What happened to the sport of Muzzleloading during WWII? An interview with Joe Barnes and Mark Barnhill

We're back with NMLRA member Joseph Barnes as he shares his memories from the 1940s and how it impacted Muzzleloading. Joe’s first NMLRA event was in 1937 when the shoots were held in Dillsboro, Indiana. Joe returned the following year, 1938, to help organize and then win the first-ever NMLRA junior match with a score of 44 out of 50.

He is the only surviving member from our historic panoramic photograph from the range in 1938. You can hear Joe tell more stories of the early muzzleloading days here.

It was wonderful to get Joe into the Rand House Museum at NMLRA headquarters during the “Pole Cat Porter” Exhibit at the 2019 National Championships. While Joe didn’t know Pole Cat personally, he was able to share some stories he heard at the time and share some first-hand accounts of early muzzleloading in the 1900s.

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This video is the second of two shot in the Pole Cat Porter Exhibit at the 2019 NMLRA National Championships. Catch the first one

Creating your own longhunter pouch | A Leather Bag Class with Jeff Luke

We continue through our class with contemporary artisan Jeff Luke. In this video, Jeff Luke walks his students through finishing their bags and preparing them for their next trek!

“The NMLRA bag building class was a success! Thank you to the NMLRA and all of the students who participated. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing what I’ve learned and watching the group turn out some very nice bags!”

— Jeff Luke, Instructor

Thank you all for following along as we released the videos from this class. It was a bit of a learning experience for everyone involved. The class went very well, with 5 students Jeff was a busy teacher the entire day. We’d like to arrange another during the June 2020 NMLRA National Shoot, if you are interested, please let us know and we will do our best to arrange enough class time for everyone.

Moving forward, we’d love to host more 1 day traditional craft classes like this one. Our education center is set up with several classrooms with the proper tools and equipment to better manage a class like this, we will be sure to move to one of those for the next class.

Throughout the day we talked a lot with the students and Jeff about other kinds of projects that would make for a good class. This hunting pouch is a great project, but we did have to work an hour over our estimated time to get everyone finished up. Ideas for the future include knife sheaths, flint wallets, wallets and more.

We’d like to thank Jeff Luke once again for his work to bring this class to the NMLRA Education Center. Everyone young and old went home with a smile on their face and a new bag they will cherish forever.

Recording 75 years of NMLRA History | A conversation with Author Thomas Schiffer

Mr. Schiffer and his camera have been a staple of NMLRA Events for decades now, but in his latest book, he reaches back in time to unearth and organize photos, documents, and stories from the NMLRA's beginnings in the 1930s.

Jeff Luke's Leather Bag Class - Videos on Youtube!

Couldn’t make it to the class? Don’t sweat it, we’re bringing more NMLRA Classes and educational programs to you. In this new weekly series, follow along as Jeff Luke of PoBoy Gear guides these students through the world of “Homespun” hunting pouch creation.

We are beginning a new series of courses at the NMLRA Education Center over the coming year. Our first new class was held with Jeff Luke of "Po Boy Gear". In this first video in this new series, Jeff begins the class with some introductions to historic leather bags, their design and more.

In this first video in this new series, Jeff begins the class with some introductions to historic leather bags, their design and more.

Jeff has decades of leather-working experience from wallets to motorcycle seats, but now has a passion for historically accurate bags and pouches from American History.

The NMLRA on Shooting USA! Tonight on the Outdoor Channel!

Tonight! Thank you Jim Scoutten's Shooting USA for featuring us on tonights episode!

(AmmoLand.com)- We’re slowing things down for Muzzle Loading in Friendship, Indiana at the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association’s Nationals. It’s one part competition and one part living history from the 1820s. And we’ve got George Sutton – Mr. Flintlock from Impossible Shots – as our guide to the people and the competition that draws folks to black powder.

Plus, the long story of the 1911s that are now History’s Guns.

Then, John reports from Hollywood with the cowboy guns from the movies.

And JP shows you how to choose and set your zero. More Info…

USA AIR TIMES
Wednesday 9:00 PM Eastern and Pacific, 8:00 PM Central on Outdoor Channel
Shooting USA is listed as a one-hour show in your cable menu.

AND NOW IN CANADA
On the New Sportsman Canada Channel
Our Same Show, the Same Week, as in the USA

Sportsman Canada Channel is available in 750,000 Canadian Households.  Find the channel and find us north of the Border.

Subscribe to see all shows as often as you like at www.ShootingUSA.com

Jim
Defending the 2nd by Example in the 26th Year

Muzzle Blasts is Growing - Exciting new announcments from the NMLRA

Muzzleloading and Living History aren’t dying, they are evolving.

We’ve been publishing “Muzzle Blasts” magazine in one form or another since 1930. Muzzle Blasts is the Original MuzzleLoading, Traditional craft, and Living History Magazine. Delivered to your door or email every month, each issue is packed with content about muzzleloader shooting sports, living history, traditional craft, tutorials, stories, and accouterments.

To expand on the quality Muzzle Blasts delivers each month, the NMLRA has launched a new media initiative to bring you more of what you love.

We’re going to take you inside events and classes like you’ve never seen, and we are able to do all of this thanks to the members of the NMLRA.

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New Platforms

We are excited to share the launch of the "Muzzle Blasts" Podcast, a new radio-like show from the NMLRA where we meet with all sorts of known and unknown people in the world of Living History.

In our first episode, we were excited to sit down with a representative from Goex Powders and Deer Creek Products to discuss the evolving world of Muzzleloading.

With aging members, many in the muzzleloading and living history communities are worried about the future of the sport. We sit down with Anita Vincenti from Goex Powder and Jim Christie of Deer Creek Products to discuss the future of muzzleloading and why it's not dying, it's evolving.

We Love Muzzle blasts

We know you love Muzzleblasts Magazine, and we want to bring you more of what you love each week.

Our dedicated Media Team will be covering not NMLRA events and classes, but muzzleloading and living history events across the country to show you that Living History is not dying, it’s evolving.

Muzzle Blasts on Social Media

We’re bringing daily updates from the world of the NMLRA to you through social media. We love hanging out around the campfire with our friends during an event, but now we can hangout everyday! With the NMLRA’s new media efforts we are bringing you the quality of Muzzleblasts right to your phone, tablet, or computer each day.

Follow the NMLRA on Facebook

Follow Muzzleblasts on Instagram

Follow the Longhunter Society on Instagram

The NMLRA on Pinterest

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Reliving History by Surviving in a Dugout Canoe

We sit down with living historians Eli Froedge and Jason Jacobs at the 2019 Feast of the Hunter's Moon to talk about their dugout canoe expedition of the Wabash River.

Eli and Jason are dedicated to living the history of our forefathers, crafting their clothing, tools, and accouterments for their historical treks into the wilds of Indiana. Some may refer to them as reenactors, but they prefer "living historians", following the guides set by books and journals from early America.

Additional photos and videos of the expedition provided by Jason Jacobs, Eli Froedge, and Heath Hoffman. Thank you for letting us use your photos and videos!

New video from the team at Muzzleblasts and NMLRA Media!

We catch up with Navio Occhialini from the NMLRA Archery Range and talk the process of making a longbow

This video was made possible by the members of the NMLRA, thank you.

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