I've owned and hunted with muzzle-loaders for about 30 yrs. Like Muir I prefer traditional rifles. I had a Parker-Hale Enfield reproduction for years. I even managed to take a young bull moose with it as well as a number of white-tails. It now belongs to my nephew, he was hinting how much he liked it for about 8 yrs lol.
I've been looking for another, but the majority of the available rifles here are in-lines. They're excellent rifles, but they just don't float my boat.
I'll probably pick up something used. A hunting buddy of mine has a fast twist Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 54 cal. that I really like and they come up for sale fairly regularly.
There is one company ,that I'm sure Muir is familiar with, called Track of the Wolf. They have an extensive sellection of rifles. Everything from Thompson Center , which are a good rifle for the money, to some high end custom work. Their website is definitly worth a look.
Black-powder hunting is addictive and will put your hunting skills to the test. I enjoy it a lot and I hope you will to. Some may say that muzzle-loaders are primitive and in-effective, but I've seen enough animals taken with them to know better. My old 577 Enfield dropped game quickly and cleanly within its range limitations , you'll only run into trouble if you ask the rifle to do something it wasn't designed to do.
Welcome to the club AB