My brother got in with a bunch of fellows he worked with back in the early 1970's who were black powder nuts. We used to do a lot of hunting and fishing together so he kept working on me to get a muzzle loader, even to the point of borrowing a guys old 58cal. smooth bore for me to hunt with one week end in 1976. For Christmas that year my brother got me a T/C Hawkins kit rifle. I worked on that kit a very long time to get it the way I wanted it to look.
(https://forum.finsandfur.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv295%2Foldgrumpy%2Fguns%2520shooting%2520and%2520hunting%2Fhawkins.jpg&hash=4e67670eac6c5300b1e348b0244bb7aad6493fe9) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/oldgrumpy/media/guns%20shooting%20and%20hunting/hawkins.jpg.html)
I had a tag yet to fill when ML season rolled around in 1977, I think I saved it just for ML season and I also had a doe tag. Never did harvest a deer with that Hawkins and I even took it to Canada one spring bear hunting.
As happens I kept getting older and my eyes followed suit so I just could not use open sites for shooting any longer and I didn't want to mess up the Hawkins putting a scope on it so it was put in a back corner of the safe.
I replaced it with a T/C plains rifle a Quick Release T/C scope mount with a 5.00 Weaver K4 scope I picked up at a yard sale.
(https://forum.finsandfur.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv295%2Foldgrumpy%2Fguns%2520shooting%2520and%2520hunting%2Fsmallsizebenchandrifle3.jpg&hash=0afc74ed8ef3fb2ca86b28042dfc9567452d7f07) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/oldgrumpy/media/guns%20shooting%20and%20hunting/smallsizebenchandrifle3.jpg.html)
Well I stopped saving tags for muzzle loader season partly because my brother got married and moved to the city and stopped hunting. I took it to the UP in 1995 for ML season which was the last time I took it hunting and never had got a deer with it.
Remington released their 700 ML, and my wife bought me a 54cal for Christmas to late to use it deer hunting. For a couple years I didn't save any tags for ML season then about 2003 I decided I was not going to use a center fire to hunt with any longer. that didn't last long after I had tag soup for 3 years.
:eyebrownod: Al
My desire to harvest a buck with the ML only lasted a couple of years as I decided I just did not like tag soup. Another problem I was having was getting the same components every year for that 54cal. Not so common in this area like a 50 is.
Finally Summer 2008 I was looking for sabots for the 54 and gripping to my wife about not being able once again to get the same stuff as I used last year. She said you know how to fix that don't you?
I found a real nice used Remington 50 cal and bought it. Finally after 45 years I harvested my ML buck with my Remington 50 cal ML in 2014.
Sorry site isn't letting me post pictures of the Remington's.
:eyebrownod: Al
The 54 cal Remington 700 ML.
(https://forum.finsandfur.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi3.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy60%2Ftwotracker%2Fguns%2520and%2520hunting%2Frem70054-209.jpg&hash=c9637ffeb95f2eada91264ecb90237ee48d490a6) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/twotracker/media/guns%20and%20hunting/rem70054-209.jpg.html)
The 50 cal Remington 700 ML. I finally after 44 years shot my first buck with it.
(https://forum.finsandfur.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi3.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy60%2Ftwotracker%2Fguns%2520and%2520hunting%2FThewholethingagain.jpg&hash=f53701340ffbc0b12e050512ba7a2e232686699d) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/twotracker/media/guns%20and%20hunting/Thewholethingagain.jpg.html)
:eyebrownod: Al