can a convicted felon legally own: 1. an antique firearm mfg before 1898?(no 4473 needed to purchase legally)  2. muzzle loading pistols and rifles?  3. cap and ball revolvers?  4.crossbows?  5. bows and compound bows?  6. swords and edged weapons?

That depends on the law in your state.
 

what are the federal rules? are some states more lenient than others?

There are no federal rules for that which is not part of the GCA of '68 definition of "firearm".

I don't think I've seen any description of the least restrictive state rules on felons.  The states that I'm familiar with prohibit felons from possessing  a host of weapons outside of Federal regulation including black powder firearms, crossbows, bows and arrows etc.

Antique firearm is still classified as a firearm.

Muzzleloaders are not considered as a firearm by the feds. Your state may consider it a firearm and have a law prohibiting felons from possessing them though.

The feds care less about the rest of your items and your state law will decide what is and is not legal.

In Iowa, here is how it goes. A felon cannot own any firearm you mentioned, don't matter the date it was manufactured, or the powder used. As for the bows and compound bows, they can own them, hunt with them and everything. Not sure about crossbows but if compound bows are legal those should be too. Swords and edged weapons have to be under a certain length, so no, they can't own a sword but some knifes are ok.

Also, a person can after a period of time, get their rights back. It is really hard to do but people have done it. It takes a pardon from the gov. Some states have a "good behavior" program for first time felons, if they complete some program they won't get listed as a felon and lose their rights. I'm not a felon or anything but I have a friend that is and see the bs he has gone through as a result. He just made a mistake when he was 18 and now at 35 it is still following him. It wasn't a violent offense or anything he just had bad parents and got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm not sure what you meant by this, but for clarity sake, if the weapon was made in 1898 or before, under federal law, a felon would not be prohibited from possessing it by the GCA of 1968.

I used to have bookmarked a website that listed all of the different weapons that felons could own, along with why/justifications.



I'm not a felon, but found it interesting nonetheless...