Hello, I'm new and have zero black powder experience!

[LongNines]

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is LongNine and I have recently stumbled across muzzle loading. Former Marine from once upon a time, and now I just love to pull any triggers I can. For some reason an idear flew into my head and I looked up Kentucky long rifle kits to see how expensive they would be or what that whole scene was about. Was blown away to see that they are pretty affordable and muzzle loading/black powder seems like it would be so fun and amazing to shoot/hunt with. So now here I am doing all the homework I can and starting from scratch. I have no friends or personal resources to use for information so I ended up here. I will post where I am at a little lower and if anyone gets board and wants to nudge me in the right direction I would love to hear anything and everything you all have to say. So happy to be here and thank you so much for your time!

-Sincerely
LongNines



Where I am at right now:
I am thinking about getting the $350 dollar Kentucky long rifle from Cabela's. I really have my heart set on a Kentucky long rifle just to live my inner Daniel Boone out. I realize it will be a little bit of work but it seems like its exactly what I need/want out of a muzzle loader I have around a $400 dollar budge that I don't want to exceed until I see if the hobby is for me. The only other thing I've found is this book: "The Gunsmith of Grenville County: Building the American Long Rifle," By Peter A. Alexander. So this will help me get me in the ball park of a working boom stick. My question is are there any other must have books/text for anything to do with black powder or anything I would need to know for a complete newbie to the hobby? Thank you so much again!

 

[hawgslayer]

WELCOME ABOARD Marine. Glad to have another member join the group especially a fellow Marine. Ask your questions. There's plenty of members here that will help you out with problems that you may come up with. I'm sure that there are members here that have come upon the same problem or situation.
Glad you found the place.

Ray.......... :yeah:

 

[cayuga]

A friend of mine purchased a Traditions Kentucky Long Rifle years ago. Its a .50 caliber and is an accurate rifle. It seems to function well. I went with the Lyman Great Plains Rifle as it is very accurate of early frontier rifles and IMO better then the Kentucky. Although I do own a number of Traditions traditional style rifles and again.. they shoot real well. I just like my Lyman better.

Welcome to the forum. Its great to have you here.

 

[LongNines]

Thank you both so much. I will really have to look into the Lyman Great Plains Rifle.

 

[cayuga]

Lymans makes two Great Plains rifles. The Great Plains model with a 1-60 twist for shooting roundball. Which it does very well. And the Great Plains Hunter with a 1-32 twist for shooting conical bullets, sabots and even roundball with a light powder charge. I have both. And both are good shooters.