Know Your Muzzleloader

Primitive hunting arms include the muzzleloader firearm, the bow and arrow, and the crossbow. Today, these hunting arms are sought both as collector’s items and used for sporting purposes.

Muzzleloader is the term given to early firearms because they are loaded from the muzzle or open end. Read about the history of muzzleloaders on the History of Firearms page.

On these early firearms, locks played the role of modern-day actions. Matchlock and wheel lock muzzleloaders are rare and valuable, but they also may be unsafe to use. Flintlocks and percussion locks are the muzzleloaders typically used for shooting competitions and for hunting. They are generally less expensive, lighter, more reliable, and easier to load and maintain than matchlocks and wheel locks.

Muzzleloaders are most commonly rifles. However, there are also smooth-bored muzzleloaders—shotguns. Shotgun muzzleloaders can have either a single barrel or double barrels joined side-by-side. When loading the double-barreled muzzleloader, it’s critical to avoid putting the two loads down the same barrel. Double-barreled guns usually have two locks, one for each barrel. This allows the shooter to fire each barrel separately before the gun is reloaded. Most double-barreled guns were designed with two triggers.

Muzzleloading handguns come as both pistols and revolvers. Pistols are mainly singleshot. The revolvers contain multiple-shot chambers. Chain firing muzzleloading revolvers can be dangerous. When the chamber round is fired, it produces sparks that could accidentally ignite loads in another cylinder(s). Therefore, be sure to protect each load in the cylinder with a coating of grease to prevent sparks from entering the open end of the other cylinders.

Black powder is the only type of powder that should be used in muzzleloaders. However synthetic substitutes, such as Pyrodex®, also can be used. Don’t use modern-day smokeless powders in black powder firearms. Smokeless powders can cause serious injury if used in muzzleloaders.