Traditions Pursuit Ultralight Muzzleloader
Lewis Creek Shooting School 05.22.12
Early hunting muzzleloaders were less serious hunting tools than attractive replicas of historical firearms. There’s a lot to be said for hunting the way it was done 150 years ago but some hunters want to use the muzzleloader season to extend their season. Those hunters want accurate, reliable guns that are easy to maintain.
No category of firearms has improved as much in recent years as muzzleloaders. While accuracy has been improving for several years, the real growth has been in convenience and affordability. For the 2011 deer season, we used the Traditions Firearms Pursuit Ultralight Muzzleloader, a hinge action 50 caliber lightweight rifle that exemplifies what a modern muzzleloading hunting rifle can be. At less than six pounds and with a 26” fluted barrel, the Pursuit Ultralight has the feel of a conventional centerfire hunting rifle. My wife, Cherie, and daughter, Valarie, have both killed deer with it and it’s the favorite muzzleloader in our family.
It came mounted with a Traditions 3-9 scope and the first shot was perfectly centered, an occurrence that rarely happens in bore sighted rifle/scope combinations. After shooting a two inch, three shot group, I never moved the turrets. Most muzzleloader triggers in the past have been far from great but this rifle has a trigger that’s better than the average premium centerfire. With a removable breech plug that’s on a double helix thread, the plug comes out with just a few twists.
Accurate, with a good trigger, easy to clean and affordable, the Pursuit would more accurately be described as the leader. Priced at around $300, it’s a bargain.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
