This is the first I heard of this, but I doubt it would be to classify modern muzzelloaders as antiques, exempt from GCA of 1968. More than likely it is to classify them as "firearms" under the act. The act is a statute and can't be changed by ATF. It looks like they may intend to reclassify those that are not a precise copy of an 1898 gun as a firearm. A replica of a pre-1899 cartridge gun that fires fixed ammo, available in normal commercial channels is classified as a firearm( like a post 98 Win. 92). I suspect they are trying to twist this around to fit modern muzzleloaders, even though they don't use fixed ammo. It wasn't that long ago that some states tried to preclude "in line" muzzleloaders from primitive weapons hunts, if they used shotgun(209)primers. This is entirely different, because each state has it's own regs for hunting, having nothing to do with transfer of the guns.
Mike
