Well, you asked for it Doug. So you're going to get a long one. This is a reprint from my post in response to a similar question a year or two ago.

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In 1961 a sixteen year old kid was wandering around a gun show in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and came upon a table with a stack of funny looking rusty double barrel shotguns. These things had two hammers, two triggers, and a stick hung under the barrel. And boy, they were cheap. Well, that young fellow had been washing cars on week-ends for a buck a car and had money to burn. So he turned over thirty of his hard earned dollars for one of those things without knowing a thing about them, other than it looked to be about 20 gauge. The guy who sold him that gun sure had a funny look on his face - said something about "wall hangers".

Back home, the kid took the barrel off of the stock and cleaned up the wood with mineral spirits and rubbed it down with furniture polish. It looked pretty good. Then he rubbed the barrel down with fine steel wool and oil. Most of the rust came off and the barrels had a pleasing brown color. There was even had a little engraving on the top rib between the barrels. The insides of the barrels were pretty rusty. So he began scrubbing it out with his shotgun cleaning kit, but the back end of both barrels seemed to be blocked with something. So he filled them with soapy water and began poking around. When he dumped the water out, a bunch of bird shot and black gook poured out of the muzzle. After a while he got them pretty clean, and with some more steel wool wrapped around a 20 gauge brush they were shiny and fairly smooth.

Now there was no way to put shells in the darn thing. So he visited one of the several local gun smiths (remember when there were several in your area?)

The fine old gentlemen (well, he seemed old at the time) explained the intricacies of muzzle loading. He also replaced the nipples on the gun and inspected it thoroughly, at no cost. He said the gun was made in Belgium in the late 1800's. He sold the kid a can of Dupont black powder and a tin of percussion caps, and gave him a sock full of #6 shot.

"This is what you do" he said, "fill the cap of the powder can with powder, and dump one cap full down each barrel. Then ball up two or three sheets of toilet paper and shove them down on top of the powder with the ramrod and pack them tight. Then fill the powder cap with shot and dump them down. Then ball up another sheet of toilet paper and push it down to hold the shot in place. Put caps on the nipples and you're ready to go. Be sure to carry the gun with the muzzle pointed up as much as possible and don't c0ck it all the way until you're ready to shoot." Then he gave the kid an old Dixie Gun Works catalog and said "here, read this".

Well, that kid took the gun to the batture of the Mississippi River that same evening when the blackbirds were coming back from the grain elevator up-river to roost in the willows, and had a blast wingshooting blackbirds at twenty yards. HOOKED FOR LIFE! (And stayed up all night reading that Dixie catalog.)

Very simple

I only need one shot for hunting and i reload my own ammo anyway.

Now i can reload and hunt or just practice at the same time.

Yep, i like muzzleloading but it ain't love: At least not like the love that i have for my wife, my ex-wives and various long term girlfriends/mistresses.

Got into muzzeloading in the late 60s or very early 70s. Owned several original muzzleloading rifles that were made in the mid 1800s. Killed a lot of deer in MD, VA and WV with those old guns, using patched round balls and Minie' type bullets. In about 1980 i got away from muzzleloaders and did not get back into it until 1999.

I usually do some deer hunting with centerfire rifles but have not taken one out this fall. This year a muzzleloader seemed like the right thing to do and it worked out well for me.

Good luck with your muzzleloading experience.

I started shooting a muzzleloader a few years ago, mainly to get more time in the woods. Now I am hooked, end of story. ; )

Fess Parker...

I was 9 years old in 1964, the first season of Daniel Boone...It came on Thursday nights at 8:00pm on NBC...My younger brother and I never missed a show...

Now remember, back then, we got 3 TV channels...There wasn't much to choose from so this was a must see series for all the kids in my class...

This started my love of history...I've studied and read about American History ever since...I was hunting with muzzleloaders in the 70s and have built my own flintlock to deer hunt with...I also dress in period clothing and give talks to Scout groups and local schools...

Since I have hunted since I was 6-8 it was just natural to want to hunt with them as well...I know many on here deer hunt with them, but they are great for small game as well...

When I was a kid My dad took me hunting with an old double percussion shotgun. I can still remember the smoke and flames and the smell of the black powder.
When I got older (11-13) I would wait until dad left for work and then take it and go hunting. With some of the loads I poured down that gun I don't know how I didn't blow my head off. I can remember knocking myself out and waking up with a bleeding nose when I fired both barrels at once. I loved that gun.
About six years ago I bought a tc omega. After shooting it I was hooked. I have since sold all my centerfire rifles and replaced them with muzzleloaders. I no longer have any urge to fire any gun that does not spew smoke and flames
I love the smell of black powder, it's all I use. And I still have that old double 12.

You REALLY dont know how bad it gets. You will end up getting one or two or three just because its a good deal. As soon as you get your first good shooter......its on!!!

I had one or two for years and then i got a repeatable 100yard MOA shooter with a sweet trigger but it was a bit heavy. Then i picked up a carbine that shot just as well and got hooked on Knights DISC design....but without the DISCS.

Then you will sell one as an excuse to buy a fancier model but you "forget" to sell the other one...it just never ends.

My first exposure to muzzleloading was in the fall of 1967 when I did my student teaching in a small town in MN. There were two gentlemen there, father and son, who had an old machine shop doing any kind of metal repair you could think of. In their spare time, they built MLs from scratch. At that time they were into cannons. The following summer during vacation from teaching I worked for a moving company. During one of the moves I discovered the client had an old Percussion double 12. I got to talking to him about it and ended up buying it. The ends of the barrels were paper thin so ended up trimming off two inches to where the walls were a reasonable thickness. After a lot of cleaning and checking, I proofed it by puttung a double load of powder and shot in each barrel, propping it in an old tire, and setting it off with a long string. It survived, so I hunted ducks with it for a few years.
Speaking of hunting ducks, the son mentioned above hunted with a double 10 ga. With the thunder rolling accross the marsh, more then once, other hunters came around to find out what on earth he was shooting.
Then, I got away from MLs until about two years ago when I picked up a TC Hawken with a bad barrel. I ended up putting a Green Mountain barrel in it and built a new stock for it to my liking. It isn't PCHC, but shoots real good. I posted that story a couple months back with pictures. I didn't get a deer this year, but it wasn't the guns fault.
Now, I have a real serious need for a 54 or 58 cal for PRB. I've been looking over my centerfires to see which ones I've outgrown so I can sell for the new funds I need.

First just to extend my hunting time, now... well why would I shoot anything else!

I bought my first ml when I was 18, a 54cal renegade. Shot a friends one day and just had to have one. That first season I shot a doe using a bufflao bullet and was hooked ever since. Now I do hunt with modern gun and bow to, however I do use a ml more ever year during modern gun season. They give me extended hunting time and there just plain fun to shoot. When I take my trip to Ohio for their gun season I always use a ml.