Does anyone hunt with a muzzleloading handgun. Thought it would be a way to get a few extra days afield with a handgun. Have considered a CVA or Traditions and remember TC listing one for the Encore platform at one time. Thanks ahead of time for your comments and suggestions.

I have a 15 inch 209x50 TC Encore and hunt the black powder season every year with it. Lots of fun.

not a muzzleloader but the Ruger Old Army is fun

never used an inline but have taken several does with a Uberti 1858 Remington New Army .44, a few years back I took a really nice eight pointer with a custom built .54 caliber flintlock pistol.

Haven't hunted with it "yet" but it's on the team.
CVA Optima V2, Very accurate

csherril, I have quite a bit of short-barreled muzzleloader experience. All of mine have been T/C's. They are, for all practical purposes, the ballistic equivalent of a .44 mag or .45 Colt revolver. In the Encore, I've used a 15" factory T/C barrel, a 14" Bullberry barrel, and a factory rifle barrel cut down to 17". I've currently got two Bullberry Contender barrels in my safe, a stainless 13 1/2" barrel and a blued 10" barrel. I've harvested several hogs with the guns/barrels over the years and they are quite effective.
If I were you, I'd take a hard look at the CVA...I have no experience with those guns but I've hear good reports. Best of luck!

Darrell H

Thanks for everyone's comments. I am just thinking about deer season already and with a short muzzleloader I could get a couple weeks of extra deer hunting with a handgun. Always trying to find a way to buy a new gun.

I don't know if you can find a 15 inch Encore barrel. You may have to do like Darrell and cut one down or buy a custom barrel. You might be able to find a 18 inch TC barrel.

Now that I think about it I believe that one of the print versions of Handgun Hunter had an article on muzzleloading handguns. I will reference it and refresh my memory

I acquired a very nice custom barrel from a board member a couple years ago. It's a 14" 209x50 Contender barrel. It will shoot one hole groups from the bench at 50 yards. I'm using a 250gr WFN cast in a sabot over 75grs of pyrodex. It has two whitetails to it's credit so far.

Maybe I will run across one

I have several, Traditions percussion (cap & ball) .50, Lyman Plains flintlock .50, T/C Scout .50, Ruger Old Army. Have only taken deer with the Ruger and T/C, small game with the others.

Doc

I have a 15in barrel for my encore from the custom shop and have taken a few deer and coyote with it. been playing with a ruger old army.

I was fortunate enough to land a 50 Caliber Scout with extra "New" 54 caliber barrel.

Did not quite get the 50 shooting as I had hoped so did not take it out during ML season. The 50 has some rifling issues near the muzzle and it does seem to be a limiting factor for the accuracy it can produce. It does OK to 50 yards with sabots, but I did not find a decent lead load.

Come to think of it, I did not make it out with a rifle either.

Time to start working on it some more for this year and find what the max distance I can shoot with accuracy

I have a T/C Encore 209X50 and shoot it using the recommended data from T/C to roughly .454 Casull ballistics without a problem.

I took this 6X6 bull elk at approx. 75 yards with one shot, and this photo was featured in one of T/C's earlier catalogs.

I have video footage of a doe antelope I shot with the same load and it literally knocked her off her feet.

A T/C .50 caliber muzzleloading pistol loaded correctly gives up nothing to a .454, ballistics-wise, in my opinion.

Nice elk. Elk hunting is on my bucket list.

Thank you.

Yes I like to Hunt with Black Powder Handguns, I mainly hunt with Percussion Revolvers and do use Pistols like the Traditions Buck Hunter Pro and Lyman's Plains Pistol. I invented a series of Bullets that were invented for just that Hunting in Percussion Revolvers and Muzzleloading Pistols, they also work well in ML Rifles and Cartridge Rifles and Revolvers. With my 220 and 240 grain Bullets I have taken Charging Wild Boar, others have taken Deer, Wild Turkey, Next on the list is Black Bear, Elk and Moose and Mountain Lion etc. Two known Gun writers have tested my Universal Bullets, Authors Mike Beliveau and Hovey Smith, here is Hovey Smiths video on my 1st Wild Boar Hunt.
http://youtu.be/BtCSaVSTlmQ