RE: how long have you been using one
Early to mid 70's is when I started. I started with a original Springfield Rifle in .58 caliber and a .58 caliber my friend owned. Then I used that friends CVA .58 caliber Mountain Rifle for a year and he would not sell it to me so I bought a Thompson Center .54 caliber Renegade which I still shoot. In fact I just re- blued the barrel. After all those years the brown came off. It was a kit rifle back then, and now it has a blue barrel. Since then I have added a number of rifle to the collection including flintlocks, persussion, inlines, and smoothbores..