It is exceedingly difficult to explain what there is about pistol shooting, the sport of handgunning, that is so compelling as to cause it to occupy so much a part of my time, effort and thought. Can it be the diversity and challenge the sport offers? What is it that prompts one to persist ently try to better that last score, to shoot that "possible" or to look forward to that legendary perfect score, the 100-l0x?
A natural evolution | Why Nate Bailey is adding a muzzleloader to his traditional hunting gear
NMLRA Board of Directors Election Results | 2020
How to make a Flint Wallet with Jeff Luke | Craftsman's Corner #1
In this first edition of Craftsman’s Corner, I’ll walk you through creating a basic leather flint and tool wallet. This piece will be a handy addition to your hunting or shooting pouch and allow you carry a few extra flints, some cleaning patch material, and a couple of basic cleaning/maintenance tools while afield or at the range with your trusted flintlock.
Surviving Quarantine in the 18th Century
Words of encouragement from Stefano Pedersoli
Our friends at Pedersoli are in the thick of this outbreak right now in Italy, but they aren't giving up. Stefano Pedersoli says "We must answer immediately to fight COVID 19 and destroy it as soon as possible. We are all together fighting this monster and at this moment we ( U.S., Europe, the entire World ) must be a single force against it !!!!"
North Carolina NMLRA Territorial POSTPONED
NOTICE!
The North Carolina Territorial Matches scheduled for April 16-19 2020, has to be rescheduled, possibly in September, due to compliance with our Governor in his newest directive with NC Statewide recommendations to postpone or cancel non-critical gatherings of 50 or more people to minimize the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Please alert your friends and club members who showed interest in attending our NC Territorial. We hope to be able to reschedule it in early September, pending current progress on combating the Covid-19 virus.
Thanks.
Buck Buchanan
Match Director
North Carolina Territorial
Back Trail | Max Vickery, February 1986 | Muzzle Blasts Archives
If it wasn't for memories I don't know just how I'd get through Feb ruary. It's a cold, dead month for me with the seasons gone and 30 to 45 days of waiting until you can get the van in on a local range without getting stuck. All guns have been cleaned, some of them twice, you've run the corn and feed out to three different snow-drifted, squirrel woods, and are happy with the snowshoes you got for Christmas.
March 23, 2020 Covid19 Update | NMLRA
In accordance with Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s Executive Order, the NMLRA Office will be closed as of Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at 11:59pm until April 6, 2020 at 11:59 pm. Phone calls made to the office will not be answered during this time. Please see the contact page of NMLRA.org to view email addresses of NMLRA employees.
NMLRA memberships purchased or renewed through NMLRA.org will be processed remotely by NMLRA staff during this time.
Muzzle Blasts Magazine will still be produced, published, and shipped during this time.
Purchases of NMLRA books, merchandise, and targets will NOT be shipped during this shutdown period. Your orders will be processed and ship as soon as possible upon the reopening of the NMLRA offices.
NMLRA Centerfire Range Day, scheduled for April 11, 2020 has been canceled.
Visit NMLRA.org/covid19 for the latest information on how the outbreak is affecting NMLRA events.
Dodge's March by Mike Phifer
It was June 21, 1834, and the expedition was headed into what is now southwestern Oklahoma for the Pawnee Picts village. There they were to make a show of force and to meet with the Comanche, Kiowa, and the Pawnee Picts (this latter tribe was also called Taovayas and were a branch of the Wichitas) who had yet to make a treaty with the United States.
The European Powder Flask by Carl Dumke | Historically and Economically | Hornguild.org
This week's episode comes straight from our time at the 2020 Horn Fair with the Honourable Company of Horners. Listen as Carl Dumke, Master Horner, gives a wonderful presentation on the European Powder Flask. This hour-long presentation is packed with information and history on an often overlooked subject.
Pistol Marksmanship | Muzzle Blasts Archives
Back Trail | Max Vickery, March 1986 | Muzzle Blasts Archives
This article was originally published in the February 1986 Issue of Muzzle Blasts Magazine. Max Vickery’s writing is some of our memberships’ all-time favorite, we thought it appropriate to share during the COVID-19 situation.
I sometimes wonder where the core, the nucleus of this Association lays. In 37 years of watching I know it hasn't been some of us. I also know that some, the living cement, that help make our common bond, go unnoticed. A president comes from the rank of board-member hopefully with credits of good ideas he has put forth before the body of fellow members. He is looked at, weighed, and 29 others, either for or against, say, "Yes, we"ll trust him with thechair."
This man is then honored and has to perform. He may answer the same question four times in an af ternoon, his shooting goes down hill, his time is not his own, for heis no longer himself, he is "ours." To the four of us who ask, our question is primary. The president may not consider our questions high in the order of priorities, but he leaves his hurried lunch to give us the answer. Yet, I don't think this man, who ever he may be, is the blood-core of this Association. The Board of Directors is certainly an honored position. And having watched it through nine administrations, I have seen it filled with the most worthy and a few, a very few, who just came aboard . If, first we shoot , then we camp, and then we Commercial Row, and by God, in that order. Then, a safety minded, attentive range officer must be considered as a "donor" to the efforts of this Association. Whoever thought up our "Range Officers School" so our overworked officers could be relieved by properly trained and competent people is certainly to becommended.Having always felt that there are but four basics to a rifle match; targets sold, targets scored, a range officer, and a restroom. Anything beyond this is a fringe benefit, be it dining hall, drinking water, or electric hook up. This then brings the target desk clerks, the scoring room personnel, and cap tains of the head to a more appre ciated postition. We have come a long, long way from those four basics in the years of our being. Look at your maga zine, the office, maternally watched over for years by our Dorm-Mother assisted by a nearly adopted daugh ter, now manager, surrounded by caring sisters. I don't think the you and I who hunt alone with the guns that need a ramrod are the blood-core until we help another whose interest is the same as ours. I think you haveto helpsome one before you can enter the flow that feeds the lifeline of this Association. It is not the champions who take the medals and not their turn at the duty. It was not the non-contributing critics that made this Association the greatest of its kind. It was the "givers" and God bless you all. Look if you will at a national spi der web of muzzleloading. Look at pages 61-62 of your January Blasts and see how far the baselines of the web now run. Know also, that these "little-shoots" are run by a handful of people who baked a ham at home and brought it for the kitchen, made two candle-lanterns and gave them as prizes, came out yesterday and mowed the grass, and after we shooters leave, will clean up the grounds and lock the farmer's gate so we can meet a month from now.
The quiet people, the blood-core, the giving members, from far out on the edge of the web, they who spill their pint that flows into the base line troughs going to the center of this Association, those who work so others can shoot - the "givers.''
You who give are truly wonderful - you have made us what we are today!
Max Vickery
Find out more about the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association at our website - NMLRA.org
Installing a Breechplug | The Apprentice’s Notebook Part 1
Talking with Dennis Priddy at NMLRA Gunmaker's Hall | 2019
We catch up with Gunmaker’s Hall Demonstrator and craftsman Dennis Priddy to talk shop about some of the muzzle loaders he brought to the NMLRA National Championships in September 2019.
Dennis has been a Gunsmith for many years now. Having always enjoyed working with his hands, he was naturally attracted to building muzzle loaders as the trade uses so many skills and disciplines.
We talk with Dennis about two of his muzzle loaders, each as ornate as the last. You would think these fine rifles spend their days locked in a safe, but the first rifle shown here is his daily driver and go-to hunting rifle!
These rifles are real works of art. To see them in person, begin planning your trip to the NMLRA Nationals soon!