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Need help. I want to get into MuzzleLoading. I am looking at the Sharp' Rifle. to be exact the Bergan 1859 Sharp' s Rifle .54 Cal. Percussion Twist is 1 in 48" barrel Lenght 30" weight 8 lbs. 8 oz.....I now absolutely nothing about Muzzleloaders...

me either dont know nothin about muzzle loadrs but just had to say welcome to the boards.

:DThanks Fishy. I love to fish also, Stealhead, Salmon, and Bass mostly.[8D]

Hi Bauer,
Welcome to the boards!:D
What do you want to do with your muzzleloader?
Hunt? if so, what?
Target shoot?
Metalic Silhouette?

The rifle you have in mind could be good for all of the above with the right powder/bullet combination. 1:48 twist is going to be better for conicals and round ball but not really fast enough for sabots.

I think you need to give us more information if you want to get valid opinions.:)

Yes to the above. I would like an all around Rifle to do whatever I decide I want to try. Mountain Man Rondevue (spelt wrong), target shoot for fun and other, Hunt (Deer and Elk )and generaly having fun and enjoying it. I Archery Hunt so may not use it for Hunting but would like to be able to if I decide to do so. Thanks for your help so far....tis Rifle I am looking at is Percussion. I have a $1,200.00 Gift certificate coming in August to purchase a Gun of my choice....COOL A ( from my Wife (her Job) ) :D

I see!! Well, for starters, the Sharps is NOT a muzzleloader!! It is a breechloader that uses a paper cartridge containing powder and bullet. You open the breechblock by dropping the lever, insert the cartridge bullet-first, then close th block. The block shears off the back end ot the cartridge, exposing the powder. Then you draw the hammer back to half-cock, place a cap on the nipple, cock the hammer fully, then aim and fire. In most states, such a breechloader is NOT permitted in the muzzle-loading special season. It has to be a rifle which is loaded from the muzzle only!!

Eldeguello is right about the breech loading. If you want to hunt with this gun, you' ll have to do it during the regular rifle hunts in most states.

If you like the looks of the Sharps rifles, but don' t want to deal with paper cartridges, you might want to consider an 1874 Sharps, in a 45-70 caliber. With this gun you can buy ammo off the shelf (loaded with smokeless powder), or load you own with black powder. One of these will pretty much spent your all wife' s money. :)

Judging from the gun you choose for a starter into muzzleloading you' ll be a traditional sort of a guy. If you want to be able to hunt during the ML hunts, but want a gun that looks more like the old breech loaders Cabela' s offers a ML Rolling Block. This gun is based off the old Remington Breech loading Rolling block, but they plugged the breech, added a nipple and ram rod and viola! you' ve got a Muzzleloader. This gun would be classified an in-line muzzleloader, and may not be legal to use in all states. Follow the link below for a look at it:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...rentType=&rid=

if the link doesn' t work goto www.cabelas.com and do a search on rolling block.

I have this gun and its been a great gun to shoot.

Going even more traditional you have your sidelocks (percussion and flint). There are a lot of opitions here, but in my opinion the best off the shelf taditional guns are made by Lyman (I' m a bit biased here because I own one of these and love it).

That should give you a bit to think about, you can also go to my websit and I have a couple of articles about getting started in muzzleloading that might help you decide what you want to start with.

Good luck, welcome to the sport and keep us posted.

Some of the older guns of that style can be very hard to come by. If you want to get a Shiloh Sharps model for instance, (A VERY nice looking gun in my opinion) there is actually a waiting list to be put on when trying to order one.

Thanks Guys for all your help..I do want to hunt in ML season so looks like I still have to hunt for the right Rifle in a .54 Cal. Loaded from the Muzzle is exactly what I want.Can not use in-line in Idaho, hast to be muzzle loaded. :)
hey guys what about the Kodial Express Double Rifle in 54 cal. 1 to 47 1/4 twist
it it like a side by side, probably not to accurate? Like I said I am real new at this and know nothing...[:@]

Bauer,
I just checked the Idaho state regs and it looks like Idaho allows a " double barrel" (not all states do) for ML hunting. Idaho also makes a distinction between a ML hunt and Traditional ML hunts. It looks the Kodiak double would work for both, and a .54 cal is big enough for Elk too. One thing I noticed is that during the Traditional Hunt you will have to use round balls.

BTW - I DO NOT hunt is Idaho and only spent a couple of minutes looking at the regulations. You need to double check everything I said, you can go to:
http://www2.state.id.us/fishgame/com.../bg/bigame.htm
and down load Idaho' s Regs for yourself.

Good luck and enjoy the rifle.