I had shot one muzzleloader when I was around eight, maybe nine years old. It was nothing special but I loved the smoke, the stink, and the noise. Made me think of all the old Fess Parker movies and TV shows where he played Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Then I kind of lost touch with muzzle loaders, except for TV of course, which I was hooked on.

When I was older, a person I met and became great friends with, invited me to his place in the country to fish in his trout and bass ponds and to shoot his rifles on his private range. Well I was into guns then, but modern ones. That day I shot a .58 caliber CVA Mountain Rifle and an original 1861 Springfield Rifle in .58 caliber. I never had such fun!!

About a week later there was an add for T/C Renegade .54 caliber rifle kits. They were $139.00. So I got one. And after I put it together I could not wait to shoot it. That thing, first time to the range was deadly.

Then deer hunting was becoming a bummer. Where I was hunting, deer were very plentiful. You'd sit in a ground blind or up in a tree with either my 30-06 or 7mm mag and wait for the deer you wanted to come into the corn field and then shoot it. Not a lot of sport in that.

When I decided to hunt with a muzzleloader, it changed all of that field shooting real fast. My range was 100 yards with a muzzleloader. And I discovered that it was a whole new way of hunting. Plus then we got an extra week of hunting after deer season. So it was a win win. I have been hunting with a muzzleloader since then.

It has become a real joy for me to see what I can make one of these rifles do.