What have you done to further the muzzleloading hobby?

[Eutycus]

I would say the first step is get the non shooters interested and fairly knowledgeable about the shooting sport in general. Then branch out into muzzleloading.I'm presently teaching several older women about the common sense approach to self defense which unfortunately has nothing to do with muzzleloading...yet.

 

[smo]

bpflnt007,

There are more shoots at Friendship other than the Spring & Fall shoots..
If you’re not too far away, pay them a visit.

Also there are some other events around the Indianapolis area..

I’m sure there are more Clubs around Indiana as well.. Not all Clubs are members of the NMLRA.

There are a few Members on here that are local too the Indiana/Indianapolis area too…

Good Luck in your journey..

 

[TexiKan]

The theory of getting kids interested sounds good yet the reality of getting them in the hobby has not met expectations.

Yeah, I know that isn't a popular statement to make yet we have found few kids, once exposed,may like it but not enough to continue in the hobby even as an adult. I've discussed this topic with other clubs and groups and we all have had virtually no kid stay with the hobby or return as an adult. What the? Yes,our club has made the effort--Boy Scout shoots, rendezvous demonstrations as an educational event, youth days, support for 4-H ML competitions, you name it, we've tried it with little success.

Let me take this one step further. My previous professions involved recruitment and retention. Specifically, I was a music teacher and music dealer who helped teachers start music program. I know the procedures that can spark interests. One such aspect has become clear through out the 30+ years of this: giving kids free guns, accessories, etc., does not result in appreciation or the dedication to stay with it. On a closer to home level, I am sure many of us helped our young adult children get a car yet we required them to invest into it by getting a job and providing some forms of personal and financial involvement. My company has given away some free instruments. None stuck with the program. Schools that have reduced rental rates and provide free repairs also lose students. However, parent who are renting instruments and paying for repairs are more likely to encourage their children to stick with it.

Now there are always exceptions and I am sure there will be some who say some of their kids stuck with muzzleloading. Did they have some help from you and did you continue to encourage them? Demonstrations for the general public sounds good but after that, we do not help them obtain the equipment nor do we follow up. Recruitment needs to go further.

 

[dave951]

The theory of getting kids interested sounds good yet the reality of getting them in the hobby has not met expectations.

Yeah, I know that isn't a popular statement to make yet we have found few kids, once exposed,may like it but not enough to continue in the hobby even as an adult. I've discussed this topic with other clubs and groups and we all have had virtually no kid stay with the hobby or return as an adult. What the? Yes,our club has made the effort--Boy Scout shoots, rendezvous demonstrations as an educational event, youth days, support for 4-H ML competitions, you name it, we've tried it with little success.

The kids we work with in camp are working on shooting merit badge or are doing the Mountain Man program. So they are somewhat "pre-qualified". If you do a general cattle call event, there is little desire already there.

 

[Robby]

I don't know. The quality of soil where I have planted seeds varies. After I'm gone somebody's may be able to answer it for me.
Robby

 

[Eutycus]

The theory of getting kids interested sounds good yet the reality of getting them in the hobby has not met expectations.

Yeah, I know that isn't a popular statement to make yet we have found few kids, once exposed,may like it but not enough to continue in the hobby even as an adult. I've discussed this topic with other clubs and groups and we all have had virtually no kid stay with the hobby or return as an adult. What the? Yes,our club has made the effort--Boy Scout shoots, rendezvous demonstrations as an educational event, youth days, support for 4-H ML competitions, you name it, we've tried it with little success.

Let me take this one step further. My previous professions involved recruitment and retention. Specifically, I was a music teacher and music dealer who helped teachers start music program. I know the procedures that can spark interests. One such aspect has become clear through out the 30+ years of this: giving kids free guns, accessories, etc., does not result in appreciation or the dedication to stay with it. On a closer to home level, I am sure many of us helped our young adult children get a car yet we required them to invest into it by getting a job and providing some forms of personal and financial involvement. My company has given away some free instruments. None stuck with the program. Schools that have reduced rental rates and provide free repairs also lose students. However, parent who are renting instruments and paying for repairs are more likely to encourage their children to stick with it.

Now there are always exceptions and I am sure there will be some who say some of their kids stuck with muzzleloading. Did they have some help from you and did you continue to encourage them? Demonstrations for the general public sounds good but after that, we do not help them obtain the equipment nor do we follow up. Recruitment needs to go further.

For one the kids couldn't afford it, it's not a cheap hobby anymore.

 

[Africa58double]

At my Local Association- There is Archery and every kind of shooting sport available… except- Yes You Guessed it- Muzzleloader.

Wednesday I’m going to become a member (Maybe) and see if they will allow a small Muzzleloader range at the Association. It was talked about before- and many years ago there was one.

I’ll spearhead the Project and make the range in the woods , Keep up on it and Try to get other members interested.


It is a Rewarding sport

 

[Urban Coyote]

Once organized and ran a monthly competition for youngsters. Went pretty well until some of the parents thought it a baby sitting service.

Delivered a presentation on muzzleloaders to a sportsman's club and later helped them organize and run shoots.

I've done lots of one on one instruction to new shooters.

Introduced several to hunting with muzzleloaders, traditional ones.

 

[FiremanBrad]

I coach our county 4H Muzzleloading program. Our only female shooter made the Mo. state team and went to nationals last year. We have a young man on this years state team as well, but he recently moved here.

 

[TexiKan]

The kids we work with in camp are working on shooting merit badge or are doing the Mountain Man program. So they are somewhat "pre-qualified". If you do a general cattle call event, there is little desire already there.

True. We, too, helped Boy Scouts earn their Muzzleloading merit badges. (We have four member as active Scout leaders) Once those kids earned their merit badge, we never see them again.

The other statement regarding the cost of being in the hobby is a fact that cannot be ignored. Thus most folks give the kids everything they need as an initial incentive to get them to try the hobby. Of course they will like it and will continue to respond to the "free" aspects. How do we help them and their parents obtain the items they need. Have we also encouraged and informed the parents how to support this endeavor?

Although not quite the same, but still relevant, we have a member who has several large cannons and at our educational rendezvous', he talks and gives demonstrations. Of course, EVERYBODY wants to pull that cannon string. When they ask him to do so outside of his demonstration, he tells them they need to help pay for some of the powder and now it is time for their investment into it. They were hooked by seeing the cannon go off. Now they need to materially be part of the experience.

When we look back where our club membership has grown, the majority of the new members are adults who have guns they have not used or do not have a place to use. The closet guns or the inherited ones. They eventually come out to our safe environment to check us out, shoot, and then it becomes our responsibility to make them feel welcomed and give them reasons to become a member.

 

[Lippy984]

And that is precisely why I became a certified NRA Muzzleloading Instructor. It isn't an easy cert to get but it IS a requirement to working in almost every youth shooting sports program that has muzzleloading. With the cert in hand, I've been spending part of every summer instructing at a local Scout reservation. During the "off" times, we work with small groups and try to get others to get certified. We have also started a NMLRA Charter Club that is instructor oriented. We're the "Yadkin Valley Rangers" losely based in central NC.

Getting certified isn't easy. It takes a commitment of time and money. Most folks will cheer from the sidelines, but when it comes time to "get in the game", they have other things that are higher priority to them. Having seen this too often, all I have to say these days is, if you don't get in the game, quit whining, you're part of the problem.

Next, it takes "stuff" to put on a program and that takes either money or donations. I've gotten some negative feedback here cuz I make no bones about asking for support for our work but it takes support to run a program. That's why I support Schuetzen to the hilt for their powder and cap donations and can't care less about Goex. We get donations to purchase lead for some of our ammunition which we cast and use during instruction since we teach both PRB and Minies. The kids we work with get to experience both types of shooting and they nearly always show a pronounced preference for minies. You PRB guys are cringing, but if you want new blood in the sport, you have to bend a bit to get them into the game, then show the other paths to take as they gain more experience.

I'm glad to see someone else besides me start this type of thread. You bench sitters need to get into the game in some capacity- instruct, teach, donate, publicize, make stuff, we all have talents, use them or lose this hobby.

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I sure wish I had this in my area as a kid

 

[Sprglde]

I took my girlfriend's 12 yr old granson to the range for some bp fun and he's hooked. His parents bought him a nice old .45 po boy to start out with.

 

[Mark Herman]

I hae shot ML's since the 1960's and during that time organized a boy scout program, participated in NMLRA youth programs and was involved in publishing a 5 volume set of books for the ASSOCIATION OF OHIO LONGRIFLE COLLECTORS. My son and now my grandson have both participated alongside me at many events and shoots. In the 1950's I met a gentleman, through my father, who was in the truest sense of the word was an outdoorsman in every way. He taught me how to shoot, he took me hunting and we became the best of lifetime friends. Although he used contemporary weapons he did try muzzle loading but wasn't won over. I gave his grandson a ML and he too tried it but wasn't as into it as I. Now I have received a call from his great grandson regarding his own son, my friend's gg grandson, regarding getting a ML. I have just put together a package including a rifle and everything he will need to shoot it and unbeknownst to his father am giving it to his 8 year old. This, along with some range time is how I intend to say thank you to his gg grand dad and maybe bring a young pup into our fraternity.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I helped by being an ml safety instructor, working as an NMLRA field rep., giving presentations and talks as a Rev. Rifleman for nearly 50 years, helped form several clubs and shot regularly. I used to write articles for Muzzle Blasts and other related magazines. But, I have to admit you are right about all the closet queen ml rifles that are out there. Today's younger people are not taught history and, I believe, as a consequence are just plain lazy when it comes to using firearms.

 

[Dave Dworshak]

4-H SHOOTING SPORTS

 

[RicM]

“Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned”

I worked on completing my 1964 Vietnam era retro M16 601 rifle. Sorry no pics, I don’t want to get stoned lololol by you guys.

All my muzzleloader are happily resting waiting for their new friend to arrive in a month or so, “original 1841 Mississippi” can’t wait!
The boss (my wife of 32 years) gave me the green light.

 

[Cattywompuss]

I'm not entirely sure how to bring new blood into the sport. I live in East Alabama and grew up in Georgia. The South is a little different in that while we may have an appreciation for history, we have a voracious appetite for modern firearms. Muzzleloaders are seen as merely a way to get a jump on rifle hunters, just like bow season.

I have one daughter, nine years of age. She is not into shooting, and that's okay. She was super excited to get a Daisy bb gun for Christmas. I did tell her the other day that one day my rifles would be hers. And my wife and I also took the time to explain that one day she should use those rifles as a standard by which to judge men: as in, never consider a boy or man if you wouldn't be happy letting him co-own and shoot my rifles.

I've been shooting muzzleloaders on and off for over 30 years, and I was just a kid when I was exposed to them. On the other hand, I also got the whole Dan'l Boone/Davy Crockett/Jeremiah Johnson exposure that carried over from the Boomers. Film and literature definitely had an impact as it did on many here. Between Westerns, Last of the Mohican, and a slew of Louis L'Amour, I have the same love of the American Myth as many of us do. That's not a requirement for being a dedicated muzzleloader like I have become, but it is definitely more likely to result in an interest.

It takes cultural movements to cause what happened both in the early 20th Century with the revival then and the one from 1970 on to now. The artisanal craft movement that has ossomed in the last decade has certainly led to the finest gang of artisan builders ever to have lived. They surpass the Golden Age masters. Part of that fact is down to having the luxury of time and a modern society that allows luxury goods, like our fine contemporary longrifles, to be purchased out of fun rather than need. It's hardly different than folks like me buying very expensive Gibson reissue Les Paul guitars to recapture magic of Clapton/Green/Paige etc. But while pop culture has taken such instruments to unparalleled heights of exposure to the masses, the pre-industrial American frontier just doesn't seem to have the same allure these days as causing ladies to swoon in front of a stage.

We may have to settle for bringing folks in one at a time, because I doubt the broader culture(even the gun culture) will be doing us any favors like Hollywood did for about 70 years.

 

[Mulebrain]

I hear that all the time, the sport is dying out. In many ways much of it is, as we are finding out in the south east. We recently lost a club as the land was sold off, and now another range in NC is up for sale. What I find most troubling, is many of the black powder ranges are on leased land, and the clubs don't own it. Urban sprawl is another contributor to this.

The club I am with is on the decline, and on leased land. They could pull the grass right out from under us. I am trying to get new members in, but need to try harder. We need a certain amount of members paying dues to cover taxes, insurance and range repairs.

I talk black powder whenever I get a chance, to everyone I meet. To me there is no funner shooting on the planet

 

[Mulebrain]

On another note, much of the living history folks that used to show up and educate children on black powder guns, and history has been stopped.
That really needs to change as well

 

[Capnball]

Hey all. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and there’s something that’s been on my mind. Many guys here seem concerned about the lack of new blood in this hobby. I got to looking, there’s three clubs in Indiana according to the NMLRA. All of them use Facebook for information about them but I don’t have or want an account on Facebook, so I can’t view the info. Right now there’s really no way for me, someone already into muzzleloading, to find a club or other local resources. This brings the question up in my mind: if I can’t find anything local, what about those outside of the hobby who have a slight curiosity?

So, the question is, what have you all done to make this hobby more accessible to new people? Have any of you started a club local to you? If so, how? I’d like to keep the hobby alive but it seems many got into it around the Bicentennial, or someone in their family passed it down. There’s a lot of good info floating around but I’m concerned that in the next 10-20 years a lot of people with hands on knowledge will no longer be with us.

Traditional muzzleloading isn’t going to be the next hot thing nor will it ever be I think. But if there’s not more done to help “pass the torch” so to speak, it’ll only get harder to get parts, kits, accessories, and complete guns as the demand continues to drop. So again, let’s hear what you all have done to keep the hobby alive and maybe we all can learn a few lessons that can be applied to bringing new people in!

I'd like to bump a gathering up this weekend in PA if anyone is looking for a way to kill a Friday and/or Saturday

Hope I'm not out of line. The biggest hurdle I had getting involved was finding a place to shoot with like minded people. These events sure make cold winters go by without completely shelving the lifestyle till spring.
Neil