I think a lot of the accuracy potential of a rifle applies to whether they allow optics. Wisconsin's muzzleloader season does not allow the use of optics. So no matter what kind of muzzleloader rifle I have, I'm only as good as I can see and shoot with open sights. In this environment,most shooters, even a traditional rifle is just as deadly as the inlines.

When people complain that one kind of rifle has better ballistics then another. I only tell them if they want that advantage to purchase that rifle then. Otherwise they need to take satisfaction in the fact they hunt with the kind of equipment they feel produces the right kind of challenge for them. I am not out there competing with anyone.

I own a lot of rifles, but if you take the scopes off of them my limit is approximately 100 yards give or take. The reason being, that is all the distance inside my personal comfort range without optics. I feel that's my limit, shooting at a deer sized target's kill zone. At 100 yards, I will kill a deer dead whether it is with a roundball being pushed by Goex or a sabot being pushed by a smokeless brand of powder. I hate to see people simply try to "put some lead in one."

I've watched people at public ranges with open sighted muzzleloaders and even modern cartridge rifles. In my opinion there are many of them that have no business shooting at anything over 50 yards away. I watched a person shooting a 30-30 at a paper plate at the100 yard station. He fired seven rounds and hit the paper plate five times. He then looked at members of his group, smiled and said, yep.. still on the money. All I could think of was.. you missed twice with that rifle. And the group he had was not even impressive. I was blasting away with a .54 caliber Renegade shooting roundball and had a better group at 100 yards then he did.

I think the same holds true of the smokeless powder rifle shooters as well. If they can not hit what they aim at, their smokeless powder does them no good. Granted, they can achieve some terrific speeds on their projectiles and with good optics, can shoot some long distances. Well there are modern inline shooters with good optics that can do the same thing. I would go to bet that if a quality optic device was put on some of these traditional rifles and was practiced with to learn bullet drop, etc. They also could do some outstanding long range shooting. I have been tempted to scope a traditional rifle, but as yet have never done it.

Many times States base their laws on the demands of the general hunting public and the management of their game herds. I am sure that all that was taken into consideration. Also you need to take into consideration the kind of hunting situation you might encounter State to State. Scopes for instance being allowed in States where the average shot is or possibly will be well over 100 yards, I have no problem with. I would much rather see a person make a clean killing shot on one animal then wound three others before they finally fill their tag.

In the meantime, I will continue to hunt with the kind of rifle that brings ME the most enjoyment and let the other person worry about their own self.