Sharp Shooter

I know I said I will never shoot an inline but I would like to look at a cheap one for whitetail in the stand. I like the price of the Buckhorn from CVA. How is that rifle? Also, can you get inlines in 54cal? I would use my traditional the most with Goex. If I got an inline I would want a clean powder. What are some clean powders? Also, what ones can you remove the barrels from?

Sharp Shooter

What is that one you can put a centerfire, 12ga, and 50cal muzzleloader barrel on?

sabotloader

Sharp Shooter

Both the CVA Optima and the TC Encore can come with a variety of barrels. Cayugad will be able to tell for sure but I thing New England Firearms also produces a multiple barrel selection.

I am not sure if you can still find a 54 cal inline. I have not seen any recently, but I have not looked either, in fact I do everything I can not to look. I do not need anymore - that's not to say I don't WANT anymore.

cayugad

If you are not planning on putting a scope on that CHEAP inline rifle, do yourself a favor and save your money. Anything a cheapinline can do, that .54 caliber Renegade of yours will do just as well. In fact you want a cheap inline rifle, get a Green Mountain Stainless Steel 1-28 twist barrel for $100.00 plus shipping. That's the same barrel quality as you would find on the expensive Knight rifles. It will shoot as good with open sights as any of the inlines on the market out there. I am sure a person could mount a scope on a traditional Green Mountain Barrel since I have seen traditional rifles with scopes. Then you have the best of both worlds, a traditional style with a optical scoped accuracy and sabot shooting ability of an inline. Green Mountain also sells a .62 caliber smoothbore barrel which is a 20 gauge shotgun and will shoot a big nasty roundball accurate at close ranges.

I've read posts of bad striker slides on the Buckhorn among other problems. Then some Buckhorn owners really like them. If you really want a inexpensive inline rifle of good quality then look at the NEF Sidekick. In your case since you mention you might want rifle barrels and shotgun barrels, perhaps for the time being get a H&R Huntsman. The NEF and the H&R are part of the Marlin Rifle Company (I believe I read) and are good quality.

If you want a line rifle that can have a shotgun, center fire rifle, andmuzzleloader barrel.. then look at the Thompson Center Encore, CVA Optima Elite, or NEF Huntsman. I believe with the Huntsman, you have to send your receiver back in and have the barrel you want custom fitted to that receiver but I could be wrong. The CVA Optima is equipped with a spanish made center fire barrel. Personally if I were going to depend on a single shot rifle/shotgun for serious huntinglike what you want, I would look no further then a Thompson Center Encore. The problem is the rifle is not Cheap and the additional barrels are not cheap. Then again, you normally get what you pay for.

Sharp Shooter

No scope and fast twist on traditional. To me it doese not fit. Scopes on muzzleloader are illegal in CO.

sabotloader

Sharp Shooter

That also limits your projectiles - you are into conicals... One of the best conical shooters is the Whites but they are expensive. Since you areprobably into conicals or PowerBelts- I would not suggest a CVA, although the lighter PB's will shot fine out of a CVA.

Underclocked

No scope, conical shooter, and reasonable price sounds like one of Doc's Whitetail or Bisonkits to me. http://www.whitemuzzleloading.com/prod04.htm No barrel interchange and no .54 right now(for .54 I would do just as Cayugad has suggested). Doc might even treat you a bit better than the website pricing.

Clean powder? - probably the American Pioneer Powders or the new Goex Pinnacle (mixed reports on them so far as results, but they are definitely cleaner). I've not tried them but my understanding is you should get the 3F granulation. Pyrodex P is cleaner than RS but still nowhere near "clean", however some absolutely fabulous accuracy to be had from that powder in Whites. Triple7 is easier to clean and though I wouldn't say it is cleaner, it is a bit easier to clean and is less corrosive. Triple7 has its own set of problems with crud rings and sticking breech plugs often encountered.

If you insist on having barrel interchange - the Encore is reallly the only quality choice with readily available barrels. One barrel could easily cost as much as one of Doc's kit rifles though. To achieve a degree of interchange with the NEF (also a good rifle) you first need to buy one as combo or centerfire to get the SB-2 action. That action will take shotgun, muzzleloader, and centerfire barrels - the SB-1 used on the standard Hunstman and some others will not. A problem with both the NEF and the Optima is there is no provision to easily clean the firing pin assembly. The Encores do allow cleaning of that area and it IS necessary.

cayugad

Fast twist on traditional rifles was far more common then you might think. When the first rifles came over from Europe to American, a common rifle used was alarge heavy stocked rifle called the Jaeger Rifle which was often found with a 1-24 twist barrel. They shot roundball out of them by loading them very light. After all powder was hard to come by back then and heavy charges were not generally used.

You also got into some of the long range traditional rifles like the Gibbs with a 1-18 twist. The Wentworth which was a favorite sniper rifle in the Civil War used by both sides, then the Creedmore, the Tyron (although some consider the Tyron and the Creedmore the same rifle)which often in .45 caliber sported a 1-21 twist. Later, but still considered traditional over inline you had the Sharps rifle, Sharps Carbine, the Rolling Block rifle. Of course the Sharps and Rolling Block came towards the end of the Civil War and were used by Snipers and special units to effectively take the enemy out at long distances and demoralize them on the battle fields by picking them off after they felt they were a "safe distance" from the firing line.

Most of these did not have scopes, and records of their accuracy are still strived to be matched to this current day with similar equipment. For that reason, I suggested a fast twist barrel on your Renegade. I have not tried conicals in my Stainless Steel rifle yet. That will come when I get some distance on the range, as I expect almost any projectile to group somewhat well at close range.

If you take the scope of inline rifles, many of the current inline owners would be very restricted as to what distance they would be willing to shoot. It is all a matter of, if you can't see it and get a sight picture on it, you can't shoot it. The most accurate open sighted rifle I have is a traditional rifle in .58 caliber that shoots roundball of all things. Although I think my Knight Disc might be giving it a run for the money now that I am figuring that barrel out more and more....

Sharp Shooter

I think I will stay with the Traditional. I am more of a Traditional guy anyway.

short_start

Before buying a cheap CVA inline, take a look at some of the discontinued T/C models being sold on auctionarms.com and gunbroker.com. Many are new,unfired and going for very reasonable prices. Used versions of the same are going for even less.

The T/C Thunderhawks, Firehawks and System 1sare 1-in-38 twist, which is a bit slow for sabots, but still good for conicals and powerbelts. The Black Diamonds are 1-in-28 and as good a sabot shooter as you'll find. All but the Black Diamond came in .54 cal.

If you like sidelocks and can stand a rynite stock, the .50 Black Mountain Magnums have a 1-in-28 twist and can handle pellets. I bought a new one off gunbroker for $200. The .54 BMMag camewith a wood stock but is hard to find...I'm waiting for one of those to show.

Remember, with a T/C you can loadher upand notworry about how it was proofed. And T/C will stand behind their product, even if you bought it used. I'd pick a used T/C over a new, low cost import any day.
Bob