I went down to my parents place today to try once again to talk my dad into deer hunting with me this year. I' ve always loved hunting with my dad, and its just nice to have somebody to hunt with. But the last couple of years he hasn' t been very motivated to go. He' s lost interest in it it seems. I think he' s decided that he' s getting too old, and his eyes are too poor. He also has a hard time staying awake while sitting for long periods, and has missed several great deer because they startled him awake and he spooked them before he could get to his gun and get a shot off. Anyway, I still thought I' d try to talk him into it, but unfortunately he' s decided to hang it up for good. Since I' m the only one of my siblings to seriously show any interest in hunting, he decided to give me both his beautiful (and old) Remington 870 Wingmaster 20 guage, and his Thompson/Center White Mountain Carbine .50cal muzzleloader as he doesn' t plan to hunt anymore.

Anyway, regarding the T/C White Mtn carbine...It' s been a long time since I' ve shot a #11 sidelock, and I was wondering if this rifle will ignite Triple 7 ok with CCI #11 Magnum caps?

I checked the barrel and it has between a 1-in-28" to 1-in-32" twist, and is only 20.5" long, which makes it very short for a muzzleloader. I would like to use Triple 7 in it to harness it' s greatest potential from the short barrel. But would 3F be a better choice for this gun than 2F?

I think I' m going to teach my wife to hunt deer with this gun as it fits her perfectly. I think I' m going to try lighter load like 70-80 grains T7 with a PR .40cal QT 215 grain sabot so the recoil is more manageable, but would still give the gun good killing power out to 75 yards or so. Recoil is an important consideration, as my wife is pretty recoil sensitive. She thinks that my SKS kicks a lot. She' s a deadly accurate shot with the .22LR, but I don' t want to ruin her marksmanship by making her develope a flinch.

I' m going to take it out to the range tomorrow and see how it shoots. I cleaned it really well and I did find some rust in the bore, so I' m keeping my fingers crossed it' ll shoot OK.

Thanks for your advice,

Mike