just found this out

[Quilly]

well two weeks ago. i went to kittery to buy a new B/P rifle for hutning in MA and ME. it is time to get rid of my old CVA firebolt.
well i went to buy a thompson centerfire encore and found that it is considered a handgun since it can change into one. kinda upset .
what are your thoughts and opinions on this?

[DLuke]

Can't use them in MA due to the break open action. I bought a T/C Black Diamond 50 cal. a year ago and like it.

[skipnoid]

I bought a TC Black Diamond too a couple of years ago ... short money, maybe $180 or so. I killed nice does with it two years in a row.

I had a scope just laying around, so I put it on last year. It's just a cheap 4x air gun scope but boy is that thing deadly accurate! Nice tight groups at 100 yds. I suspect it's good (and it's advertised as such) out to 200. My range only goes to 100, and besides that, I don't shoot nearly as good as I used to!

I'm lucky enough to be going Caribou hunting at the end of August (I've only been planning this one for 25 years or so). I plan to bow hunt, but I'm taking the TC as a backup incase it's too windy to bow hunt. I've got other rifles and shotguns, but that's how confident I am with this rifle! I don't even take my shotgun deer hunting anymore because the TC is so much more accurate!

I've been using musket caps and have not had any bad experiences with them ... coincedentally however, yesterday I bought some 209 shotshell primers and plan to switch to them ... not so much because they're "hotter", but because they're supposed to be more weather proof.

I experimented with black powder and different bullets, but I've learned that you just can't beat the Pyrodex pellets and TC Mag Sabots. I can shoot a whole pack of bullets at the range (20 or 30) and not even have to clean the barrell once! No patches, no greases, just push 'em in and shoot! Hell, you can even run an oil patch down the barrell when storing the gun (as long as you're shooting the plastic sabots ... but don't forget to run a couple of clean patches down the barrell before shooting it again!!!) ... I got that tip straight from the guy at the factory! One warning though: The bolt does tend to build up with gunk, and when it gets too bad it doesn't come forward when you pull the trigger... this happened to me at the range when I first got it (after a lot of shots). I filed it away in the back of my mind, but unfortunately I forgot about it. So two years ago, stupid me, I have a HUGE, I mean HUGE doe in front of me at 30 - 40 yards. I pulled the trigger and nothing but my flinch ... kind of like when you go to pull the full gallon of milk out of the fridge, but it's almost empty and you smash your hand! Long story short, that deer gave me about six chances to kill her ... come to find out that it was my own dumb mistake and not the gun's fault. I had been shooting it some days earlier and was lazy and didn't clean it. Apparantly that gunk gets crustier over time ... maybe it just cools off. It didn't really bother me though as she was with two yearlings and I was having an incredible year (7 deer total, five bucks, two does ... 6 with the bow, one with the BP).

I know there are a lot of other choices, and most are probably better guns too, but I'd buy another Black Diamond in a heartbeat.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/two-cents.gif

[DLuke]

skip...I really like mine too. It feels good in hand and may get a scope down the road. It wears a TC peep sight now and likes two pyro pellets and TC conicals, but I haven&#39;t done much sabot shooting. I am looking forward to shooting my first BP deer down here in MA...I haven&#39;t shot a deer down here in a decade due to a lack of effort. New hunting opportunities down here have got me back into it a bit. DL

[skipnoid]

Hey Quilly, if you havn&#39;t been there yet, JHP also has a muzzleloader forum as well ... there should be some real expets there!

DL, Mine likes two pellets too. It also likes three pellets, but my shoulder doesn&#39;t like it too much! Another nice thing about that gun is that it&#39;s not heavy either. Mine came with TC (open) fiber optic sights which are also very nice, although I do personally prefer a peep.

You might try the sabots, they&#39;re great. They&#39;re standard HP .45 cal ACP bullets ... copper-jacketed lead. I dropped a nice doe with it last year (dressed 120lbs). I shot her quartering-towards from 45 yards, out of a tree (me, not the deer ... that would be illegal). It broke the left front shoulder, completely deflated one lung, damaged the other, butterflied the heart and did severe damage to the liver. I found the bullet lodged against the hide infront of the right hind quarter when I skinned her out. It was perfectly mushroomed ... just like the pictures in the magazines ... awesome! The other doe I shot with it the year before dropped like a ton of bricks from a spine shot.

What we need here in Mass is an Early Muzzleloader season! I&#39;ve got some good spots during archery season, but once the first shots are fired, I don&#39;t see squat!

PS, it was nice and cold last year and I let that deer hang for two weeks before I butchered it (and I do mean butcher ... a meat cutter, I am not). That deer was/is the best tasting, most delicious eating game of all time! I&#39;ve still got some in the freezer ... we ate some the other night. I&#39;ve been savoring it! It was the only deer I got last year, which makes the meat taste that much sweeter!

One last word:
I CAN&#39;T WAIT TILL HUNTING SEASON OPENS! IT&#39;S THE ONLY THING I THINK ABOUT!