I own flintlocks, cap locks and inlines.. it is all a matter of personal preference I guess. I actually feel that in-line are not the great advantage that many traditional shooters believe them to be.

Their projectiles might be a little more high tech, but are they really anymore effective? I have taken a lot of deer with muzzleloaders, perhaps this year I will get one with a in-line. When people compare a copper plated powerbelt to a round ball I always tell them, place either in the right place and the results are the same.

If you take the scopes off a lot of inlines they are not better accuracy wise then traditional rifles. The few advantages like fiber optic sights, and sealed breechs on some models (not all... of the three I own not one of them have a sealed breech) might be nice, but you can do the same to a cap lock. If you know your flintlock, many have no problems hunting in wet weather. The traditional rifles take more committment. Some people do not have the time to commit to the sport the way they might want to. In lines are an option to them in this case.

Granted scoped inlines and red dotted inlines are an advantage at longer ranges. But is that because of the rifle or the optics. If you put the same optics on your Hawkins, could you figure out how to shoot it out to the same distances as the inline could? I believe you could.

The thing that a in-line offers is the oppertunity for many more people to enjoy the sport of black powder. It gets them onto the target ranges and in the field hunting because they can tune them faster and there is not as much to learn about them. The best is inline shooters spend thousands of sporting good dollars which in some States a portion of that is used for wildlife programs. It also keeps the hunting industry alive....

I do feel that some of the people with inlines later turn to the traditional aspect of the sport because they are interested in it from the aspect of what they have learned using the inlines. It opens the door to their learning. This is a good thing. Whether they ever buy a flinter is besides the point, at least some of them are reading the history of the rifles.

I used to hear the same thing when compound bows first came on the scene. All the recurve and tradtional straight bow shooter howled over something like a compound. Now they are more accepted in many cases then the stick bows. It gave some people a greater oppertunity to hunt.

The more hunters and target shooter we have in our ranks the better voice we have in political places to make sure out rights as hunters and target shooters are not taken away or restricted to a point where we will no longer go through the hoops to participate in the sport. The more voices we have the more power we have in Washington and local elections.

You don't have to like a inline, own one, or even use one if you find them objectional. All you need do is what makes you happy. There is room out there for all of us.

I will state that if all inlines were banned from hunting, the number of those that own inlines might surprise you how many of them would get a traditional rifle only because the black powder concept is not such a mystery to them anymore. Of course a lot of them would leave the sport simply due to lack of time to because a traditional shooter, but for many... they are hooked on the black powder concept as a whole.