National Muzzleloading Rifle Assoc

[coloradoclyde]

Actually the story goes like this.....

A challenge was made and accepted: that an antique muzzle loading rifle could equal the accuracy of modern smokeless firearms. The year was 1931; the location, Portsmouth, Ohio.

Oscar L. Seth, president of the Norfolk & Western Railway YMCA Rifle and Revolver Club (and an avid smallbore shooter), told his friend and fellow-shooter, E.M. Farris, that he was tired of hearing hill-born railroaders boast that their uncles and grandpaps could knock out the eye of a squirrel at 50 paces with an old front-loader.

Farris, a collector of antique guns, was a man who combined his interest in firearms and shooting with a natural talent for promotion, to the ultimate benefit of the sport of muzzle loading.

The date chosen for the match was February 21, 1931. The course of fire was three shots prone with any kind of rest, and two shots offhand at 60 yards, using muzzle loading rifles with open metallic sights. Targets were NRA 50-yard bull's-eyes.

Interest in the match far exceeded the expectations of the planners. Sixty-seven shooters came from as far away as 125 miles, toting guns that had spent decades in gun rooms and attics. High score of the day was 37X50. If the shooting wasn't remarkable, the enthusiasm was, and it was decided to make the match an annual event.

By the time February 1932 rolled around, the contestants had learned a little about what it takes to make a muzzleloader shoot. Walter M. Cline, in The Muzzle Loader Then and Now, notes that there was a noticeable increase in accuracy among the shooters.

The following year, thirty-seven men, each contributing fifty cents, signed the roster of a new shooting organization for the purpose of holding national championships and promoting the sport of muzzle loading. Oscar Seth was elected president and Farris secretary-treasurer. The name, National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, was officially adopted.

As it often happens with ideas whose time has come, the revival of old-time muzzle loading matches was not limited to the Portsmouth group. Boss Johnston, a homespun Hoosier philosopher broadcasting over WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Powell Crosley, the owner of the station, put on a muzzle loading shoot in December of 1933. This match took place in the school yard grounds at Friendship, Indiana, within a mile of present-day NMLRA headquarters. It was such a success that plans were made for a match to be held the next year at Rising Sun, Indiana.

Among those attending the 1934 matches were Walter Cline, who had succeeded Seth as president of NMLRA, Farris and several others from the Portsmouth-based group. Farris and Cline met with Boss Johnston to discuss combining forces. Since the Portsmouth range was not large enough to accommodate the growing number of shooters, it was agreed to hold the 1935 National Matches at Rising Sun in conjunction with the Crosley Match.

Laughery Park, on the Ohio River just outside Rising Sun, was chosen as the match site. In addition to the Crosley Match, the program featured a contest for flintlock rifles, the John Mench Offhand Trophy match, a team competition and several 220-yard matches for the slug guns. The National Championship Match was five shots prone and five shots standing.

The river served as a backstop, which required sounding a bell whenever a barge was approaching. "Hold your fire," was the order until the boat was safely by.

For the next several years, the shoots were held at Rising Sun and in the area around Dillsboro and Friendship. It became apparent that the NMLRA needed a home. The search for a permanent range culminated in the purchase of 54 acres just east of the village of Friendship. The tract, part of the Wilke Lemon farm, lay a beautiful valley deep in the hill country of southeastern Indiana. It was bisected by State Route 62 and the meandering Laughery Creek. Orville Jones and Boss Johnston laid out the original firing line in the fall of 1941 and the grounds were formally dedicated as the Walter Cline Muzzle Loading Rifle Range during the 1942 National Championships.

For the first few years, the range was not much more than an overgrown pasture, roughly mowed before each shoot. The old pin-framed, tobacco-curing barn was partially dismantled, moved to its present site and rebuilt to serve as a clubhouse. A small stone building was erected to provide rest rooms and tool storage. Shooters camped on the grounds or found lodging in private homes. It wasn't until 1958 that the first commercial row building was erected; until then, trading was carried out on tarps spread on the ground, makeshift tables, and car trunks.

Campfire gatherings are a tradition at all muzzle loading gatherings, and from the earliest years on the Walter Cline Range, it was around the campfires that stories were told, targets re-shot, friendships cemented, all to the cadence of banjo, fiddle, and guitar.

Many things have changed since the Laughery Valley became home to the NMLRA and the National Championships, but much remains the same. It is still "Mecca" to those who love the history and heritage of the old guns, and revere the ways of their ancestors. The hills still echo deep-throated booms as the sulphurous powder sends the ball toward its target. White smoke still drifts on the wind. And for those who know how to listen, voices long stilled murmur in the campfire's dying embers.

Source: Muzzle Blast magazine May/June 1997

 

[meanmike8665]

See above above, most of that info came from Cline's book.Yes, I found that piece also, but did not site it because original source is usually better.

 

[fleener]

Mike

you and we are those people now that should be writing those articles.

Fleener

 

[fleener]

MM

Just ignore Clyde. That is what I do. It is easy to be an internet expert at everything. All you have to have is a computer, internet connection, and time to tell everyone.

NMLRA membership is up I think 200 from a year ago. That is huge when you consider that it has been declining for several years.

Joe Hill the current President of NMLRA is a very good friend of mine. I ran into him unexpected 2 weeks ago in Indianapolis and also spoke to him last night for an hour on the phone.

He has a vision and he is doing things. He might not make everyone happy but leaders that get things done ruffle feathers. He might use a chainsaw instead of a scalpel at times but by golly he has passion and driver.

I make the choice to act, not just complain. He was talking to me about what he sees my role in the NMLRA is and what we can do to move it forward.

So MM, keep doing what you do, dont get distracted by the noise.

Fleener

 

[meanmike8665]

Thanks, I just met Joe and had several conversations about what needs to be done. I like his vision and when you see how he treats people and wants what is best for all, it a good thing. I saw more smiles and laughing at the Western this year than in past years. His excitement for the sport is refreshing. BTW, the membership growth number was 700 since Nov. announced at the shoot.
Michael

 

See above above, most of that info came from Cline's book.Yes, I found that piece also, but did not site it because original source is usually better.

I have Cline's book (lucked out and found an original printing copy on EBay for less than one ofu the reprints) but I am not even sure where it is at the moment. The Roberts book, which I bought before the Beatles broke up, is a bit more worn.
My memory was that the beginnings of the NMLRA was all traditional sidelock from the getgo. That was, after all, the point of the whole thing.
Before inlines began showing up, and most states muzzleloading seasons rules were written in a way that would have excluded them anyway, there was a question I got a lot from people who knew I was "into" muzzleloading. "What's the cheapest muzzleloader I can get for deer hunting?" These people would not have dreamed of shooting slugs through a break action single barrel flea market shotgun during the regular season. That they wanted the cheapest muzzleloader they could get said one thing. "I want as little to do with muzzleloaders as possible, but I have to have one for a few more days of hunting." They would never have even considered participating in a traditional muzzleloading match. At most, whatever rifle they had would see a few rounds down the barrel just before it was time once again to go hunting. Not all that deep down, they had no use for the traditional muzzleloader and would never have had one were it not for a special deer season. Then a few people figured out that there was a market for muzzleloaders that were more like a model 70 than a Dickert or a Brockway. DNRs across the country rushed to rewrite the regulations to allow the new style muzzleloaders, and the death knell of the original intent and purpose of the muzzleloader only season was sounded.
But back to the NMLRA.
Starting sometime in the early eighties, the NMLRA had a BOD that seemed to look for ways to spend money. There would be a little blurb in Muzzle Blast about with a small raise in dues, and a projected rise in membership, it would all be covered. It would seem that none of them had ever heard the old saying about not counting your chickens before they hatch. What actually happened, was that the projected number of new members never materialized, and on top of that more than a few existing members decided that with the rise in dues membership was no longer worth it. This precipitated another raise in dues, and those of us who were close enough to Friendship to just drive down for the day during the shoot to shop and visit had to wonder how much the card was worth. AS A MEMBER, you paid to park and you even had to pay to get on the grounds. In my case, an incident finally occurred that caused me to cut my membership card in half and send it back with a note saying that, if, after 22 years of membership I was going to be treated like a tourist, I might as well save the cost of dues and be one. I remained a non-member for a long time but decided to give it one more try a few years ago. There are still a few things I would like to see changed at Friendship but, so far anyway, I have remained a member. If not for certain policies that were in place in 1992, I would now have been a member for 47 years.
The NMLRA might survive, it might not. But, for me anyway, here's the thing.
On June 30 I will have another birthday. Two of them actually. My personal odometer will click over, but, more importantly to me, it will mark the anniversary of receiving my first muzzleloading rifle. It will mark the start of my 49th year in the sport. It is a sport I embraced not from a need for another deer season - there was no such thing as a special season then - but because I was facinated by muzzleloaders. I would have and did hunt with one, special season or not. I also attended monthly shoots at the local gun club, shooting with older men who helped me along in those so-much-to-learn years. Those shoots were a lot of fun. The same can be said for the many many small shoots that I have attended in the years since.
I can understand how people whose only tangible benefit of membership is the magazine might consider the NMLRA a "three state shooting club". I wish I could offer a solution - even a suggestion - on a way to make the organization more attractive to those who either live too far away to attend the national matches or who are only interested in hunting. I am reasonably sure it will take more than a vamped up magazine.
I don't think welcoming inlines is the answer. They are the gun of choice for people looking for an edge, a way of obeying the letter of the law while scoffing at the spirit of it. I have seen them take over what started as a special season for people who WANTED to hunt with traditional, exposed ignition, loose black powder firearms. If the day would ever arrive (assuming that inline shooters would ever have enough interest in competition for it to happen) when an organization founded on shooting firearms common to the 18th and 19th centuries became overrun with "muzzleloaders" that feature sealed bolt-action ignition, pellets instead of powder, and plastic saboted copper jacketed bullets.........Well, that's the day I'm gone for good. There will be a small group of friends who can get together in a hollow on somebody's farm and have a shooting match with their traditional, black powder burning, muzzleloaders, and who knows? Maybe history can repeat itself.

 

[Larry Akers]

Personally, I don't care what kind of ignition, projectile, or form of rifle the guy next to me is shooting. If the sights are comparable (ie. open or AMS) I will hold my own with my RB flint longrifle.
Clyde said, "the NMLRA is only interested in revenue".
That's not true, but, Membership = Revenue. Without members there will be no revenue. Without revenue the Association will cease to exist, therefore the focus on increasing membership.

 

[meanmike8665]

Hi Randy, thanks for posting. Yes, it was traditional rifles. I am just a kid only been doing this 28 years. I am very worried about the NMLRA, but I am NOT going to stop being a member and I WILL work to make it better for EVERYONE.
Michael

 

Personally, I don't care what kind of ignition, projectile, or form of rifle the guy next to me is shooting. If the sights are comparable (ie. open or AMS) I will hold my own with my RB flint longrifle.
Clyde said, "the NMLRA is only interested in revenue".
That's not true, but, Membership = Revenue. Without members there will be no revenue. Without revenue the Association will cease to exist, therefore the focus on increasing membership.

To each his own.
In my prime I could give anybody a run for their money with a flintlock too. And if it is an any gun match, I will be more than happy to shoot against inlines, hi-walls, Weatherby bolt-actions, and AR-15s. But if it is billed as a muzzleloading shoot, I think it should be confined to what was the norm for the first several decades of the NMLRA's existence. Side lock percussion, under hammer, and flint. My preference is quality over quantity.

 

Hi Randy, thanks for posting. Yes, it was traditional rifles. I am just a kid only been doing this 28 years. I am very worried about the NMLRA, but I am NOT going to stop being a member and I WILL work to make it better for EVERYONE.
Michael

You know, I'm still trying to get over Glen McClain introducing me to somebody at Thundercreek last fall as "one of the old-timers".

 

[meanmike8665]

Wear it proud and share what you know.

Michael

 

[coloradoclyde]

Clyde said, "the NMLRA is only interested in revenue".
That's not true, but, Membership = Revenue. Without members there will be no revenue. Without revenue the Association will cease to exist, therefore the focus on increasing membership.

Yes! for them membership is a direct route to revenue. For many non-profit organizations it is not the same.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Randy,
I think you captured the sentiment of many beautifully.... :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[coloradoclyde]

I think it should be confined to what was the norm for the first several decades of the NMLRA's existence. Side lock percussion, under hammer, and flint. My preference is quality over quantity.

Agreed!....Otherwise you are removing the ML from N[strike]ML[/strike]RA .....and you are left with NRA.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Thanks, I just met Joe and had several conversations about what needs to be done. I like his vision and when you see how he treats people and wants what is best for all, it a good thing.
Michael

s

I hope you're right but, who is "all" and how do we measure it?

 

[meanmike8665]

I was think this morning about when I started, one of the first questions was, do you shoot a flint or one of the new tangle cap guns, then after a while it was when are you going to get rid of that T/C and get a real rifle. I still see, hear, and read things like that today. Sad. I have been on a rant for about three years about match programs that are built to make it difficult for people to compete, for example the Founders Agg at the Western. The targets are very difficult for a competitor shooting a T/C, I once saw a man excited about shooting that agg and when done he was so disgusted he left the line and has not been since since. I don't think all the problems come from what kinds of guns are being shot it' s not making everyone feeling welcome and writing match programs that take in limitions of some rifles. My favorite match is open sight, and guys will put some kind of knob adjustable rear sight and a slot cut in it to make it a ' open ' most new shooter look at it and say it is cheating because it is not tradition and then walk away. Or they write a match rule open sights a guy buys his Lyman GP or T/C and be told he can't shoot the match because it is adjustable and the match is primative. We have so many rules to either limit or exclude people why bother. I will be sending an email to the new Pres with ideas we are using with some success bringing in shooters that we shunned other places.

Michael

 

[coloradoclyde]

I was think this morning about when I started, one of the first questions was, do you shoot a flint or one of the new tangle cap guns, then after a while it was when are you going to get rid of that T/C and get a real rifle. I still see, hear, and read things like that today. Sad. I have been on a rant for about three years about match programs that are built to make it difficult for people to compete, for example the Founders Agg at the Western. The targets are very difficult for a competitor shooting a T/C, I once saw a man excited about shooting that agg and when done he was so disgusted he left the line and has not been since since. I don't think all the problems come from what kinds of guns are being shot it' s not making everyone feeling welcome and writing match programs that take in limitions of some rifles. My favorite match is open sight, and guys will put some kind of knob adjustable rear sight and a slot cut in it to make it a ' open ' most new shooter look at it and say it is cheating because it is not tradition and then walk away. Or they write a match rule open sights a guy buys his Lyman GP or T/C and be told he can't shoot the match because it is adjustable and the match is primative. We have so many rules to either limit or exclude people why bother. I will be sending an email to the new Pres with ideas we are using with some success bringing in shooters that we shunned other places.

Michael

Mike when I first joined, there was no "new fangled" things...We had all the same rules restricting sights etc.....And yes, the normal evolution of the sport was for one to progress backwards, embracing more traditional styles and ways....

 

[coloradoclyde]

for example the Founders Agg at the Western

Please explain....

 

[coloradoclyde]

We have so many rules to either limit or exclude people why bother. I will be sending an email to the new Pres with ideas we are using with some success bringing in shooters that we shunned other places.

It almost sounds like you are actively trying to destroy the traditional side of muzzleloading...
I hope this isn't true, and I hope you aren't doing it inadvertently.....

 

I was think this morning about when I started, one of the first questions was, do you shoot a flint or one of the new tangle cap guns, then after a while it was when are you going to get rid of that T/C and get a real rifle. I still see, hear, and read things like that today. Sad. I have been on a rant for about three years about match programs that are built to make it difficult for people to compete, for example the Founders Agg at the Western. The targets are very difficult for a competitor shooting a T/C, I once saw a man excited about shooting that agg and when done he was so disgusted he left the line and has not been since since. I don't think all the problems come from what kinds of guns are being shot it' s not making everyone feeling welcome and writing match programs that take in limitions of some rifles. My favorite match is open sight, and guys will put some kind of knob adjustable rear sight and a slot cut in it to make it a ' open ' most new shooter look at it and say it is cheating because it is not tradition and then walk away. Or they write a match rule open sights a guy buys his Lyman GP or T/C and be told he can't shoot the match because it is adjustable and the match is primative. We have so many rules to either limit or exclude people why bother. I will be sending an email to the new Pres with ideas we are using with some success bringing in shooters that we shunned other places.

Michael

First of all, let me say that I feel the same way you do about the “no adjustable sights even if they are open” rule. Contrary to what some believe, there were open sights back in the day, and as it now stands, you could show up an original pre-Civil War rifle with original sights and not be allowed to use it.That’s insane, but on the other hand, if you stop and think about it, it is best to leave it as it is. Why? Because there are those who consider winning SO important they will look for any loopholes they can to give them the edge. You have mentioned at least one example of this yourself. Not really breaking the rules, but bending them way past the spirit they were originally intended for.
For what it is worth, most places will allow open adjustable sights if they are sealed.
Not being familiar with the different matches at the Western Nationals, I downloaded a program. For the aggregate you mentioned, I see four matches. A-1 50 yrds rest open sights A-2. 25 yrds off-hand any metallic sights A-3 50 yrds off hand any metallic sight and A-4 100 yrds rest any metallic sight. I have never owned a TC rifle, but I have owned any number of similar (read hunting/offhand) rifles that could easily shoot that aggregate. Of course, there is a difference between “shoot” and “compete”. Can a run of the mill production rifle compete against a rifle that is custom built for punching holes in paper one on top of the other all day long? Maybe, depending on who is doing the shooting. Most of the time though the guy shooting that rifle that cost a couple to several grand to build ”“ the one with SIGHTS that cost as much as a TC Hawken ”“ spends a lot of time behind his rifle. No matter what you are shooting, if you don’t do the same he is gonna whup you.
Locally, the club of which I was a charter member now shoots nothing but chunk gun and table matches. I might get out to Allen’s some time and try a table match, but I don’t waste my time, powder, and lead shooting chunk gun matches. It requires special equipment to have a prayer of competing and, after a burglary in 1999, I no longer have the needed gun for the game.
What’s your answer to the guy with the production rifle at the Western shoot competing against custom guns and the guy in Indiana with the custom flintlock hunting rifle competing against rifles with barrels 50 inches or more long and an inch and a quarter across the flats? Should we rewrite the rules to favor the guy who doesn’t really have the right equipment, or should we maybe expect him to compete in matches he IS equipped and ready for until he is ready to move up to the next step?
Most of the time, the rules at a match are pretty simple. For several years I ran a woodswalk for the local club. It was advertised by flyers which included the rules. Traditional percussion or flintlock only, open sights only. Guy shows up with peep sights. I told him he could go through for fun, but not for score. He left in a huff and probably thinks I’m a consummate jerk to this day. I don’t care. There were thirty or forty other shooters there who came prepared to play by the rules, and I would have rather been fair to them than worry about ticking off one individual.
You mention people being shunned. I have shot a lot of different places over the years but I really can’t think of a single instance of this. There is the case I have already mentioned where a guy wanted to compete with peeps in an open sights only match. There was also a case where someone wanted to use Poly Patches, was told he couldn’t, and left in a huff. I don’t look at this as shunning. It’ simply enforcing rules.