your right. back in 1971,my dad took me too gun shop here in pa.back then you only had 1 ,no wal-marts etc.there was about 6 different muzzleloaders in rack.he grabbed one and said, pull it up to your shoulder and check how it feels. 5 felt terrible, then i pulled the THOMPSON .50CAL HAWKINS flintlock. i was sold on that baby.it felt great and balanced fine. it was 119 dollars each. so, he bought me 2 of them, thats way dad was .he loved to see us happy.i have shot many bucks with that .50cal.also stores handle more .50cal stuff than .45 cal.take care