Fudd Friday: Enter The NitroBolt
Deer season is almost here for most of North America, and that means some of us are looking to upgrade our firepower. If you want a hard-hitting muzzleloader that will be very easy to use, the new Traditions NitroBolt has arrived.
Front-stuffer firearms @ TFB:
User-friendly muzzleloading
Muzzleloaders have been popular with American hunters for years for a few reasons. First off, they’re often favored by the rulebooks. In some jurisdictions, laws restrict standard firearms in hunting season, but allow hunters to use muzzleloaders, or maybe they get an extended season compared to centerfire rifles and shotguns. Other laws also serve to promote muzzleloader hunting, and of course, many hunters use them because they like the added challenge.
But not everyone likes the added challenge of running a muzzleloader. There’s a lot that can go wrong—putting too much propellant in your gun, or having moisture ruin your charge, or making a mistake when you’re trying to unload at the end of the day. That’s where the NitroFire system comes in.
The NitroFire action uses Federal Premium’s FireStick ammunition. You can read our previous write-up on the design here, but basically, this design sees a charge of Hodgdon Triple Eight enclosed in a self-contained plastic cartridge. You push your bullet down the barrel with a ramrod, just like other muzzleloaders; eventually, it stops and sits on a shelf at the back of the barrel.
At the back of the rifle, you load the FireStick, then put a 209 primer on the back of the FireStick ammo. Close the action, and you’re in business. It’s a foolproof way of operating a muzzleloader, although there is very little muzzleloading going on. See it demonstrated below on a break-action:
The FireStick charges are not cheap; pricing starts at $37.99 for 10 charges (see Federal’s website here for more details). So why switch to a rifle using this system? Because it’s easy to load, and also super-easy to unload; just work the bolt, and you can remove both the primer and charge. In the darkness of an enclosed blind, or sitting in a treestand—all the areas where a standard muzzleloader is challenging to load, the NitroBolt is easy.
The NitroBolt’s FireStick ammo has one other big advantage over loose powder or pellet charges. The FireStick is impervious to moisture; if you’ve hunted with a muzzleloader in the rain, you’ll know that’s important.
The NitroBolt design
The Traditions NitroBolt first appeared at the SHOT Show in 2025, introducing a muzzleloading bolt-action that uses FireStick ammunition.
Bolt-action muzzleloaders are nothing new. Several manufacturers offer or have offered rifles that took their powder and bullet at the muzzle, with a primer loaded from the rear, via a bolt-action design.
With the NitroBolt, the FireStick is also loaded from the back, and then a primer is loaded on the back of the FireStick. The only component that’s actually muzzle-loaded is the .50-caliber projectile, which raises the question: Is this actually a muzzleloader?
Some jurisdictions say yes, some say no. This rifle may not be legal in your region’s muzzleloader season, but it is legal in some areas. You can see a list of areas where the NitroBolt is legal here.
The NitroBolt action has a 60-degree throw with three-position safety and three locking lugs. The 24-inch fluted/tapered barrel is made of chromoly steel, with 1:24 VAPR twist. A cocking indicator lets you know if the rifle is ready to fire.
An aluminum ramrod with Quick-T handle sits under the barrel. The end of the free-floated barrel has 3/4-24 threads, allowing the shooter add a muzzle break (sold separately). The rifle is drilled and tapped for a scope; a scope base is included. The only NitroBolt model in the lineup does not come set up for iron sights, so if you need them to be legal in your jurisdiction, think about that.
The pillar-bedded synthetic stock has a cheek riser that lets you dial in your shooting stance, and the length of pull is adjustable from 14.5 inches to 13.75 inches.
Traditions made the NitroBolt easy to work on, with the bolt coming apart in seconds with an Allen key, making cleaning a few minutes’ work.
Shooting the NitroBolt
If you dial the stock’s fit in, and you have a muzzle brake, the NitroBolt has low recoil, even though it’s a .50-caliber rifle (no plans for other calibers right now, Traditions says). The repeatability of the FireStick charges also means you can get consistency shot-to-shot, which should help accuracy. However, you will be unable to tinker with your loads grain-by-grain, a popular method for improving accuracy among serious muzzleloader shooters.
As for the choice of bullet, Traditions says:
“If you are using a muzzle brake, Traditions recommends using their skirted or full bore Smackdown® bullet series like the Smackdown ELD-X or the Smackdown MZX. These type of bullets will perform best when using a muzzle brake. If you are not using a muzzle brake, these bullets are still great choices as well as the Smackdown Carnivore, Smackdown XR, or Smackdown Bleed models. You will get an excellent gas seal since the Smackdown series is sized correctly for Traditions bore diameter. The Ridgeback Sabot that comes with the Carnivore, XR, and Bleed series is a 4-petal, ribbed sabot which additionally helps provide a tight gas seal. The NitroBolt is compatible with other brands of muzzleloader bullets.”
Just like powder charges, this is something that muzzleloader shooters like to figure out for themselves. Once these rifles have been on the market a while, expect reports from buyers, sharing what bullets they liked best.
A single model
At this point, Traditions only has one NitroBolt model, with black stock and premium tungsten-colored Cerakote finish. MSRP is $1,049.95, up fifty bucks from the price they were hoping to target when they announced the rifle at the SHOT Show. No surprise there; the economy has been a roller-coaster in the months since. See the new rifles here.
All photos: Traditions
Professional hoser with fudd-ish leanings.
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