For what it's worth, I looked thru the last 2 months of Muzzle Blasts and except for the one article dealing with big game, I didn't see one article about, or even mentioning Modern Muzzleloaders. Ya, there were a few ads for things like 777 and such, but the way some of our members are talking, scoped, stainless steel, fiberglass stocked guns with Shotgun primers shooting 150 grain Pyrodex loads is all they talk about.
Not so.
As for the NMLRA financing a Muzzleloading Lobby like the NRA, those lobbies cost Millions of dollars to even begin to set up, and more millions of dollars to maintain.
The present $40.00 membership costs multiplied by the roughly 20,000 members only comes to $800,000 per year.
It doesn't take much mental effort to see that lobbying is out of the question. (By the way, the NMLRA HAS NOT raised their membership costs, and Postage eats up a lot of your membership fees.)
Captchee made some valid remarks about the possible effects of some of the new style rifles on hunting.
Pointing out that with the new scope mounted guns taking game at ranges of 150+ yards, the time will come when muzzleloading seasons could be eliminated.
This may be true, but the NMLRA recognizing the existance of these new guns, and holding competitive shoots for them, and even recognizing the game taken with them is not IMO the problem.
Whether the NMLRA recognizes these guns, or sticks their heads in the sand and pretends they don't exist will have NO bearing on what the states do with their hunting laws.
If you feel strongly (as many of you do), YOU can have a direct influence on your states hunting laws.
Whether you want to totally ban everything that wasn't available before 1840, or thing that forbidding sights which use lenses would level the playing field, all you have to do is unite people with similar feelings and let your Game and Fish department know what you want, and the reasons for wanting it.
I personally enjoy Muzzle Blasts magazine. There are things I would do differently, but the magazine is set up to be enjoyed by a number of different people with a number of different tastes.
As I said when I started this post, I haven't seen much, if anything in the NMLRAs magazine which deals with In-Lines or Telescopic Sights.
It almost appears to be as Shakespear said: "much ado about nothing".
:m2c: