How to create more interest in traditional muzzleloading.

[Omahkapi'si]

Recent movie the Revenant may have peaked some interest with a few, but I agree it may be a tough sell. I read a recent article in Backwoodsman magazine that spoke to ML's being a good go to for survival type scenarios & shortages in tough times. Sort of a stay-armed-when-others-can't type deal, including making your own BP.

 

[LawrenceA]

The only sure fire way is to restrict hunting with alternatives. Extended Traditional Muzzleloading seasons or reduce normal seasons.
The problem is this will increase use of muzzleloaders which is not really the same as increase interest.

 

[tenngun]

I shoot at a public range a lot and it’s rare that I don’t have a modern shooter showing intrest and I’m happy to give them a shot or two.
Plantin’ seeds I hope.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of young teens out there with dad or an older brother, and it’s very rare to see in interest from them at all

 

[Sam squanch]

Part of the shortage of black powder guns is that more people are buying them. One workplace acquaintance who is in the AR crowd, bought a side by side 12 percussion to hunt with. Says he will save his modern ammo for whatever happens down the road. Which may not be too good.......

 

[Omahkapi'si]

As a brand new BP shooter, I'd be happy to tell anybody how much fun it is. Love it. But then I always was a bit strange...

 

[FishDFly]

One thing I see in match shooting, new shooters will come out and shoot 1 or 2 years and then they are gone.

They expect to be on the leader board almost instantly and want instant gratification/rewards for their shooting. They do not realize some of the guys they shooting against have been doing it for a lot of years.

Another reason they leave is that for the most part the older shooters do not take an interest in the new shooters to foster and mentor them. Match shooting can be very intimidating for the new comer. Clubs should assign a member to work with new comers, that would help retain folks.

For a new comer to ML rifles, they first need to learn the basic fundamentals. There is only so much reading can teach a person and there is some very scary things on video that do not need to be learned. A person needs a mentor. Their best bet is to join a club to find a mentor. As for hunting small animals, again a mentor is needed for a person to learn the fundamentals of hunting which ever small animal is available.

Success in the field will keep a person coming back, failure will not. A good mentor will also ensure the person does not meet the Game Warden on poor terms.

I know if I depended on my squirrel hunting for food, I would be at Kroger's a lot.

 

[Carbon 6]

One thing I see in match shooting, new shooters will come out and shoot 1 or 2 years and then they are gone.

They expect to be on the leader board almost instantly and want instant gratification/rewards for their shooting. They do not realize some of the guys they shooting against have been doing it for a lot of years.

Having been shooting competitively since I was 12, I can say that I have seen fierce competition drive away more than one shooter (I've even been that person). Some people will do anything to win, it is a small but detrimental aspect of the sport. I learned how to deal with it early on. However I am also guilty of it myself on more than one occasion. At one particular annual shoot, I had to retire or at least retire my gun, no one would shoot against me. So, I switched guns and kept the competition competitive.

I've been to shoots where I did well and said I would never go back, and I've been to shoots where I did poorly and had the time of my life.

I think there's something to learn in all my rambling, Something about winning being everything.

 

[kje54]

I think there is an answer but it is outside our sphere of influence. The answer may be in the movies. When cowboy movies are popular so is that style of everything.
I believe if we saw more movies like patriot, Last of the Mohicans and Jeremiah Johnson then the sport would grow.
The Other aspect is that muzzleloader use can be part of the activity like woods walks elcetera rather than the focus. Not sure that would get off the ground though.

You hit the nail on the head. The series of WWII movies a while back created a huge surge in WWII reenacting, same with the Civ War before that. A bunch of Rev War films , one right after the other would have the same effect.

 

[kje54]

The movie Jeramia Johnson brought a lot of interest to muzzle loading. What we need is for Hollywood to make a movie where the mountain man shoots his ramrod through the heart of the vampire, and uses his powder horn as a molotov cocktail to blow up the vampires. Then we will get the younger people interested.

You're probably right.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Well, as to movies, The Revenant turned a lot of my friends off. My wife nearly walked out after the first scenes. While probably true to life, the movie used unnecessary violence to tell the story. It began as a horrible example of the history of our rifles and historical events . There was very little attention given to use of ML guns for feeding families or friends. That is the most recent movie to show our "sport." Can someone come up with a movie script that meets the same standards as did Jeremiah Johnson? I hope so. Oh yes, I know there was a great deal of violence in Jeremiah, but there was also humor, love, tender relationships and an emphasis on magnificent scenery. [I am jealous of Redford's property]. Polecat

 

[fillwa]

People are always saying muzzleloading is a dying sport, or wondering how to create more interest in the sport.
I think one answer is to recreate an interest in, and to popularize small game hunting with a muzzleloader. Primarily the main focus has been on large game, but small game hunting opens up the door to greater possibilities.

Some advantages:
⦁ There are more small game animals to hunt than large ones.
⦁ Small caliber guns produce less recoil, and often less weight and report, opening the door to younger and smaller shooters as well as first time shooters.
⦁ Small game hunting is far more economical (less powder and lead, cheaper licenses and no processing).
⦁ It is easier to be successful hunting small game than it is large game.
⦁ Small game seasons are considerably longer than large game seasons.
⦁ Small game hunting with a muzzleloader is tremendous fun.

There is little competition in the small game market compared to large game. This opens the door to manufacturers to make and sell guns as well as sellers and makers of accouterments to fill this niche. Small game rifles translate very well to target or club shooting (another advantage).
Yes, I think small game hunting with a muzzleloader is underutilized and under popularized. I think it should be a key focus in growing the sport and is beneficial all around. It think it offers the possibility for appreciable gains.


Opinions, comments, ideas, all welcome.

Sounds interesting.
Keep us posted on your success and issues with attracting new traditional MLs and increasing the number of participants at your club events.

 

[FlyingMountainBoomer]

These days, the best way to reach a new audience is through Youtube, unfortunately. InrangeTV has done some black powder series over the past few years and the videos always get a lot of attention. People seem amazed that is possible to shoot guns that they thought we only found in museums. I bet that some well done instructional videos on small game hunting would push a few adventurous soles into trying it. They would then have to post videos/pictures etc and try to pick up a few more, lather rinse repeat.

 

[FiremanBrad]

Encourage kids to join the 4H Shooting Sports! Muzzleloading doesn’t draw as many kids as archery or trap shooting, but we sure do have fun!!!

 

[markh]

Encourage kids to join the 4H Shooting Sports! Muzzleloading doesn’t draw as many kids as archery or trap shooting, but we sure do have fun!!!

Yes we recently ran a muzzleloading session for the first time in my county. I think the kids enjoyed the unique experience but admittedly they would rather shoot trap or small bore rifle. We’ll do it again in the spring though

 

[LuVerne Schumann]

I agree with the need for books/movies that portray muzzle loaders in a positive light.

The problem with that is finding the right narrative. I know we aren't supposed to get political, but frankly, the pop culture narrative right now demonizes nearly everything positive done during the muzzleloading era.

There are some amazing stories of that era that haven't been told yet.

I used write. Maybe I should try again.

 

[FishDFly]

"I think there's something to learn in all my rambling, Something about winning being everything."

Winning is everything to a of folks, even if it requires cheating.

My first mentor taught me a lot. He said in competitive shooting, your goal is to shoot better than you did the last match. I never look at the board until I complete my shooting. Once you are done, you cannot change a thing. All the plaques and ribbons I have won are under a bed and out of sight. Set 5 national records in my classification and they are in a binder, not on the wall.

Last shoot I went to a shoot, a Mother brought her son to shoot rifle and pistol. He was was familiar with guns in general and you could see that. He could shoot a rifle very well. He was struggling some and was not following some of the required rules. I went down and spent some time with him and explained the safety rules he needed to follow. Him and his Mother were very nice folks.

What I found amazing, not one of the Range Officers stopped and introduced themselves and offered any help in general. Nor, did they address any of the obvious safety violations. He was not unsafe just a few things like loading directly from the flask. Hopefully he will come back.

Another fellow is prone to dry balling and I mean a lot. Range Officers would clear his rifle with CO2 and leave. After a while I went down and worked with him and gave him a few tips to help with dry balling. He still seemed frustrated with the process. He was trying too hard with shooting. What I found amazing is, no one showed any interest in helping him, the elder members or the Range Officers.

Have a friend and he has a saying, "I do not spend my money and be miserable". Since some folks have not become comfortable with ML, lack of instruction or mentoring, there a lot of guns sitting in closets not being used. How many are put dirty and left to ruin? It happens a lot.

I see quite a bit of condescending attitudes here at times to new folks. They stay a short time and are gone.

In the post "Rust In The Bore" I asked a question about rust and different steels between different rifles and I received a lot of replies on how to clean a rifle. I think 1 or 2 addressed what I asked. Kind of frustrating. How do you enlist folks when they ask a question and others will not answer it?

One of the top pistol shooters in the country I know was here briefly and was treated rudely. He left, Angie asked him to come back and he declined.

To increase the ranks of ML, you first have to enlist them and then retain them. I think a lot of the problem is retention.

 

[Boston Bill]

As written above about movies and such to help our sport, I just finished watching The Queens Gambit on Netflix.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...s-gambit-the-true-story-explained/ar-BB1apIS5Apparently chess sets are selling like hot cakes on eBay.

 

[Marinekayak]

I agree with FishDFly. Growing up I was lucky enough to live near a large range with an active Junior Small bore program. I used to get dropped at the range in the AM and shoot all day. There was a large group of old timers that were all retired mostly WW2 through Vietnam Vets. They shot everything. Some were into pistol, some rifle, some ML, some benchrest etc etc. Well as a young shooter these gents would let us shoot whatever they were shooting and I learned a lot. Now when I go to the range I have to remind myself that I'm the old timer now and I have to pay it forward.....

 

[mushka]

I believe that people under 35 or so did not grow up in the same culture that many of us here did. Hollywood mentioned earlier is the enemy of American culture and they are not going to make film showing our past culture I don't think. They have the lgbt mind set. Commercials on the tube also. Look at what we are having to look at. As far as kids go most have their fingers on some sort of gaming device and don't see past the screen. When as a kid living in San Diego I had the whole of Kearny Mesa to hunt, fish, camp, and hike. A huge area that is now nothing but edifices of all sorts. I don't know what the solution is as our culture in this country is quickly becoming europeanised. Sad but true I think. I'm glad I'm 76 and grew up in a nation that thought better of itself than it does now.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The question was how to create more interest in traditional ml shooting. I wish I knew the answer to that. Nationally there was a sharp increase in interest during the Bicentennial year of 1976. Now, many members here and modern gun hunters were not even born in 1976. A general interest in the history of America has faded away. Schools are to blame for most of that. When I was an NMLRA Field Rep in Arkansas in the late 70's I chartered 16 new ml clubs into the NMLRA. Today all are gone. The last one in my area folded in the past year. Generally speaking, younger people simply are not joiners in any organizations. All are foundering and the only hold-ons are elderly retirees. However, I do believe there will always be some interest in our avocation. Look at the number of builders who cannot keep up with demand. The factories are in full production. ML shooters are out there. Getting them to participate with us, or any ml club, is another question.