Had a great time at Friendship

[jethro224]

I'm back from vacation in case anybody missed me. :haha:

Spent a long last weekend at the NMLRA Spring shoot at Friendship. I got there Friday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. Had a blast! Wish I coulda stayed longer.

I "camped" by myself in the modern campground, but didn't spend much time there. Didn't even start a fire or pitch a tent. Just slept in the Jeep. My next-door-neighbor campers, Dean and Diana, were good people. I'll hafta look for them again next time I go. I told Dean about the muzzleloadingforum. Maybe he'll sign up.

After I got situated, I went thru the vendors row to pick up a couple things and look for early deals. Then I went up the hill to the primitive camp and caught up with grzrob, Many Klatch, and their cronies. Good men those. :hatsoff:
We ate some deer salami, drank some Pie, and BS'ed for a while. Made plans with Grizz to go on the woodswalk Saturday morning with our pistols. Anyone else who wanted to go was invited.

As I checked my shooting pouch to make sure everything necessary for a pistol shoot was in there, I heard the first shots from the direction of the woodswalk trail. Soon I made my way up to Grizz's cabin to see if he was ready. Just him and me. Everybody else musta took one look at me and got scairt to try and out-shoot me, 'cause nobody else showed up. At least that's how I'm tellin' it. :haha:
I shot purty good with my pistol. Scored a 5 out of 12. And I hit both the log chain and the snake. I was pretty happy with that.
Later Saturday afternoon I was able to catch grzrob's Fergusson Rifle demonstration. He puts on a very interesting demo with a bit of history lesson thrown in. Grizz was kind enough to let everyone who wanted to fire the Fergusson. It was purty kewl! A unique experience and an impressive rifle. :thumbsup: If you ever get a chance, check it out.
Spent Saturday evening hangin' out with the Widowmakers again.

Sunday morning I had to go to the flea markets. I had promised a buddy I'd try and pick him up a few ammo cans. Ammo cans were scarce and I didn't get him any. Same old junk on the flea markets...
Then I took my .36 squirrel gun on the woodswalk. Didn't shoot too good, but BROKE the log chain... right outta the tree...with a .36 flinter. :haha:
After that I made the rounds on vendors row and the primitive trade blankets. Spent too much money...
Sunday evening I headed up to the primitive range to do some informal plinking. I planned to shoot my 12ga New Englander on the woodswalk Monday and had never even fired it before so figgered it might be good to see where she shot... When I got to the cabins a feller was unpacking a 4-bore wall gun! Everybody stood around and asked questions for a while and, next thing ya know, he was totin' it up to the range. Everybody who wanted to got to fire it. I took him up on the offer. :grin: That was way cool! I never ever thought I'd ever fire a wall gun! Nice guy. I think his name was Jim Hamilton, but I might be wrong.
Sunday evening again found me up at the Widowmakers hangout. Lotta good info and better stories and jokes are told around there. Kinda like the forum.

Monday morning I took the 12ga out shootin' again on the woodswalk. Didn't hit too many, but you sure could tell when I did. :grin: I tagged along with the grzrob/Many Klatch He-Man-Big-Bore-Wearing-Kilts smoothbore group. All the he-men were soundly whooped by a she-lady! :grin: I took a couple pics of that. I'll put 'em up here soon as I download 'em.
Unfortunately, I had to pack up and head out after that. One of these days I'm goin' for a whole week. :thumbsup:
:grin:

 

[jethro224]

I know this is a family oriented forum...but...
Here's the he-men-in-kilts... and the lady that whooped 'em. :wink:

 

[RC]

dang jethro... :redface: I knowed it was awful quiet here...shoulda ought figgered you was gone! :blah: good story, glad ya had fun an shot EVERYTHING! Good fer you! :thumbsup:

 

[jethro224]

Well, I never shot EVERYTHING. Never did get around to shootin' my deer rifle... :hmm:

It was fun tho. Only thing that would be better is if you, and Swampy, and GW, and Musketman, and Roy, and Soggy, and... well, it's a loooong list... if you fellers woulda showed up. THAT'd be a hoot! And I wouldn't have so much readin' to do to see what I missed. :haha:

 

[Tumblernotch]

I was there Monday with a couple of fellers from my club for several hours. We just made a day trip to do a little shopping and visiting. We also made it over to the flea market. Just seeing some of the people who hang out there almost made the drive to Indiana worth it.

 

[LeMat1856]

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. june 20 / 7:25pm


you're the first person i've seen here that's reported on an event like this.. i'll probably never get there personally from california so the pictures and narrative are *greatly* appreciated.. gives me a chance to live the experience through yours..

what about pistols/revolvers ? are they just not that popular or is that done in another area ? do thay have target shooting as well - both rifle and pistol, that is ? and lastly, is there a limit - size, type - to what one can use during these events ?

good photos too - excellent color saturation and contrast.. one of these days i'm going to go digital.. i have a vivitar mini from walgreens(no focus, no exposure control, no thru-the-lens frameing - just 60+ 352 x 288 fuzzy images). for $10, that's what ya get ..!

~d~

 

[Larry Pletcher]

.
. june 20 / 7:25pm


you're the first person i've seen here that's reported on an event like this.. i'll probably never get there personally from california so the pictures and narrative are *greatly* appreciated.. gives me a chance to live the experience through yours..

what about pistols/revolvers ? are they just not that popular or is that done in another area ? do thay have target shooting as well - both rifle and pistol, that is ? and lastly, is there a limit - size, type - to what one can use during these events ?

~d~

Since you asked, the following is a copy I sent to another fellow asking much the same question:

There is shooting of EVERY type. If I try to list them, I'll miss something but here goes:
Trap, sheet, sporting clays, quail walk
Offhand pistol - every type and description- flint, perc, revolver, unlimited, etc
Offland rifle - every type based on sights ignition styles, some unlimited, some not
Cross sticks separated by sights and weight
Bench separated by sights , weights, and ignition style
Chunks guns
Silhouettes offhand, ross sticks, long range (to 500yds)
Slug guns
Aggregates on all of the above: example; Mens offhand agg -4 different distances
Flint aggs, all around aggs, Crosley match, flint bench agg, open sights, any metalic sights etc.

Daily reentry matches, trophy matches, juniors, sub-juniors

Primitive side:
Mountain Man agg, Seneca runs, over the log, more I can't think of.

I'm sure this isn't complete, but you get the idea. There truely is something for all.
------
Btw, on Monday pm we video taped 47 flintlocks supplied by shooters and vendors. the taping was done at 5000 frames/second - about 170 times slower than real time. a real hoot. The wall gune mentioned earlier was taped. We did front and back side and used cannon grade just for fun.

And I got to shoot Griz's Ferguson. I probably have pics of the others that fired it also.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[jethro224]

Yep. There's truly something for everyone at Friendship. If it loads from the muzzle there's matches for it. Pretty much the only limit I can see is the shoot is only 9 days long.

There's also hawk and knife throwing, archery, craftsmen to watch, anything and everything for gun building, leather, horns, etc., etc.

If you ever do get the chance to go, do it! :thumbsup:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Jethro,

Thanks fer the story but as far as them pics. That's just too much leg showin for me. :surrender:

And if all of our buddies did show up at Friendship one year that'd be a BAD BUNCH fer shur. :wink:

GW

 

[LeMat1856]

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.
. 01:00am


wow.

that sounds as good as an nssa skirmish.. i may have to reevaluate my priorities here.

any chance we'll see that video ?

~d~

 

[Larry Pletcher]

.
.
. 01:00am


wow.

any chance we'll see that video ?

~d~

I'm going to start a new topic on "Flintlock for some of the video.
Pletch

 

[jethro224]

LeMat,

Check out the NMLRA site www.nmlra.org for all the details about both of the big shoots (plus all the small shoots in between). It's a pretty thick book that lists all of the categories.
The Fall Nationals is coming up in September.

There is also a Western shoot that might be easier for you to attend. I've never been to one of those so I don't know if it's as big of a deal...

 

[trent/OH]

.
you're the first person i've seen here that's reported on an event like this.. i'll probably never get there personally from california so the pictures and narrative are *greatly* appreciated.. gives me a chance to live the experience through yours..

LeMat, If you will PM me your snail mail address, I'll send you my copy of the NMLRA's Western Shoot program from this past February. I only stumbled across one copy, but it's possible the NMLRA might have some more available. I'd give them a couple days to get their heads together again: they just finished a GREAT shoot today.

 

[msb]

Jethro
It was nice to meet you. I was there from Friday through Wednesday. Spent all the evenings at the widowmakers spy tent. The beer, scotch, jack danials and apple pie flowed freely. I also spent way to much money. For those of you that have never been to Friendship. You are missing out on great laughs, good shooting, wonderful drinks and a great bunch of women and men.

 

[jethro224]

Okie,

It was good to meet you too. Hope to do some more bs-in' and bottle-passin' with all of you fine folks next time. :hatsoff:

 

[Many Klatch]

Jethro, it was just the usual doins at Friendship. That is why people keep coming back year after year. Thanks for posting the pictures of Grizz and me in our kilts. I do think that we make a fine picture. We tried to talk Susie into wearing her kneebritches and leggings for the shoot then we could have called it the Big Bore Cross Dressers Shoot.

Many Klatch

 

[jethro224]

Well Andy, it might be just the usual doin's, but hangin' out with you and Grizz makes it way more funner. Good shootin' tips, great stories, funny jokes, and I'd sooner shoot with you guys than 'most anybody, even when you're both wearing kilts. :haha: I enjoyed meeting the rest of the crew too. :thumbsup:
I hope to see you there again. :hatsoff: