UtahSportsmen.com

Kind of sad there aren't any posts in this section. As much as I love firearms of all types, Smokepoles are my #1 favorite rifles to shoot, and to hunt with. I predominantly hunt with them, and have done so since well back in the 80's when the muzzleloader season was a $10 extension to the rifle hunt... that was back in the days you could shoot multiple bucks each year plus a doe. I LOVED hunting that next week into Nov, hunting in snow, just as the rutt was coming on.

I only have two frontstuffers currently, a '76 T/C Hawkin in .50 cal that I rebarreled with a 1/28" faster twist barrel. My other gun is a Remington M700ML in .50 caliber. My wife surprised me with that gun for Christmas one year (how cool is that!). I've taken a heck of alot of deer with it, and an elk back when they had the ML300 draw hunt.

There are alot of new powders and bullets that have come out over the years, but I still stick with the old Pyrodex RS, 90 grains under a .240grn XTP. It shoots fantastically out of either rifle, well enough I've never been motivated to find anything better.

I wish the late season was back, hunting in Sept with 90 degree days is pretty rough at times.


-DallanC

I guess I'm letting you know how old I am. I used my kit made .45 to take a buck during Utah's general rifle season, way before they even had a muzz season for deer. When they began allowing us to have our own hunt season we were restricted to one area us here in the Northern end of the state. Raft River area was first. Then the Wellsville Range and finally they opened up the entire state.
Those early hunts were a real treat, hunting late, after all the other hunts were over. We liked to try different areas each year and finally settled on the Crawfords which only lasted a few seasons before they made that area an LE draw.
We had to teach ourselves a different way to hunt back then. Dad taught us to hunt a certain way during the regular deer rifle season and we started by following those same tactics. Of course by the time the muzz hunt came around the deer had all migrated out of the usual places we hunted with rifles. That took us a few years to finally figure out. We might get one shot between 4 of us hunters during an entire season. But once we got them figured out it was "game on".
Yes, the good old days!

You have pictures of your .45? I'd love to see it.

My Hawkin was my dads, he wasnt much of a muzzleloader'er, never hunted with it. Bought a couple as a novelty and didnt really clean it none too good after shooting it. When I inherited it, it was pretty pitted but I still shot a buck first time I hunted with it. I eventually bought a barrel kit and its been one nice shooter ever since. I'm a southpaw though so having the hammer so close to my shooting eye is a bit worrysome, wish someone made a cheaper lefty version sidelock.


-DallanC

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(sorry about the sharpness of the picture)

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I don't think this old 45 was ever intended to be fired. I got it about 1975 as a kit. You can see the barrel has not been crowned

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and I don't think the proof mark is one indicating bursting strength or anything of that sort.

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I think it is a Spanish made rifle. Simple design, single trigger with about a 20 pound pull.
I have taken two bucks and two does with it and it won me my first ever rendezvous shooting event at Ft. Bridger.

Sidelock.JPG (27.93 KiB) Viewed 7542 times

Oh now thats purty! I love the full length stock! I like the antler handle on the ramrod as well, thats a great idea. I love to see homebrew things like this, adds so much character. What is the ramrod made out of? I've made a couple out of pine but most have broken over the years (impaled my forearm once when one broke).


-DallanC

That is neat! My dad has an old Hawken rifle that I've been trying to talk him out of. I don't think he's fired it in the last 20 or so years. I'm currently more of a non-traditionalist, but I'd love to own and hunt with an antique. I hunt with a Knight Revolution and load it with pellets and Barnes MZ sabots.

This is another thing that leads me to believe this kit gun was never intended to be fired. The ramrod is steel and has no jags on either end. So, in order to be able to use it to ram a ball I had to put a handle on it, thus the antler.
I used this rifle to hunt deer during Utah's general season before we had a muzzy season and it seemed like every year I would come home with a buck while the "pork gun" shooters got skunked...not every year, but quite a few. My first buck with this was a nice 4X5 taken out on the Raft River range when most of the private land was still open to the public.