I was member number 9898, illness kept me from traveling to skirmishes and nationals. I was with 15 th Tennessee then 37th Georgia and truly enjoyed the time I was participating. All my teammates were wonderful and became good friends. I still keep a Mississippi rifle on hand, just in case.Well, it looks like there are a number of N-SSA members and former members on this forum. Chime in and let's get to know each other and I have some comments for you guys that I'd like to share in a PM.
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Well, it looks like there are a number of N-SSA members and former members on this forum. Chime in and let's get to know each other and I have some comments for you guys that I'd like to share in a PM.
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I'm sure there are others on this forum, guys, chime in.
I've been an N-SSA member now for about 7 years. While I've been interested in Civil War history, muzzleloading, and reenacting for pretty much most of my life, I never, ever, heard about the N-SSA until I actively looked for them. How that happened- I've been a competition shooter all my life in one form or another. My mom passed about 8 years ago and she told me before she passed that while she loved dad, she didn't want to see him again in 6 months and to look after him. Dad is interested in shooting and competing so we tried a number of different types of competition to see what he liked best. Well, one day the discussion turned to Civil War stuff and he made the comment "I wonder if those Civil War guys are still competing". I checked into it and now it's years and multiple muskets and trips to Winchester later. In our family pictures, I have a couple slides my grandfather took at the second ever N-SSA skirmish in the 1950s. Now my 88yo dad loves shooting muskets and his Sharps carbine and going to a skirmish, especially Nationals. Let's be completely honest though, guys like him are pretty close to getting recognition in the morning invocation at Nationals for those who have "crossed over the river and rest under the shade of the trees". We need to reach younger folks for the N-SSA and muzzleloading in general.
So my challenge is this- don't stay in the muzzleloading shadows. That benefits no one. Put your affiliation with the N-SSA, past or present, into your signature. Don't be shy about it. As an organization, the accumulation of knowledge about Civil War arms in the N-SSA is unequaled anywhere. There's lots of misinformation about these arms and the history around them and if you'll read the mission statement of our 501c3 papers, education is part and parcel to what we do aside from competition shooting. When on a forum dealing with Civil War arms questions, you're probably one of the few, true experts on these arms. Let's get with the education side. I've become a certified Instructor and am active on this and other media promoting the N-SSA and trying to provide educational content from what we do. This weekend, we'll certify 5 more Instructors. Through the summer, if things go according to plan, we'll certify about 30 more on the east coast and our little band of instructors in NC will work with about 150-200 kids and adults through our work with Scouting.
Black Powder muzzleloading has been on a decline for years. We N-SSA members need to step up and work with others to halt that and to promote muzzleloading shooting sports in general.
Just wondering, do they have a smoothbore competition, like just for the smoothie '42 Springfield. This organization did more to preserve the old science and technology of small arms and cannon than any other outfit.Well, it looks like there are a number of N-SSA members and former members on this forum. Chime in and let's get to know each other and I have some comments for you guys that I'd like to share in a PM.
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