Thank you, that site si great!!

I will continue saving my $$ so I can buy a good one...

Relative to the NEF I have a .50 Huntsman and I bought it used for cheap. I will say the trigger is one of the best I have experienced on that low a price rifle. The barrel is also slightly oversize which makes it similar to the White rifles (at least in size). That makes loading a lot easier. If you consider an NEF be advised there are several things that you should do to make it perfect. First the ramrod has to be replaced with the one from Hubbards outdoors at $25. Then I put the .25ACP conversion breechplug on mine to eliminate the plastic carriers. I did the same with my Omega as the .25ACP conversion is really an advantage for a couple of reasons. It allows more fine tuning for primers. The primers are less expensive and the .25ACP brass is a lot easier to handle than a 209 shotgun primer. In the NEF it also makes it less prone to blowback into the action. I like my Omega but I am starting to think I like the NEF better. I just got a Model 97 White Whitetail Hunter on an auction site and it is likely to become my most favorite based on reports from other White owners. They are difficult to fine but fine rifles when you find one.

You got time, November is hunting season. Right now it is effectively May, so may and june do reading on the web and visiting 2 or 3 gun shops. Listen to their what the have to say, feel the guns develop a "short list of guns" then ask on this forum what people think of them. buy the gun in June. research loads and bullets in June/July. Start target shooting July, Aug Sept searching for best bullet and load for the gun (it takes a while). Hunt bow in Oct, very little shooting, I know I hunt bow also. Hunt ML in Nov, hunt CF opening day only. Hunt ML reset of time.
Best wishes on yourgun selection. Chap Gleason

That sounds like a plan!!

I don't have gun shops close by where live...maybe one but don't carry much...from what mail order site do you recommend to to get it, may be Cabelas? I was also seeng a good selection at Cheaper Than Dirt...

Where to purchase depends on the kind of rifle you want. There are many on line stores and even auction sites where you can get NIB for a lot less then normal..

Feel is important, find the gun you want to get by reading reviews and then go to the vendor web site and find the nearest dealer closest to you. I have only bought 1 gun online a used FL from Gunbroker.com, it was an excellent deal (paid 300 shipped to me for a $550 gun). Cabelas is a great place to shop, but they have limited selection, sorta mainstream stuff. Track of the Wolf, RMC Sports have more and better ML selection. You can also get a good used gun at:
http://www.williamsgunsight.com/gunsights/813usedblkpowderguns.htm

they will ship you a BP gun and you can try it for 3 days even shoot it, but must return it cleaned and you pay shipping if you don't want it. They have a couple of Caplock MLers for $119 and $149 that are Thompson Centers. TC is an excellent brand of rifle with a lifetime warranty, if you buy it and something is wrong with it, you send it back in to them (you pay ship) and they fix it, no questions asked and ship it back to you. My hammer on my Omega wouldn't hold back, so I sent it in right after Christmas, and got it back first week of March, it was about 2 months but I got a completely new trigger assembly a new breech plug. I shot the gun last weekend and my results are on the forum here:
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2100766

So I recommend TC highly, but they are expensive, compared to other guns. You can't go wrong with any of the TC line, the Triumph is one beautiful gun:

http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/triumph.php

So you can buy middle of the line---NEF, CVA, etc but top of the line is TC and close behind it is Knight. Use to be other way around about 8 to 10 years ago. Anyway those are my likes. I recommend you handle one that your going to buy, like a friend's or something like that.
Chap Gleason

My Omega will throw 340 gr PR Dead Centers inside 2 inches @ 100 ydsall day long with 2 T7 50 gr pellets and a 209 Win primer. That is with a scope. Put a good peep sight on it and I'm sure you could keep them inside 5 inches at 100 if your eyes are good enough. I'm sure there other good shooters out there as well.....

I have shot thatbullet and loadin my Omega and it is great. My only issue with them is that there were very hard to get a few years ago (Pricy also), Cabela's didn't have they yet, the next year they started carrying them. I called the company and the owner of the company picked up the phone and I wish I could have recorded it, because we talked (he talked and I listened) and he told me about bullet testing and accuracy and penetration a lot of stuff. Chap Gleason

They all have thier good and bad points. I really like my traditions stuff. I havnt had a minutes issue with it my wife is now starting to shoot my traditions deer hunter percussion nice low cost way to get started the deer hunter with the starter kit is around 200 and will get you started and work fine. But if you can and want to start out with a better unit by all means do so Just take a gander at traditions higher end stuff too I am impressed with them.