I see your from NY, I hunt with a ML in Shotgun season in Stuben County NY. I recommend you buy a good inline with a scope since you then can use it in Shotgun season. I have a 3x9 bushnell elite on my Thompson Center Omega, which is a good gun for about $350.The scope is about $200. The mountsand rings about another $80. Powder is$25 for 100 50gpellets, which is what you should start off with since your just learing. Bullets are about $1 each.You can get a $200 gun a $75 scope and do just as well,powder bullets etc are same no matter what bullet your shooting. Go to loose powder after you get some experience shooting. Do NOT buy a 45 caliber, since there are fewer bullets fewer of everything for shooting them. Stay with a 50 caliber inline. Read the links I gave you above to help in your decision on what brand of inline to buy.Ask Shills (Steve Hills)some good shops near you, he is from Rochester and a distributor of MLer and hunting stuff. He is very knowledgable. You can buy on gunbroker.com. I bought a TCFlintlock back in Jan 06 for hunting in Penna FL season, paid $300 for a $550 gun. The gun was in beautiful shape and with MLers you don't have to have the Federal Firearms dealer number to ship the gun to you, so you can get something pretty good. Also WilliamGunsite company (they make peep sights and open sights for all types of guns) has seveal good MLer on their used page. Knight Disc is a good rifle, TC Black Diamond is a goodrifle. Remington 700 ML is a good rifle. Savage 10ML for $395 is an excellent Smokeless powder ML all set up for you, with SS barrell--oh and you can shoot smokeless in NY--I checked the rules alread, since I hunt in Va, NY and Pa. If I didn't have aSavage on order I would buy that. I hope I haveconfused you with too many choices, I know when I was buying a gun I went with the recommendation of the store ownerwhere I live, my first gun was a Knight Disc. I still have it and it is an excellent gun. If you have a friend that is into MLing, buy what he has since he will have knowledge of loads and bullets that will help you in your selection. I strong recommend you buy a good book, since this is just a complex as archery.Get a manual with a used gun, most are online.
Chap Gleason