reinert I wish I had your experience. I got into BP guns in the early 1990's but have only been to a couple of rendevous and then only on a budget. But it was fun. My BP rifles have been more for hunting and playing with rather than historical reenacting stuff.
But BP rifles did more to teach me and direct me learn about history than any teacher in school I ever had. I have one issue of MuzzleBlast and wish I had a big stack of them to study and read. My bud had a couple of boxes full when he died but when I asked his family about them they didn't know what happened to them. Too bad. I would have read ever word in them.
Muzzle loading guns may be slow to load and have a limited range compared to the off the shelf guns of today but those men who used them a century or three ago were still well armed.
I guess I need to order that Baird book on Hawkens. Here is another good link if you haven't read it already. I like the letter to the editor about too many Hawken stories.
http://grrw.org/the-heyday-of-the-hawken/