To me, the answer to your question depends on why you are muzzleloading in the first place. Some hunters, me included, have taken up muzzleloading because the muzzleloading season extends their hunting opportunities. These hunters tend to buy the new inlines and use scopes, etc. In other words, the only reason they use a muzzy at all is because that is what they have to use in order to hunt legally for part of their season. Other hunters like to muzzleload for the challenge of using a primitive weapon. These guys like the " throwback" aspect of muzzleloading and they tend to use the older sidelocks with no scopes. In fact, I know some of these guys that insist on using flintlocks. And the true purists go out there wearing buckskins they make themselves and shoot balls they mold themselves, etc. It just depends on what you are into and how far you want to take it.