[32chevy vett]

Frist of two with the muzzle loader.176 lbs. stinson mt. Rummey N.H.

[sixball]

That's great. Glad to see the traditional style rifle and not scoped modern bolt action using a shotgun primer and wafers of black powder substitute pushing a plastic sheathed modern jacketed hollow point.  Bear hunting with any single shot can be exciting.

[vette59jdwl]

I would walk a mile through broken glass for a bear roast one of my favourite meats. wayner

[sixball]

I worry more about becoming a roast for a bear. They are becoming a not so rare sight around here. Had a big on in the yard last summer.

[32chevy vett]

Sixball the gun is from the 1860s I used a patched round ball. It's called a New england  Kentucky full length stock. The gunsmith was from N.H.
That hunt was a real rush. I could hear the bear coming from behind me. I was siting on the ground and he came so close. I could have poked him in the ribs with the barrel. I let him go by after he got by about 40' I let it go. Now I have so much smoke. I can not see him. Then I saw
him go up going up hill into thick evergreens. So thick you had go on your hands and knees. I was thinking I do not care to go in there. So I sat to give him time. then went in to find him.   

[sixball]

What caliber? In Ned Roberts's book The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle there is a great section on bear hunting with muzzle loaders. They used double rifles. In the 30s my dad went into the brush after a wounded bear with a Luger. Other than that he was a smart guy.

[32chevy vett]

It is a 55 cal. smooth bore. But I'am sure it had been bored out. You can see that the dove tail for the rear sight was filled.
You have to be close. It did not shoot that good.

[chopper526]

I am no hunter, but I know danger. You have to be  carrying something else as a back-up, don't you, Don?

[sixball]

For backup you take a pair of running shoes and someone you can out run.
 There were lots of smooth bores back then, They could be loaded with a ball or shot which made them handy for the guy with one long gun. Smooth bores loaded fast as well. A friend of mine was a descendant of Daniel Boone's sister. He inherited a flintlock smooth bore that belonged to her husband. It was bigger than 60 caliber. We shot it and a 50 yards we could have pissed off a bear.     The cool thing about that gun aside from it's simplicity and plainness was that you just know that when the guys were out shooting Daniel Boone shot his brother in law's gun. I got to hold Jim Bridger's Hawkin at a museum in Montana too, but that's another story.