Howdy folks, I just re-registered here. I was once active here until about 2018, when I moved to a remote area without internet. I had the blackpowder bug pretty hard, built a Kibler Colonial in .58 and owned a couple of other production guns. In 2020 my home burned in the LNU Lightning Complex fires in Northern California. I lost the Kibler, most of my modern firearms and virtually everything else I owned. The only frontstuffer I have left is a Great Plains .54, and that only because I had lent it to a buddy to hunt pigs at the time of the fire.
I now live in the Sierras just east of Placerville, and am finally in a position where I can start thinking about building again. My dilemma is that being in California, I am restricted to lead free ammo for hunting. I am thinking of perhaps going the smoothbore route, as it seems setting them up for lead free with good results might be easier than a rifle? My preference would be a flinter longrifle, but it seems lead free roundball remains problematic.
