hey yall i am new to this so i am giving it a try. i have a tc omega and i am very disapointed with it it keeps rusting on me and the company won't give me a new barrel they will just refinish it , so i am looking to buy a new muzzeloader any dvise and i want to spend less than $500

Remington and Winchester are making some good ML's now, you might also try a Knight.

I was an Encore owner but recently picked up a Knight KRB in stainless/camo to replace it. Paid $365 locally. The black stock model was $299. I did a lot of research and heard from a lot of satisfied owners with this model saying it was very accurate with sabots and conicals and easy to work up a load for. Hope to get it out this week and see for myself.

I bought my brother a knight years ago...he still swears by it. For me, I'm a TC Encore guy...best gun I've ever owned!

I have a TC Hawkin and i love it. One of my friends has the encoe and he wont buy anything else. Also knight and remington make some good guns as well.

I bought a Traditions pursuit pro .50 last year.
Ported,fluted, thumbhole soft touch camo stock and forearm with scope for $330 new. Seems to be a great gun so far.

traditions makes a great muzzleloader. what ever you get make sure it has a breakopen so that its easy to put the primer in, nothin worse than fumblin around trying to get a new primer in for the second shot on a big buck. the break opens are so fast on traditions. and they shoot straight. great overall gun for great price.