I have been offered one of these that has never been shot. Wanted to see what you all thought of these? Are they accurate? Reliable? Anything i should look for? Thanks,
I have one. Good quality/goodshooter, especially with 385 grain Great Plains conicals (3" 100 yard groups). Unfired? Worth in the $150 to $180 range.
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My wife says I'm totally nuts, but I think I'm Semisane.
Things I've Learned: (1) It's not possible to please everyone, but quite easy to piss everyone off. (2) If you love animals as I do, then you're not a vegetarian. (3) There's no need to act stupid, even if you're very good at it. (4) If you eat right and exercise, don't smoke or drink, you're going to die anyway.
Like said, they are a real meat and potatoes rifle. Nothing fancy, but all the rifle a person would need. I have a friend that hunts with one. He shoots 370 grain maxiball and it is the only muzzleloader he has ever needed. They are known to be good shooters with both roundball and conicals.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
I had a 54 new englander with a wood stock gun use to drive RB'S in clover leaf groups ,used 3F goex 95 grains and a wad under the patched RB
here a gun you could carry all day in the field light only reason I sold it was due to I like flinters a little better then percussion locks
I have the NewEnglander in both .50 cal.and 12 gauge. Started with the .50 rifle and then added the 12 ga. barrel, then a camo synthetic stock, and finally bought an extralock so I would have two complete guns.
My rifle barrel likes Lee REAL bullets (325 gr.) ahead of 80 to 90 grains of ffg Goex. I have it set up with a fiber optic front sight and a T/C tang mounted peep. I shot it the other evening at 25 yards to check the sights and had one ragged hole for a group. At 50 yards the group opened up to just overa couple of inches, but with the heat & breeze that was blowing I wasn't upset.
I'd have to say the NewEnglander is a pretty dependable "no frills" gun.
Oops...........
Almost forgot to mention that I did buy a scope base for the rifle barrel. I mounted it and put a Leupold 2-7x scope on it to see what the barrel was really capable of accuracy-wise. At 100 yards groups under 2" were easy with the Lee REALs. Somehow the scope just doesn't seem to "fit" the style, though, so I took it off and went back to open sights.
All this talk of New Englander's got me interested. So tonight,I just bought a .54 caliber model, in mint condition, with the black rynite stock. I talked myself out of it once, but could not resist. That should be an interesting addition to my collection...
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
All this talk of New Englander's got me interested. So tonight,I just bought a .54 caliber model, in mint condition, with the black rynite stock. I talked myself out of it once, but could not resist. That should be an interesting addition to my collection...
For some reason, I just knew you would.That drive home was either too long or too short!
Opinion on a Thompson New Englander 50 cal
