I purchased this rifle in Nov. of 2014 to go in my states muzzle loader hunting season. I had one shooting day before the season started to get the rifle sighted in and ready for its first hunt.
I consider myself a novice hunter. I hunted 3 seasons as a teenager with a .30-30 in MN then didn't start hunting again until 3 years ago. I had been hunting only Bow and Rifle seasons (using the bow in ML season), but I wanted to hunt with a rifle in this year's ML season.
The rifle was purchased from Bass Pro Shops for $220.00. After adding in a cleaning kit, black powder, bullets and a sling I was out the door at just over $300.00.
The Buckstalker is an "inline" muzzle loader that utilizes the 209 shotgun primer. It comes pre-drilled and tapped for scope mounts and has sling studs already installed.
After reading the user manual and cleaning the gun as instructed I eagerly waited for the upcoming Saturday so I could go out and shot the rifle.
I purchased IMR "White Hot" black powder. This is pre-formed black powder charges in 50 grain increments. For the bullets I went with PowerBelt 245 grain HP copper plated bullets.
Using the rifle manual as a reference I started with 100 grains of BP and the target at 25 yards. Also per the manual for the rifle, for the first several shots I cleaned the bore after each round fired.
My first 3 rounds at 25 yards resulted in a 2.5" grouping, about 1" off the bullseye. Time to move to 50 yards (my current max distance on my range). Another 3 shots, cleaning between each one. A 3" group again about 1" to the left of the bullseye. Time to shot 3 rounds without cleaning between each one. From 50 yards and not cleaning between shots yielded the same 3" group.
The following weekend I managed to get a small doe with one shot, double lung. My only concern is not with the rifle but with the bullet/powder combination. The bullet went through the deer with little to no expansion. I will either need to bump up the powder to switch to a new bullet, but I have next summer to work on the ballistics of the round I choose.
This entry was posted in Firearms and tagged black powder, buckstalker, muzzle loader, traditions by Ryan. Bookmark the permalink.
Excellent review! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.