In Indiana we cannot use real rifles, just shotguns and pistol-cartrige rifles. I have an all-weather stainless bolt-action Ruger. I have no complaints except that I am glad it brought down the buck (and a doe) inside of 25 yards, because there was no blood trail. Its a 100-yd gun, while my muzzle-loader is twice that. I saw a bigger buck out 150 yards earlier that hung around for the better part of an hour tearing up some pines, and I was really wishing I had the muzzle-loader that day. Any day in the woods is a good day.
We have to be north of 46 to use a rifle, which is in northern Muskegon county. I think it is under 200 miles to the Indiana border. We also have a caliber restriction for deer, not sure what the current spec is, but I do know someone who got busted with a Mini 14 .223 South of 46 taking a deer. Not a happy camper he was after that. Another dude down the road, maybe 5 or 6 years ago was poaching turkeys. One of them was tagged and had a transmitter, he got a year in jail because of the extent of his poaching activities.
Here is another stupid people should not breed story: The Sunday before Christmas a neighbor, about a quarter mile away was playing with his muzzle loader at about 11PM. He had his buddy over as well as his kid. Now, he doesn't have enough property to even shoot on but they were whacking rounds off, probably shooting over the road into a corn field. (his property is shaped like a triangle at about a 60 degree included angle, maybe 200 feet at the widest point)
Yep, as you can imagine, they were all quite heavily under the influence. According to the fire department, the kid threw a fair amount of black powder into the wood stove. About 10 minutes or so later their propane tank blew, they no longer had a garage and part of their mobile home was missing. No one got hurt except for some minor burns. New years, about 1AM the muzzle loader was making noise again.
Quick one: Take a 16yo kid who probably could not pass a drug test (at the time), even though he never did drugs. (it was in his system from birth, parents) A gallon glass jar full of some vintage gun powder, poured on the ground in a neat pile. And a match. He did get hurt. Serious third degree burns and lost his hair in a second. He turned out really good. Building contractor, and respected for his masonry work.
I haven't done any reloading yet for the .44, but I am sure with some testing I could come up with a combination for both my Redhawk and a 77/44 that would be pretty sweet.
