Who Hunts With a Sidelock (Let's See Photos)

[Splitear]

I've been bit hard by the ML bug, and am excited to take my TC New Englander out this month. I'm curious who else hunts with a sidelock gun. I'd love to see some photos!

[ncountry]

I have at different times thought that I might want a sidelock again , just for fun.. If nothing else all my stories of pops and fizzes and.  Etc.  Are starting to get old.  May be time to make some new memories .

Edited November 3, 2020 by ncountry

[Splitear]

1 minute ago, ncountry said:

I have at different times thought that I might want a sidekick again , just for fun.. If nothing else all my stories of pops and fizzes and.  Etc.  Are starting to get old.  May be time to make some new memories .

I took my buddy out with me when I did my last sight in. I used my New Englander, and he used one of our Traditions Hawkens program gun. No joke, at 50 yards he nailed his bullseye first shot (left target) and never got anywhere close after that (note the high left hit on the right target). Regardless, we left and he said that he needs to get one because it was so much fun.

[ncountry]

I did enjoy mzl season more when we were limited to sidelocks. Don't get me wrong, when they changed the rules I had an encore with a scope the following year.. But I do miss the ol patch and ball. .. sometimes. They are fun.

[Skillet]

[Splitear]

3 hours ago, Skillet said:

Okay, you've stumped me, what gun is it?

[Skillet]

7 minutes ago, Splitear said:

Okay, you've stumped me, what gun is it?

The first is a Traditions Deer Hunter.

The stainless one is Lyman Deerstalker.

[Otto]

I just bought this gun a couple of weeks ago. So much fun to shoot! Can't wait to use it this season. Thompson Center Arms, Renegade, Left Hand, .54 caliber The gentleman I bought it from said he bought it new in early 70's and put less than 50 rounds through it over the years.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[cas]

I don't have many pictures that aren't printed photos in a drawer somewhere. Muzzle loaders (real ones ;) ) are something to drive me crazy.  Even though I rarely shoot them these days (eyes), when I see ones for sale that I like they drive me nuts wanting them.  I know someone right now with a whole collection of uncommon, quality rifles for sale, but I've been able to maintain my self control and not buy any of them. (because I know I'm unlikely to shoot them) .

That said, I did buy a T/C "Hawken" in .45 caliber from an acquaintance last month, simply because he only wanted $100 for it. I haven't shot it, and don't know if or when I even will. I bought it with the idea of finally making a muzzle loading "SBR" / canoe rifle of sorts, but I may just give it to my nephew instead. 

My first rifle as a CVA Kentucky rifle kit I made 35+ years ago. Somewhere along the line I bought a long brass tube sight and that was the only thing I could thing of putting it on. (a regret) Of course at the time it made it illegal for hunting. I think I only shot it twice since then and it's sat in the corner for the last  30 years.

My ML interests turned to an 1863 Springfield and that became my main shooter for many years.

A few rifles came and went, bought and sold, one stolen. I still have a T/C New Englander that was my main hunting rifle when I still bothered to hunt the muzzle loading season. Got into flintlocks with a T/C Pennsylvania Hunter. Sold that and bought a Pedersoil Mortimer, which is a beautiful gun and I really need to shoot it more. I hunted regular gun season with it a few times. But about that time the BPCR bug hit me and my interests swang that way for quite a while. Then my eyes started turning on me and my ability to hunt with what I really wanted to started to dwindle.

 

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I have a CVA sidelock that I bought a 209 primer kit for. Im going to hunt with it a bit this year. It was a gift from my father and Ive never taken a deer with it

[eaglemountainman]

 I used to. Cheney .54 Elkhunter . Sadly, she doesn't get out much anymore.

Edited November 5, 2020 by eaglemountainman

[Splitear]

7 minutes ago, eaglemountainman said:

 I used to. Cheney .54 Elkhunter . Sadly, she doesn't get out much anymore.

Beautiful rifle!

[Pygmy]

Back in the early 1970s, when muzzleloaders were first allowed here in what was then shotgun only country,my ex-wife bought me a TC Hawken  .50 cal.  for my birthday...    It has been my only  muzzleloader  since then...

Along  in the late 1990s, I had to put a tang peep sight on it, since my old eyes could no longer function with the standard open sights...

I have killed a lot of deer with it over the years, including my best racked buck, a 120 ish 10 point in 1994...I also used it in Colorado to kill my one and only bull elk, a 6x6....

The only other MZ deer I ever shot  were with Moog's  Encore , with which  I shot 2 does from his enclosed blind...His Encore was scope sighted and the deer were both over 100 yards, beyond my comfortable range with my Hawken  and peep sights...

I still hunt with the Hawken, and have probably killed 20-30 animals with it, but the longest shot I ever made was perhaps 75 yards..  While prepping for my elk hunt in 2004, I did a lot of practicing at fairly long range and I could hit a 20 pound propane bottle from the bench at 150 yards, but I ended up shooting my bull at about 15 yards....Hehehe....

[cas]

I'd sworn off the muzzle loading season for over a decade due to all the hooples in the woods, but I was all set to go this past weekend. Then a small matter of 3 feet of snow happened. Damn! 

While the guns are still out, I'm going shooting.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by cas

[The_Real_TCIII]

I have a CVA sidelock that I bought a 209 primer kit for. Im going to hunt with it a bit this year. It was a gift from my father and Ive never taken a deer with it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The_Real_TCIII]

I'd sworn off the muzzle loading season for over a decade due to all the hooples in the woods, but I was all set to go this past weekend. Then a small matter of 3 feet of snow happened. Damn! 
While the guns are still out, I'm going shooting.

 
 

Thats a beautiful rifle! I wish we had a flintlock season like Pa


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[wolc123]

I just ordered new fiber optic sights for my old Traditions "fox river 50".  It is a light-weight "carbine",  hawken-style sidelock .  I have not hunted with it in about 20 years (hopefully it will still fire).   

I still have a couple tins of #11 caps, and plenty of loose powder.  It always shot best with 75 grains of pyrodex.  If I can get it shooting good, I will carry it along with my fly rod, on mid-day hunts.  I will be then be fully equipped for bucks, does, and brook trout during the early ML week this fall, up in the Adirondacks. 

My T/C omega, scoped in-line is way too heavy for that service.  I won't even feel the little carbine, slung on my shoulder, as I am fishing the deep holes.  The little sidelock will definitely be in my hands as I am walking upstream between fishing  hot-spots.  The deer seem to love those creek bottoms.

I have yet to catch a trout on a fly rod or kill a deer with a sidelock. I would happily settle for either one this fall, but both would be great.  I did behead one gray squirell with it.  It failed to fire the only time I pulled its trigger on a deer.  That unicorn buck just looked and laughed at me, in a tree directly above, when only the cap went off.

I had a hang-fire on the squirrel, but I continued to aim, long enough for the charge to go off.  No such luck doing that with the buck however.  I had to use 3 more caps to get that charge out, and by that time the buck had long disappeared 

After those mishaps, I started priming the channel behind the nipple with loose powder.  That seemed to end the misfire/hangfire issues.  I bought my inline and never used it again.

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by wolc123

[G-Man]

Oh I'll have to go back in photo albums and scan a bunch in.. my favorite is a 50 cal kentucky pistol I've taken several with

[rachunter]

I haven’t hunted with any yet,but that’s going to change this year. 
First up a t/c renegade.54 cal.

Second is a pedersoli .12 ga. SxS 

Third is a traditions crocket .32 cal. I picked up a few weeks ago for squirrel hunting. 
I’ve been bouncing around the idea of adding a pistol, but I’m not sure what kind to get yet.

The target is the first three shots at 30yrds with the .32
 

[airedale]

Those 32 cal Crockett Squirrel rifles are a lot of fun to mess around with, economical to shoot and very accurate considering their modest price. Your rifle is laying them in there good, get out there and kill a Squirrel with it this fall.

Al

[wolc123]

I got the fiber-optics mounted on my carbine sidelock tonight.  What should have been a 10 minute job took me a little over an hour because I had to make a 3/8 dovetail insert to hold the rear sight.  I lost the original.  Hopefully, I will get it out on the range this weekend.

 

 

[airedale]

Looks good Wolc, with my old eyes I have become an avid user of fiber optic style open sights. Many of my handguns, shotguns, muzzleloaders and open sight rifles now sport some sort of fiber optic sights. I can get a much better sight picture in dim light and in the woods.

Al

[wolc123]

On 4/21/2021 at 7:54 AM, airedale said:

Looks good Wolc, with my old eyes I have become an avid user of fiber optic style open sights. Many of my handguns, shotguns, muzzleloaders and open sight rifles now sport some sort of fiber optic sights. I can get a much better sight picture in dim light and in the woods.

Al

Hopefully, the sighting in will go smoother with this $ 26 set of true glow sights than the mixed pair of trueglow-T/C that I put on my Marlin 30/30 a couple years ago.  That took 3 trips back to the range and I had to shim the front up nearly 1/2".

 

 

[wolc123]

I just finished sighting in my 50 cal sidelock with the new fiber optic sights.  I drove up to Runnings in Lockport this morning, mostly to renew my fishing license, but their DEC computer was down.  I went back to the gun counter and asked if they had any powder.  Unbelievably, the guy said he had a one pound can of 777 in the safe for $ 27.

I had to make another stop, a mile farther North at Walmart for the fishing licence, but hopefully I now have everything I need to keep our family fed for another year.  Walmart also had zucchini and summer squash seeds.

The sighting in went ok:

 First, I adjusted the rear sight to the center of the adjustment range.  Then I removed the nipple to make sure it was clear, and blew into the touch hole to make sure air expelled from the muzzle.  I wasn't sure how good I had cleaned it 20 years ago.  It must have been alright because nothing was plugged.

Next, I poured in 25 grains of fresh 777, then dropped in a 5 year old 50 grain 777 pellet.  I wiped a green plastic sleeve with bore butter, and pushed down and seated a 240 gr XTP bullet.  I put a 20 year old #11 cap on the nipple and sent the first shot.  It struck 5 inches to the right of the bull.

Prior to my second shot, I adjusted the rear sight to the left, half way as far as it would go.    The bore butter allows a few shots between cleanings, so I reloaded and sent shot #2.  That one struck an inch to the right and 2 inches high.

Since new neighbors are moving in next door today, and my wife said that our 3 house cats were going nuts at the reports, I decided that was good enough for today's bedroom window range session.  The fields are too wet now to go way out back.

Maybe I will shoot it again around labor day, but I am satisfied with its performance right now.  I will give it a good cleaning and it should be good to go for early ML week up in the Adirondacks this year.

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by wolc123

[rachunter]

On 4/25/2021 at 5:34 PM, wolc123 said:

I just finished sighting in my 50 cal sidelock with the new fiber optic sights.  I drove up to Runnings in Lockport this morning, mostly to renew my fishing license, but their DEC computer was down.  I went back to the gun counter and asked if they had any powder.  Unbelievably, the guy said he had a one pound can of 777 in the safe for $ 27.

I had to make another stop, a mile farther North at Walmart for the fishing licence, but hopefully I now have everything I need to keep our family fed for another year.  Walmart also had zucchini and summer squash seeds.

The sighting in went ok:

 First, I adjusted the rear sight to the center of the adjustment range.  Then I removed the nipple to make sure it was clear, and blew into the touch hole to make sure air expelled from the muzzle.  I wasn't sure how good I had cleaned it 20 years ago.  It must have been alright because nothing was plugged.

Next, I poured in 25 grains of fresh 777, then dropped in a 5 year old 50 grain 777 pellet.  I wiped a green plastic sleeve with bore butter, and pushed down and seated a 240 gr XTP bullet.  I put a 20 year old #11 cap on the nipple and sent the first shot.  It struck 5 inches to the right of the bull.

Prior to my second shot, I adjusted the rear sight to the left, half way as far as it would go.    The bore butter allows a few shots between cleanings, so I reloaded and sent shot #2.  That one struck an inch to the right and 2 inches high.

Since new neighbors are moving in next door today, and my wife said that our 3 house cats were going nuts at the reports, I decided that was good enough for today's bedroom window range session.  The fields are too wet now to go way out back.

Maybe I will shoot it again around labor day, but I am satisfied with its performance right now.  I will give it a good cleaning and it should be good to go for early ML week up in the Adirondacks this year.

 

If you send williams sight an email or call the guy can piece a sight together for your gun.He did it for my tc renegade.

Contact Williams Gun Sight Company, Inc