Eleven States Continue To Discriminate Against Muzzleloading Hunters

My wife Christy poses with a plump doe for the freezer, taken at 125 yards with a Harvester Muzzleloading "Crush Rib Sabot" and deadly accurate bullet...thanks to state muzzleloader hunting regulations that permit the use of a riflescope for precise shot placement.

Following is an e-mail that went out yesterday (12-28-11) to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Attached to that e-mail was a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, filing a discrimination complaint against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, for the manner in which that state wildlife agency forces the aged hunter with weakened eyesight, and those hunters with a natural sight impairment, to jump through hoops in order to "qualify" to use a riflescope during the muzzleloader season. Eleven states still enforce such discriminating regulations.

The battle to win fair and equal muzzleloader hunting opportunities for ALL muzzleloading hunters is far from being over.

The letter to Secretary Salazar can be read at the link in the following e-mail message.

Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING




December 28, 2011

Dear Idaho Department of Fish and Game;

It's time to get this ball rolling along again. Muzzleloader hunting has stalled some over the past couple of years, and that's partially due to backward muzzleloader hunting regulations, such as those enforced by IDFG, that tend to hold back interest.

The attached letter to Secretary Ken Salazar addresses one of the biggest problems plaguing the muzzleloader seasons.

Your agency is one of 11 state wildlife agencies that continue to discriminate against muzzleloader hunters who cannot see open sights well enough to use them. Since 2006, the DOI/USFWS forced IDFG and ten other state wildlife agencies to make special provisions for those hunters with aged or impaired sight to undergo medical examination, complete an application, sent with a letter from the physician/optometrist, and apply for a permit exemption from the restriction that prohibits muzzleloading hunters from using a riflescope.

The Department of the Interior's anti-discrimination policy specifically says that the agency cannot provide funding or financial assistance to any organization or agency which requires ANY U.S. CITIZEN to "qualify in a different manner" in order to participate in any opportunity.

The requirement you now have in place for those with older or impaired sight most definitely discriminates against these hunters. IDFG is in violation of that policy...and so is the DOI/USFWS when it continues to provide federal tax dollars to IDFG.

More on this issue published at: http://www.namlhunt.com/mllegislation2.html


Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING

10,000 Rounds With No Loss Of Accuracy!

Here is a look at a 1.5-inch hundred yard group punched by Harvester Muzzleloading's 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold and red Crush Rib Sabot. And it was produced by a Knight "Long Range Hunter" with more than 10,000 rounds under its belt! Click on link below for the whole story...

50-Consecutive-300PTGold-Shot-Group

Here Is A Cheap & Easy Way To Achieve Optimum Sabot-Bullet Fit With A Lose Bore!

It's not uncommon for the bores of modern in-line muzzleloaders to vary as much as .002" to .003" from rifle to rifle. Most .50 caliber bores today will run .500" to .501". However, a lot of production run barrels will go .502" to .504" - and finding the optimum combination of bullet-sabot fit with those bores can be difficult. Here is a look at how inexpensive and easy to use Teflon plumber/thread tape can be the solution.



http://namlhunt.blogspot.com/2011/07/tighten-up-sabot-bullet-fit-for-tighter.html

Should A Muzzleloader Hunting Bullet Pass Through...Or Remain In The Game Hunted?

When it comes to muzzleloader hunting bullet performance, this is one of the biggest controversies. This article, just published on the new Harvester Muzzleloading Hunter website looks at what makes a saboted muzzleloading big game bullet a GOOD HUNTING BULLET.

http://www.hmlhunter.com/BulletPerformance1.html

My 50-Cent Shooting Box

I'm sure that I'm not the only person who muzzleloads who also loves to get up early on Saturday morning, when the snow's not flying, and drive around looking for yard and garage sales. I love a great bargain, and much of my hunting, fishing, and especially camping gear comes from these front and back yard extravaganzas. Some of my outstanding recent buys include a set of insulated chest waders...still new in the box...in my size...for just $10. And I was just about to head on over to the local sporting goods store and pay $130 for the same thing. (And the price sticker showed that was exactly where these came from!) Another great deal was a set of top quality Motorola camouflaged hand-held radios...again like new. And when I asked the price, the guy looked me in the eye and said..."How about a dollar?" After I handed him the buck, and had the radios and chargers in my hands, I asked him what was wrong with them. He simply said they wouldn't charge. I took them home, plugged in the chargers, set the radios in...and they charged just fine. In fact, they stay in my truck, sometimes for a month or more, and they hold a full charge.

I could name plenty more great buys...but I don't want to create too much competition for those unbelievable bargains.

Of all the things I've bought at yard sales this summer, one has easily been used more than anything else. It's an old hand-made wooden carpenter's box - which I bought for 50-cents. That's it in the photo above...being used as a shooting box. I keep it and a few other old tool boxes (also bought at yard sales) to keep shooting supplies in - powder, bullets, sabots, primers, several tools, loading equipment, cleaning supplies, you name it - all ready to head to the range. This particular "shooting box" is for the more recent in-line rifle models I use as my regular test rifles. And it sure makes getting ready to go to the range easy. I just slip a rifle or two or three into the truck, and grab this box - and I'm set.

One thing is for certain, I keep this old wooden box well supplied with Harvester Muzzleloading "Crush Rib Sabots" - and a variety of the Harvester bullets. More than once, I've come to the aid of another muzzleloading hunter/shooter who just could not get a rifle to shoot well with other loading components...and got them the tight groups they were seeking using the same Harvester Muzzleloading component combinations that ALWAYS work for me.

I'd have to say that old carpenter's box was the best half-of-a-buck I've ever spent.

What do you use to haul your shooting stuff to the range?

Toby Bridges
HARVESTER MUZZLELOADING
HUNTER

State Wildlife Agencies In Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Montana Need To Brush Up On Muzzleloader Performance

Here's A Look At How Little The Wildlife Agencies In These States Know About Muzzleloader Performance!

http://bh209hunter.blogspot.com/2011/03/state-wildlife-agencies-in-colorado.html

Choosing The Right Sabot & Bullet Combo For Your Bore

Looking For This Kind Of 100-Yard Accuracy Out Of Your .50 Caliber In-Line Rifle? It Might Only Take A Different Sabot & Bullet Combo!


By Toby Bridges

Back in the early 1990s, I attended a meeting to help try establish some standards for muzzleloading, including standardizing bore sizes. Knight Rifles, Thompson/Center Arms, Connecticut Valley Arms, and other major muzzleloading rifle manufacturers or importers were there, and so were four or five muzzleloading bullet makers. And, I am sorry to say...Not much ever came of that meeting, other than the realization that the muzzleloading industry is the most non-standardized segment of the shooting and hunting industry.

Back then, in 1993, rifles sold as ".50 caliber" had bores ranging from as tight as .499" (Gonic) to as loose as .504-.505" (White Rifles). And that much variation had created quite a dilemma for those manufacturing bullets for the so-called .50 caliber muzzle-loaded rifles - or for the .45 & .54 caliber rifles at that time as well. This was especially true with "bore-sized" bullets.

The saving grace of this era of muzzleloader development was the plastic saboted bullet. The resiliency and compressability (new word) of the polymers used to produce sabots made it possible to use the same sabot and bullet combinations in various diameter bores - that is, within a reasonable variation of bore diameters. The fact remained that, at that time, a sabot that fit tight enough to be shot with some degree of accuracy from a .504" White Rifles bore could not even come close to being forced into a .005" smaller diameter .499" Gonic Arms .50 caliber rifle. Likewise, the sabot and bullet combo that loaded properly in the tighter bore would literally fall down the looser bore.

In regard to the variations in the diameter of .50 caliber bores of various modern in-line rifle makers, things have gotten somewhat better. And that's mostly due to those companies that were at the outer edges of what was considered a "nominal bore" diameter not selling enough rifles to remain in business. Still, today's popular .50 caliber fast-twist sabot-shooting bores can vary in diameter as much as .002" to .003" - from the same manufacturer, thanks to wear on the tooling used to produce their barrels.

The .50 caliber rifles produced by Knight Rifles all feature Green Mountain barrels, and are some of the closest tolerance muzzleloader barrels produced today. Typically, a .50 caliber Knight in-line ignition rifle will have a bore diameter of .500" to .501". And on rare occasion, a rifle may leave the factory with a bore closer to .502". Thompson/Center Arms .50 caliber barrels are typically .501-.502", with some .50 caliber bores pushing .503". Traditions, CVA and MDM .50 caliber bores generally run .502-.503". And depending on the hardness of the steels used, by about a thousand rounds most of these barrels will show a minute amount of wear - opening, maybe, another .001".

Now, .001"....002"....003" isn't much variation when looking at the gap between the jaws of a set of calipers. In fact, you have to hold it up in front of a bright light to even see an extremely slight gap of .002" between those jaws. But that small amount of difference can make all the difference in the world when trying to obtain optimum accuracy with a saboted bullet - that you are trying to get to group inside of a 2-inch circle at the distance of the length of a football field.

The .50 caliber Knight "Long Range Hunter" I shoot and hunt with more than any other muzzleloader has a bore that's right at .501". This rifle loads relatively easily with the Harvester Muzzleloading .50x.45 black "Crush Rib" Sabot and a .451-.452" bullet. Shooting my favored 260- or 300-grain "Scorpion PT Gold", propelled by a 110- or 120-grain charge of either Blackhorn 209 or FFFg Triple Seven, the rifle will consistently keep groups inside of 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards - often tighter when the operator (me) is up to the task that day.

A couple of fall seasons back, I helped another shooter sight in his well used .50 caliber Knight DISC Extreme model. He was impressed by the accuracy of the Green Mountain barrel of my rifle, and wanted to shoot the same load. With the same powder charge, sabot and bullet, and with the same exact scope (Hi-Lux HPML) as on my rifle, the best we could do was to get the poly-tipped 300-grain "Scorpion PT Gold" to group inside of 2 1/4 inches. But, during loading, I noticed that the Harvester Muzzleloading black "Crush Rib" and .451" bullet tended to load noticeably easier. I surmised that the bore was .001-.002" larger - so switched to the red .50x.45 "Crush Rib" Sabot. This particular sabot is several thousandths of an inch larger in diameter, designed for maintaining more compression of the smokeless powder charges shot out of the Savage Model 10MLII muzzleloader. The slightly tighter fit, which still loads easily due to the "Crush Rib" design of this sabot, made all the difference in the world. Shooting 110-grains of Blackhorn 209 and the 300-grain "Scorpion PT Gold" (with the red .50x.45 sabot), we had his rifle punching 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch groups in short order.

Another .50 caliber rifle I shoot often is a prototype of the new Knight "Mountaineer" models. The bore on this rifle I have runs between .501" and .502". And the rifle shoots well with the black .50x.45 "Crush Rib" Sabot and .451" diameter "Scorpion" or "Scorpion PT Gold". Typically, groups with the latter in 300 grains will be inside of 1 1/2 inches at a hundred yards (ahead of 120-grains of Blackhorn 209). After seeing the big improvement with accuracy in the aforementioned .50 Knight DISC Extreme when switching to the slightly tighter fitting red .50x.45 sabot, I gave them a try in the pre-production "Moutnaineer" - and discovered a rifle fully capable of punching sub 1-inch groups.

If you are just so-so pleased with the accuracy you are now getting with your .50 caliber in-line rifle, especially if the groups you are shooting are running 2 to 3 inches at a hundred yards, maybe it's time to do some experimenting. A good start may be to run down to a local machine shop and see if you can get them to measure the land-to-land measurement of your bore. Knowing the exact bore size will help you choose the right sabot. If the bore runs .500-.502", the black .50x.45 sabot may be the one you need to be loading with. If the bore runs .502-.504", chances are the red .50x.45 "Crush Rib" sabot will help tighten those hundred yard groups.

Experimenting to find the optimum sabot and bullet combination for any particular rifle is half the fun of owning...shooting...and hunting with a modern in-line rifle.

One combination I am looking forward to doing more with in the future is with .458" diameter bullets, such as the 300-grain all-copper Barnes SOCOM, the 300-grain all-brass Lehigh bullet, and the 325-grain Hornady FTX. I've been loading and shooting these bullets in my Knight "Long Range Hunter", shooting 120-grains of Blackhorn 209, and have found they make hard-hitting elk combinations that shoots well under an inch at a hundred yards with regularity. While the black .50x.45 "Crush Rib" Sabot has been designed to be loaded with a .451-.452" diameter bullet, it still loads well with the .006-.007" larger diameter .458" bullet. In fact, these bullets with that sabot load easier than the "standard" sabot and .451-.452" bullet combinations I shot and hunted with for years.

(Note: When shooting the 300-grain Barnes SOCOM, I rely on the yellow .50x.45 "Crush Rib" sabot to accomodate the the slight boat-tailed base of this bullet.)

FOR MORE ON ALL HARVESTER MUZZLELOADING PRODUCTS GO TO - www.harvestermuzzleloading.com