traditions deerhunter carbine

[doegirl]

I saw one of these at Gander Mountain today, a .50 cal flintlock version. I was very impressed by the smaller size and handling of this gun. But, before I whip out the checkbook, I thought I consult with you all. Is this rifle worth having? If so, I think I'll have Gander order me the percussion version. Is $180 a fair price? I did not find much doing a forum search.

 

[doegirl]

Oooh, I just checked the Traditions website and it looks like the deerhunter is only offered in flintlock for the wood stocked version. I'm still interested in the gun, though.

 

[cayuga]

I was sure my friend just bought his son a .50 caliber Tradition's Deer Hunter Carbine with the 24 inch barrel, fiber optic sights, single trigger, wood stock, and percussion ignition from Sportsman's Guide for $179.00.

I say this because they brought it over to my house to get it sighted in and a load worked up in it. We were shooting 70 grains of Goex 3f and a moosemilk patched roundball. Because of the trigger, we were having a hard time grouping the rifle but it fired just fine.

The rifle was fine, it shouldered well and the fiber optic sights were easy to pick up all though they were cheap plastic in nature. The problem was with the trigger. The trigger was terrible. In fact I told them to send it back to Tradition's for adjustment because it was breaking at over 10 pounds. I told them to get it set for about 4.5 pounds since his son is still young and does not need a hair trigger.

If you like Tradition's and want a shorter rifle you might also want to take a look at the PA pellet. They have a removable breech plug for easy cleaning and will even shoot sabots and pellets of pyrodex up to 150 grains. I thought about getting one to play with in flintlock, but I really do not need another rifle.

If you decide to go with a flintlock, they are more demanding, but the challenge is really something to experience. When they go off, they sure bring a big smile to your face.

I looked on Sportsman's Guide site, but could not find the rifle for you. They may have sold them all of as he got it on a special. But that does mean the percussion models are out there.

 

[cayuga]

Cabela's also sells a Hawkins Carbine with a 1-24 twist, 21 inch barrel, and wood stock with double triggers. It is made by Investarms, the same people that bring you Lyman Rifles. A real nice conical and sabot shooter. They are a little more expensive of course, but a real nice rifle. You can even get them in .54 caliber but if you were going to shoot conicals and sabots, then a .50 caliber would be fine.

 

[cayuga]

http://www.thunder-ridge-muzzleloading.com/traditions.htm#dhunt


#53-36108 is the Deer Hunter (not the carbine) in percussion for $205.00 from Thunder Ridge Outfitters. It has a 24" barrel but that is still much smaller them most of the old style Hawkins. In Traditions I personally like the Woodsman Hawkins. I have one of them and it is a great shooter.

So that does mean the rifle is out there. Now is just the task of finding it cheaper somewhere else..

 

[n8dawg6]

i had a traditions deerhunter in .32 caliber for about one week. it was nice and handy. however, the fit and finish was really, really rough. i almost cut myself on the ramrod, and then the wedge pin wouldnt go back in after i removed the barrel. when i tried to encourage it, the wedge pin actually BENT . . . that was it for me and traditions deerhunter rifles. and pretty much all spanish-made rifles period.

you know, lyman offers the deerstalker in a flintlock. it costs maybe $100 more, depending on where you get it from. i think the quality improvement would be significant. and the deerstalker has a 24" barrel like the traditions deerhunter. just a thought . . .

 

[cayuga]

Lyman makes a nice rifle without a doubt. My .54 Trade rifle flintlock is one pretty rifle. And it shoots as nice as it looks.

 

[braintanned]

I owned a .50 deerhunter,and now have a .32-I may have happened across good ones,but mine were/are great shooters-after I lightened the triggers. the sights are real cheaply made but are a nice design otherwise ,in my opinion. the .50 had a real cheap looking finish on the stock which I sanded off and stained/oiled -the .32 came out of the box looking great. the barrels of each look to have been blued straight from the machine that cut them-definatly no pre-polishing,etc.-in my case,a low end rifle I could work with was what I was after and what I got-keeping this in mind,I'd buy another.

 

[bdhuntr]

Funny you started this post, as this is my first foray in the Sidelock Forum, and I was going to start a thread on Tradition Deerhunters! :lol:

I have been hunting with a Remington Model 700 MLS for the past five years, but I was getting a little tired of seeing my .54 caliber Traditions Deerhunter hanging on the wall. It was my first blackpowder rifle; my wife bought it for me as a kit gun. I plum-browned the barrel and put a nice oil finish on the stock. Yes, the trigger was little rough, and the crude iron sights were even rougher, but it was a fun little gun to shoot. But I had a misfire once (most likely my fault and not the gun's) and I retired it for the security of an inline.

But to be honest, I've killed enough deer with my inline, and looking at the Deerhunter on the wall gave me ideas. So I bought a set of fiber-optic sights and installed them and took the old girl out today.

Just ramming a full-size conical down the bore vs. a sabotted bullet was a treat, and after shooting some 425-grain Hornady Great Plains and adjusting the sights, I ended up with decent (to me) 3-shot groups of three inches @ 50 yards.

Maryland's early muzzleloader season starts next Thursday, 10/19. I had been planning on taking out the Remington, loaded with two 50-grain Pyrodex pellets and a 295-grain Powerbelt Aerotip. I think instead this old Deerhunter may be making a .54 caliber hole through some unlucky buck or doe's lungs! Yes, a Traditions Deerhunter may not win any beauty awards, or feel like you're squeezing off a shot with a Timney trigger, but they are serviceable rifles that are a joy to carry and can be reasonably accurate to boot.

 

[n8dawg6]

bdhunter, glad to have ya! after all my talk above, i just recently picked up (rather, had picked up for me) a spanish rifle: cva stalker carbine similar to cayuga's. im sure it will be rough around the edges, but it's new old stock, and its costing a grand total of $30 . it oughtta be worth at least that much!

hunting with a sidelock definitely carries more challenge than hunting w/ a scoped rifle (inline muzzleloader or centerfire). the main reason its more challenging for me, though, is the open sights. some folks seem to think the challenge is in getting a sidelock to go off reliably, but if you use just a smidgen of care in loading, use the right nipples, and preferably use real blackpowder, sidelocks go off like clockwork (mine do, at least). so, despite the fact that im not worried about ignition reliability, those sights limit the range that i feel comfortable taking a shot.

i hope you're able to connect! if so, be sure and post the pictures and tell the story

 

[cayuga]

n8dawg6 - is your Tracker already drilled for a scope? Mine is all drilled if I wanted to throw a base on it and say a scope or red dot. I have thought about it.

Did you get one of them Wolverine's as well? I almost bought one of them but already have one. For that price it would be hard to go wrong.

 

[n8dawg6]

cayuga, i dont actually have my hands on it yet. im down in flerida and the rifle is up in vicksburg, MS. my uncle lives in vicksburg and he's s'pposed to go by and pick it up for me. not sure if he has done it yet, but he should have. i have 1 tracker carbine and 1 wolverine reserved. the guy tells me he's got plenty of those wolverines, he's selling for an estate

im about 99% sure that stalker carbine will be drilled and tapped. my tracker carbine was drilled and tapped, and the rifles also have the hammer sorta cast out to the side so you can cock it easier with a scope on there. i won't be putting a scope on it, since the lightning serves that role already (and i guess the wolverine now). but that's a neat idea.

i really just got this gun for the barrel, i was going to see if the barrel would go on my old tracker carbine which has the rusty bore. however, i might just send the tracker carbine back for another barrel and then have two rifles instead of one

 

[cayuga]

NOW YOU'RE TALKING... MORE GUNS ARE GOOD!!!

 

[bdhuntr]

n8dawg6, I agree that the open sights will be the main challenge. The reason I had that misfire (on a buck, I might add) years ago was really due to me and not the rifle. I left it loaded from a hunt the week prior, and the powder must have absorbed some moisture. It took three caps to get it to hangfire.

One thing my inline has going for it is removing the breechplug, pushing out the bullet and powder charge, swabbing the barrel with one patch and it's good to go. The sidelock requires firing it to unload it. But let's face it; a hooked breech is a lot easier to clean than most inlines, so who cares?

If I pop a cap on a buck or doe, I'll ost some pics!

 

[n8dawg6]

that removable breech plug also helps with dry-balling did that twice this year at the range already. i completely agree that the hooked-breech sidelock is the easiest muzzleloader to clean.

although i have not had a mis- or hangfire while shooting at game, i have had a hangfire when "unloading" a muzzleloader after a hunt (meaning i would have had a hangfire if i had shot at game). course, i had left it loaded for about a month! :shock: that was an inline, too. an old t/c thunderhawk.

ive done trial and error experimentin' with misfires and hangfires . . . sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally . i have only had one misfire that i can remember with real blackpowder, and it was due to having too much wonderlube in the barrel and ignition channel (i have since abandoned the stuff except as a patch lube). my other ignition problems have involved subs. my experience is that subs will give quite a few hangfires in sidelocks unless you (a) tap the breech and make sure that some powder has made it into the bolster/fire channel, (b) use musket caps, or (c) use a combination of both i use a combination of both and shoot pyrodex RS in my sidelocks with good results. actually, if you make sure some powder makes its way into the bolster, a #11 caps works just fine.

 

[bdhuntr]

Dry-balling sucks! I'll tell you something else that does, too...

I was at the range one day with my friend Steve, and the range was rather busy, especially with muzzleloader hunters who were either new to the sport or were in a rush to get sighted in. I was shooting my Remington 700 MLS and had just finished swabbing the bore after a shot and had dropped in two fresh 50-grain Pyrodex pellets. The guy next to me was having some sort of difficulty, so I put down my rifle and went over to assist him, since I was "experienced" in muzzleloading.

After ten minutes of shaking my head at this rube's foolishness (don't ask me what the exact problem was, but it was enough that he eventually had to pack up and leave), I went back to my spot at the bench. I "knew" that I had just swabbed the bore, so I loaded two 50-grain Pyrodex pellets, rammed down a 295-grain Powerbelt Aerotip and capped the nipple. Placing the gun on Safe, I sighted in on the 100-yard target, pushed the safety to Fire, and squeezed off the shot.

BOOM!!! The recoil of 200 grains of Pyrodex pellets physically blew me off the bench seat! The bullet completely missed the target, my shoulder was throbbing (along with my butt, which landed on concrete), and I had (luckily) just the nearest hint of Weatherby eye.

After I got home I contacted Remington and they told me not to worry, as they proof with at least 300-grain loads (double 150-grain charges) "just in case." But I learned a valuable lesson: don't put a muzzleloader down halfway through loading and come back to it without checking everything out again.

 

[n8dawg6]

:shock: whoa! well, thats a well made rifle if it can take that kind of charge with no damage!!! i hate to laugh at your expense but i got sort of a chuckle thinking about seeing somebody unintentionally setting off a cannon like that :lol: .

well, ive done almost the exact same thing, cept it was with my old cva sidelock. i was shooting a charge of 80 grains pyrodex if i remember correctly, and when i seated the projectile, i noticed that it got stuck in the barrel before it was seated. well . . . it WAS seated. all of a sudden it dawned on me that the bullet was now sitting on a double charge of something like 160 grains. i didnt think the gun would explode, but i thought that it might be weakened, and i knew that the recoil would be outrageous (this was a little 6 pound carbine).

i decided to wet the charge which is what the manual recommended and get the bullet pulled (didnt have a puller on hand). well, that was a mistake. the barrel corroded really quick and, although we got the projectile out, the bore is ruined to this day.

 

[bdhuntr]

I was shocked when it went off, but I got to thinking that the receiver was probably just as strong as a 700 centerfire; the only weak link being the breechplug.

All I know is that it knocked me on my butt!

It's a shame you ruined the barrel. I do like removeable breechplugs for that reason! :wink: