Are The Italian Black Powder Manufacturers Going to Go out Of Business?

wiscoaster said:

Sorry, but current pics of shooters at Friendship isn't data. I frequent three local outdoor ranges and it's not at all unusual for me to see muzzleloader shooters out there. Granted, some of those are shooting modern centerline muzzleloaders, but when they see how much fun I'm having with my black powder flintlock and percussion muzzleloaders I think they're suitably impressed. Some of them will be converts, I have no doubt. I think there are plenty of new shooters just getting into the sport that don't show up yet on the radars of the established organizations. I'm not a club man myself, and though there's a black powder muzzleloader club in the area, I frankly have no interest in joining. They've got this weird rule about required membership meeting attendance that I consider a "no-go" for me. So I don't even count in the "data". Furthermore, Wisconsin has a muzzleloaders-only hunting season, so I don't think it's going away.

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Minnesota also has a muzzle loader only hunting season. I know a lot of people who hunt muzzle loader season.

I think part of the problem is a big part of our sport is nostalgia, and tradition, and that doesn't exist for many younger people, because they where never taught history or folklore. Mention something about Jim Bridger, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, etc.... to anyone under 50 and they usually don't have a clue what you're talking about. We grew up watching Fess Parker, they grew up watching Tik-tok videos. So the interest just isn't there.

I’m a little leery of this shortage happening. I recently checked both Dixie and Midway and they seem to have more supply, at least as far as revolvers than I remember seeing in the last couple years. Some of the prices seem to be a bit less on some of them also. At this time I haven’t been into rifles or long guns at all so I can’t speak about that.

If the "Black Powder interest is drying up rapidly" then why is every single notice for 'Yesterday's Posts' I get from this forum Full of "Howdy Folks, I'm New" notices?

Mad L said:

If the "Black Powder interest is drying up rapidly" then why is every single notice for 'Yesterday's Posts' I get from this forum Full of "Howdy Folks, I'm New" notices?

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Nice point.

JDBraddy said:

I think part of the problem is a big part of our sport is nostalgia, and tradition, and that doesn't exist for many younger people, because they where never taught history or folklore. Mention something about Jim Bridger, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, etc.... to anyone under 50 and they usually don't have a clue what you're talking about. We grew up watching Fess Parker, they grew up watching Tik-tok videos. So the interest just isn't there.

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Seems that way, but how many of us have young children /grandchildren ?
Hands up how many of us have made an concerted effort to get them interested and bring them into the hobby /sport ?
Because we should be doing that if we want it to thrive.

tucosink said:

Ridiculous topic

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Ridiculous post.

I think we all know that Uberti makes firearms other than BP. I guess their smokeless powder firearms are replicas too. I have a SAA El Patron in 9mm Luger, an 1873 .22 revolver and an 1873 lever action rifle in .357 mag. Though they are, in essence, replicas they IMO, stand apart in their quality (and price) compared to the Uberti BP revolvers I have.

Both are nice quality firearms but I don’t think that there would be much doubt that the smokeless powder firearms have a larger purchasing base than do the BP firearms. I don’t know if Pietta makes smokeless powder firearms (I can’t recall seeing them if they do) but one would think that Uberti would not be in danger of going out of business due to the diversity in their product line. Perhaps BP replicas would take a back seat to smokeless but with tooling and production lines already in place for their BP line they most likely will continue production for the foreseeable future.

One more point, I bought the El Patron after reading an article in some gun magazine. Were it not for that article I would have not been aware of the availability of that firearm. I can’t recall the last time I saw an article in a gun magazine about a replica BP firearm. Were there such articles I think interest, and therefore sales, would increase. Just a thought.

Business is booming for Italian gunmakers, who mightn't be making as many percussion revolvers as the have in previous years but still can't keep up with demand for cartridge revolvers that sell for more $$...

Coinneach said:

Seems that way, but how many of us have young children /grandchildren ?
Hands up how many of us have made an concerted effort to get them interested and bring them into the hobby /sport ?
Because we should be doing that if we want it to thrive.

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Sadly just because we try to get them to become interested more often than not IMO they want just the opoosite whether be interests or views.

Friendship been mentioned a few times. Any members live in the area? I'm two counties over to the west

Coinneach said:

Seems that way, but how many of us have young children /grandchildren ?
Hands up how many of us have made an concerted effort to get them interested and bring them into the hobby /sport ?
Because we should be doing that if we want it to thrive.

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While my grandkids are still a bit young, we've been involved in working with kids for a number of years. I can testify there is an acute shortage of volunteers in youth muzzleloading programs

The gulf has narrowed.

Hard to fork $1500 for a Pedersoli indian trade musket when a Kibler's fowler if the same or less. That's for sure.

Sad fact is as we age there are very few younger people taking our place. Combined with price increases there is a shrinking market.I remember when there were over 6 thousand people at an Eastern, and over a hundred camps at local weekend rendezvous. Now many local clubs are folding due to lack of members.

oldramrod said:

Sad fact is as we age there are very few younger people taking our place. Combined with price increases there is a shrinking market.I remember when there were over 6 thousand people at an Eastern, and over a hundred camps at local weekend rendezvous. Now many local clubs are folding due to lack of members.

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This is very, very true BUT rather than bemoaning the situation, we should be asking "How to change it?" I've often had this conversation with around the campfire but if we're not actively engaging in solutions, then we are reveling in the problem. To channel Ziglar- Stinkin Thinkin never fixed anything. That's why I'm always asking folks to get involved with youth whenever and however possible. Goodness knows there are huge issues in society and getting kids started off right is just the first step to solving the problem.