitch in the market with their MLII. Only smokeless muzzloader. They can be temperamental about loads and I cannot get the MOA accuracy out of a Savage as I can my Knights. But its a very reliable muzzloader and I can carry it all season and not have to worry about cleaning it outside of running a patch through the barrel every couple of weeks or when weather is foul.

If any ML manufactures are listening I would suggest building a smokeless muzzloader. The Balance on the Savage is a bit weird and they are very heavy compared to my Wolverine. As I get older weight becomes a factor as I am a stalk hunter and not a tree sitter.


As for what has been said in this thread about ML hunting in general dying..I agree. In TN there is a one week ML season the weekend before the official Gun season and then there is a ML season in the middle when there is no Gun Season.

I fully agree with what was said about the ML over the Shotgun. I cannot imagine why ANYONE would want to hunt with a Shotgun when they can have the range and accuracy of the ML. Yes I know shotguns can be worked up to be accurate with slugs but I just do not see the advantage.

[Deleted]

i dont see tc,knight, cva, traditions making a smokeless muzzleloader any time soon. Way to many idiots out there that dont know how to shoot blackpowder. Smokeless would just be a time bomb waiting to happen, especially when the dumb ones come by. Smokeless muzzleloading hasnt even taken off, they only make up for a very small % of muzzleloading.

[mountainam]

I live in a shotgun/muzzleloader deer hunting state of Ohio. If I could use a rifle I would and do for deer damage shooting. There's nothing like it. I shot shotgun slugs, but found them to be sloppy even the $4 apeice ones. The muzzleloader is a real rifle and almost performs like one. The smokeless ML is even closer. I disagree with Frontiergander that there are too many idiots that don't know how to shoot blackpowder. I think there are those latent ML shooters that put 4 rounds per season through their rifle and lack the confidence to use a ML in their shotgun season. If you are a so called "idiot" chances are you just have an idiot for a mentor. Take some extra effort to educate someone and you'll see their enthusiasm increase. That's why I love this site. I visited most of the others and come to the conclusion that DOUG's is light-years ahead of th rest. The caliber of men that I learn from here are second to none. These are the pioneers that move the sport to the next level while the others help you catch up on some of the lost arts that you used when you were a kid. Face it, not a whole lot changed in muzzleloading from 1830 to 1985 just a whole lot of forgetting.Smokeless ML's are here to stay. Granted, they're not for everybody and they shouldn't be until you are ready to seek the next level of performance. The other companies are just HYPE. I surely cannot wrap my brain around someone calling a ML rifle with an exposed MANUAL hammer a " Modern IN-LINE". I guess it's modern compared to a matchlock. Guys seeking the cutting edge don't need the manufacturers acceptance of what will sell. The custom gunsmiths have been doing that for years. It's the manufacturers that run with what the custom gunsmiths come up with for a lot of the innovative stuff.

[Deleted]

An idiot as in ( I loaded 120gr volume h380 in my muzzleloader and it blew up! Im going to sue them for making this unsafe rifle!) Or, My smokeless muzzleloader blew up! I then read the manual and found out the powder charge i used wasnt correct!, why can other muzzleloaders shoot 150gr powder but mine cant? This is BS, it should say it on the barrel!

That kind of idiot

[DaveC]

Here in New York, there are still some areas that permit only Shotgun shooting slugs, and muzzle loaders, during the regular whitetail season. Each year, a few more people seem to be showing up with an in line, and leaving the slug gun home.
I am one of these folks.
Tho' I am registered on Doug's, I have not been able to sign in successfully some time, so don't bother posting here much. Difficult board to use.

[grouse]

Apr 23, 2010 9:21:38 GMT -5 @DaveC said:

Difficult board to use.

It's actually a very user friendly board. You could be getting mixed up between the new and old board. I deleted my shortcut to the old board and only use the new board. Send the Administrator an email about this, he needs something to do.

[sabotloader]

camellips

My centerfires have not seen the light of day in several years now... I hunt with a ML all season and during our short ML season i switch to a sidehammer as that is the rule in Idaho.

As to the question I am not sure Inline ML's are done yet. Althought the market has been well saturated. I think do to cheap inexpensive foreign competition the development of well made ML's has been slowed. Everybody needs to be competitive unless you might be offereing a custom built ML...