Nef Sidekick re-vamp

[csi-tech]

    I am new to the forum, but when I discovered that I am not the only person in the United States that bought a sidekick rifle I was ecstatic. I have shot muzzleloaders for years. My first was a CVA side hammer, my second was a Knight USAK American Knight, My third was an Austin and Halleck and my current one is the NEF sidekick. They have all had their shortcomings. The sidehammer was inaccurate, hard to keep clean and used percussion caps, The Knight was decent but still used caps, the Austin and Halleck was a gorgeous, accurate rifle that weighed as much as a howitzer and was at least as long. I wanted to find a small, lightweight, accurate, inexpensive rifle that used 209 ignition and had a break action. I bought the sidekick from Bass Pro Shops and have kept it all these years.
    I love the rifle, but it has it's fair share of issues too. Because of the hammer the cheek weld is off and the ramrod is pretty lame. As if that weren't enough to contend with, Nef ceased production and quit supporting the gun. Then, they quit making the primer carriers. Those little things are impossible to find now. I have ten left. That's roughly 200 shots.
    Thanks to this forum I am slowly, but surely getting my issues resolved. I ordered a new plug that eliminates the need for an endangered species, Zytel primer carrier in favor of an "o" ring that I can buy all day at Lowe's and I purchased a new set of scope rings that have vastly improved where I rest may face in relation to the comb of the stock. I can still cock it without the need for a hammer extension so I'm pretty happy with that.
    How is the Hubbard's ramrod better than this stock one? I have an extra, solid ramrod that I clean with and take to the range, but I don't take it in the field. I would love an improvement. Is Mr. Hubbard still selling these?
    As soon as these issues are addressed I'm heading to the range with 5 different bullet types and a new box of Triple 7 50gr. pellets. I have been using powerbelts ever since they came out, but after a clean miss at a ten point at 158 yards I need some range time and a new bullet.    

[PHATINJUN]

CSI welcome aboard you have found the spot for the most comprehensive information on the net about your gun please enjoy. i could answer all you ?'s for you but what fun would that be .Take off for a few day's reading thru the past posts and you will find it all plus a bunch of stuff you have not even thought of yet. We like range reports and pictures also your thoughts on what you have found. come often and post often hopefully with spring getting here we can get this forum talking and sharing again. There is a lot of good folks here.Again welcome. Kurt

[LHitchcox]

I have the Sidekick like many here. My mods so far have been the Hubbard breechplug (so I could shoot BH 209), and the Hubbard rod. The Hubbard rod is so much superior to the factory rod that there is no comparison.

My next mod will be to have the hammer bobbed and use lower rings for a better cheekweld. My local gun guy does the bob for under $10. I also plan to get a factory synthetic Montecarlo stock for lighter weight and better scope alignment.

[csi-tech]

I have the plain wood stock on my Sidekick, but it was actually quite a bit cheaper from Bass Pro. For the price I was sort of expecting a disposable muzzleloader that I would toss in Favor of a new Knight or Thompson Center. That was a long time ago. I took my Sidekick apart last night for a deep cleaning and I was really impressed with how solid it is and how simple. I don't see getting rid of it anytime soon. I polished up the original breech plug and tossed it in a bin with about 15 of those orange primer carriers. With this new plug it's all I can do not to go buy some Blackhorn 209. Everyone raves about it, but I just bought 100 50gr 777 pellets last spring. Maybe I'll just grab some anyway and compare the two.

[bikerbeans]

Try the BH209, with a sealed breech plug this stuff is great. Very consistent and you don't have to swab between shots to keep your accuracy intact.  Needs a regular 209 primer, not he MZ 209s.  Can clean your MZ with regular smokeless solvents. 

BB