There are two "disadvantges" attendant to hunting with any muzzleloader, and they apply equally to all of them regardless of ignition type. One is slowness of a followup shot, if needed; the other is limited range (200 yards or less). I am so convinced that neither of these limitations is particularly serious, that I often hunt with a ML in regular season.

Properly maintained and loaded, even a sidelock suffers little. In wet weather you put a piece of plastic wrap over the muzzle and lock area, and even a flintlock is reliable. You CAN mount scopes on sidelocks, BTW, and some are every bit as accurate as any inline! Here's couple of Maxiball groups shot at 100 yards with a .45 and .50-caliber sidelock respectively, both scoped. Repeat shots can often be made FASTER with a sidelock, because capping them is easier than some of the bolt-action type inlines that have to have a 209 primer inserted into a hole in the breechplug inside the receiver opening.

I can understand why you would hate a poorly-designed, big old out-of-balance, heavy hunk of iron and would prefer a properly balanced, easy-to-aim rifle with a scope vs a set of iron sights that you can't even see! But the TC Renegade doesn't even compare to a well-executed lightweight custom Hawken stylke or Pennslyvania longrifle with a slim, swamped barrel and accurate, adjustable sights. And for people who can't see well, a scope can be well-mounted on any style of ML rifle for use where legal. The amin advantage I see with the in-line, of which I now own two, is ease of cleaning from the breech facilitated by the removeable breechplug. And that's all!




Just look at the previous post, if you don't think this rifle will shoot. The MV of that 370-grain Maxiball load was 1740 FPS, for a M.E. of 2488 foot-pounds!

In our state inlines are legal but not scopes. The law states no optic sights. You can use a scoped Muzzle loader during rifle season but not during muzzle loading season. Our season is in December after the rifle season. I have one cap lock and one In-line. Any rifle that loads from the muzzle is a muzzle loader I can't see why there should even be a question.