Out of the packaging, the Buckstalker is lightweight but solid. The fit of the barrel to the action when closed is very tight, and the action closes firmly and holds strong. Overall, the nickel finish is smooth with no nicks or marring visible. The stocks are a Monte Carlo style, black synthetic with checkering in the grip areas---nothing fancy but durable and functional. The trigger pull is crisp and smooth out of the box. Nothing feels loose or out of place. While a value-buy they put plenty of quality workmanship into these firearms. Field stripping is very easy, requiring only one screw in the fore-stock to be removed...The Buckstalker has a light 3 lb. trigger pull that is surprisingly smooth for what Traditions considers a budget rifle...The Buckstalker lives up to its billing as a compact, lightweight and feature-packed budget in-line muzzleloader. The quality and features that can be found on rifles that retail for twice as much as the Buckstalker make it a steal. The Buckstalker allows you to hunt for less with the confidence you have a durable rifle that will last season after season. It is a quality muzzleloading brush gun that won't break the bank.

Picked up this rifle on sale after a lot of research and deliberation about how to dip my toe in muzzleloading - and couldn't be happier!

Since then, I've been to the range half a dozen times, learning how this whole smoke-pole thing is done and tinkering with different combinations of bullets and powders. In ~100+ shots, I've had one misfire - my fault. I was using pre-saturated cleaning patches between each shot, and they're just too wet if you don't wring them out first. This gummed up some of the powder in the fire channel and caused the misfire. The great part, though, is with this break action design it's a simple thing to clear!

So far, I've had the most success with 80grain loose 777 FFG and XTP bullets + Harvester crushed rib sabots (2" groups at 50yds, no support). Weirdly, I found the standard Traditions XTP bullets + sabots (which I think are just re-branded Hornady products) to be an enormous pain to load, not that accurate, and filthy. I also loved the Hornady FPB - just a little pricier than bulk sabots + bullets.

All in all, a perfect place to start muzzleloading! Start here, play around at the range as much as you can and then figure out what you like.

I didn't purchase my buckstalker online I bought mine in a store, but as far as the gun itself 100% pleased highly recommend the buckstalker.

I am an avid shooter and this is my first blackpowder rifle. This model was suggested to me by a friend. I am not dissapointed, this is great rifle for the price point. Very easy to load, fire, and maintain. Traditions has a lot of great videos online on how to load and operate the rifle, and also on how to clean it. I did a lot of reasearch and shoping at various stores and websites, muzzle-loaders.com has very good price points on their products.

Picked up this rifle on sale after a lot of research and deliberation about how to dip my toe in muzzleloading - and couldn't be happier! There are a couple other options out there in this price range, primarily the CVA Wolf and entry-level Thompson Center, but when I went to a couple local gun shops to shoulder and play with the action, I chose the Traditions. It felt sturdier than the Wolf and the break action worked much more smoothly than the TC. Making no claim this is universal, but in the examples I saw, the Traditions felt much better in hand. Since then, I've been to the range half a dozen times, learning how this whole smoke-pole thing is done and tinkering with different combinations of bullets and powders. In ~100+ shots, I've had one misfire - my fault. I was using pre-saturated cleaning patches between each shot, and they're just too wet if you don't wring them out first. This gummed up some of the poweder in the fire channel and caused the misfire. The great part, though, is with this break action design it's a simple thing to clear! So far, I've had the most success with 80grain loose 777 FFG and XTP bullets + Harvester crushed rib sabots (2" groups at 50yds, no support).