Competitive Muzzleloading Bullseye Pistol Shooting

[young blood]

Hi all!

I'm new since last year to the muzzleloading bullseye pistol shooting sport and I love it! Originally I wanted to shoot conventional bullseye pistol but even with my more affordable reloads I still couldn't afford to shoot enough to make progress with my scores. And besides all that finding .22LR is a nightmare these days!

And then a friend introduced me to the muzzleloading side of things. Now hang on - I can hear your thoughts... The pistols we use are modern "in-line" pistols with adjustable sights, custom triggers - well ... most guns in this sport are custom pieces. Not the old timey pirate or revolutionary war looking stuff. Although there are matches for "traditional" pistols.

The cost of ammunition is way cheaper! The challenge is hard because these guns require focus and follow through. And for us tennesseans the nationals are held in Friendship Indiana. Home of the national muzzleloading rifle association. Only a few short hours drive!

The reason I bring all this up is because this sport is dying. Literally! There are almost no youth shooters. No one below the age of 45-50 probably (besides me and a couple others). All the greats have retired or passed away or still shoot but a reminder only of how the sport used to thrive.

I'm calling out to people who'd like to shoot pistol competitively and think maybe they're up for the real challenge of muzzleloading bullseye pistol!

[NashvilleStage]

Huh. I'd never thought of blackpowder bullseye competition.

 

If you're looking to entice people to try it out, try expanding out to the historical & traditional blackpowder community. You might be surprised at how good some of those people can shoot. If they've got a little competitive streak to boot, it might not take much prodding for them to come & try it out.

 

Also, be careful to lighten up on the "firearm snobbery" that can subtly run in the bullseye circles. While I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, people who own "old timey pirate or revolutionary war looking stuff" might be put-off from attitudes like that.

 

Another tact you could try is just going out to the public range & shooting your blackpowder firearms. Many people have never seen blackpowder in person, let alone shot one. There's a great nostalgic factor involved, and the big poofs of smoke are sure to draw a crowd. Hint: There's your chance to answer questions & invite people to try it out. Bring extra supplies & allow extra time to have people try out your firearms. It's a sure-fire hook.

 

Print out some business cards with your shooting group's info & email / website. You can do small batches on Vistaprint for free. Give them out to everyone you talk to.

 

Best of luck to you, and I hope you do well!

[young blood]

NashvilleStage your idea's are good ones and thank you. I certainly did not mean in any way to put down or disrespect the traditional models of muzzleloading pistols. I happen to find them interesting and the NMLRA holds matches with traditional pistols as well as modern. There are matches for the traditional caplock, flintlock, and revolver. Matches for men and women seperate or combined. Matches for youth. Matches for senior citizens where they can be allowed to use pistol scopes, and two handed holds. There are loaner pistols at the nationals in the youth model sizes for kids interested in the sport to "walk-on" sort of into a match to try out the sport. 

 

I simply meant that a lot of people that have no knowledge of the muzzleloading competitive sports (rifle, pistol, shotgun) tend to automatically assume the models of our forefathers when I mention muzzleloading but in fact a person can compete with a modern, custom built weapon. 

 

The competition does start way back using traditional weaponry and to remember and preserve that at Friendship Indiana you will find the "traditional" side of the NMLRA's property where people dress, camp out and live the whole part. Check out NMLRA's website for more information. It's truly like stepping back in time.

 

http://nmlra.org/

 

Personally I enjoy the more modern side of things but the guns are still loaded and fired with the same ammunition. Modern grips and adjustable bo-mar styled sights with hair triggers are the type of guns and matches I've been working to compete in. The situation we face right now is that the shooters have all grown older with no one to take up the sport. 

 

At the range I go too people have tried out my guns but unfortunately people seem to think that these guns are too much work to shoot one shot at a time. A lot of people these days like the IPSC and IDPA matches where those look fun and a rush of excitement I prefer the bullseye sport. And like I said - for those of you who may be interested in conventional bullseye pistol give muzzleloading a thought. There are a lot of people to learn from and the sport can be just as complex and challenging and the cost may be a little lighter. 

[Westwindmike]

If you happen to recruit some of the IPSC folks, I'm sure that they will figure out a way to shave tenths of a second off of each shot, so that you can get more shots in. Just look what they did to Cowboy Action Shooting.