The Future of Black Powder Shooting

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I was there for the 125th and 130th events. Gettysburg 125th was the largest ever held in the US.
I was there for the 125th. I got my wife to dress up as a vivandiere, even though the unit we were portraying (U.S. Regulars) didn't have vivandieres. There were some 12,000 participants at that event.
 
I was there for the 125th. I got my wife to dress up as a vivandiere, even though the unit we were portraying (U.S. Regulars) didn't have vivandieres. There were some 12,000 participants at that event.
I was in Picket's Charge and "died" gloriously at the Angle. It was one very hot weekend.
 
Hmm…

I think there are a couple of issues. First, all precision shooting disciplines are under pressure. People want tactikewl tommy, not one perfect shot. You would not believe the looks I get when I put up a pistol target at 25 meters. In the last 18 months, I’ve offered three BP classes…for a total of six students.

Second, the guns are often closer to semi-finished kits than quality firearms. Part of this is the market being unwilling to pay for quality, but as much is the manufacturers being willing to sell cheap stuff. But to a new shooter who doesn’t have a home workshop, a fixer-upper “new” gun is a frustration.

I don’t think things are lost, but we need to get out there in public. One thing I do disagree on is wearing period clothes. We come off as a group of people playing dress-up…we need to look like serious shooters.
 
I was in Picket's Charge and "died" gloriously at the Angle. It was one very hot weekend.
I was at the Angle (the "copse of trees") on the defending side. Marching back to camp afterwards, I slipped on a boulder and fell flat on my face. No harm done. I was more worried about damaging my musket than any personal injuries.
 
What do you think? Just how popular is black powder shooting in the shooting sports world? With a personal view of over 40 years in the shooting sports, I say it's declining and getting worse. What is being done to change it?

It’s something that few people dabble with. Few ever do and some that do, only do it for the experience. Kind of like cooking pop corn over a fire, it’s neat once.

I would blindly guess there are around the same number of BP shooters as there are reloaders but that may be on the high side. Pretty sure they would out number bullet casters though.

I imagine the numbers that enjoy it are higher than ever but we also have more people in this Country than ever, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the percentage of population that are fans of BP are going down.

I think the left is trying to tamp out firearms and shooting across the board, in any and every way they can. Not sure what the IRS is going to do with 87,000 more agents but if I were in any firearms business, I’d be expecting audits.
 
I love shooting/hunting with muzzleloaders. I have an in-line, old school types and percussion revolvers. My shortfall, if it is, is I don’t like being around people.
I have discovered that the larger the given group the lower the aggregate IQ.
The older I get being part of a group of people to do an activity gets less appealing.
 
I always liked shooting by myself too. Groups like the N-SSA don't appeal to me because they allow powder puff loads. If they had a rule that said only service charges could be used it would be more interesting.
 
The problem with nearly all clubs, groups, and associations focused on anything, is that there is always someone who wants to tell everyone else what to do and make rules, enforce rules and suck any and all fun out of the whole thing.

In the BP world there are stitch counters, and folks who bash on inlines, or folks who use sub powders, load 5 or load 6, declare when you can load, etc.
I personally, don't like plastic grips or sub powders, but I sure am not going to try to tell someone else they shouldn't or can't.

In my club of 1, all votes are unanimous, and no arguing or fighting.
 
Did any of us get into blackpowder/muzzleloader activities as a result of someone’s effort to increase the number of shooters? I didn’t. If you did, please share your story.
 
The problem with nearly all clubs, groups, and associations focused on anything, is that there is always someone who wants to tell everyone else what to do and make rules, enforce rules and suck any and all fun out of the whole thing.

I was born a fun sucker outer.:p

Did any of us get into blackpowder/muzzleloader activities as a result of someone’s effort to increase the number of shooters? I didn’t. If you did, please share your story.

I certainly didn't.
 
I shoot black powder cartridge guns and I got into them by being a serious Western history fan/student. I wanted to know what it was like shooting the guns of the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s...the way they shot them back in the day. Research led me to competitions that either required it (BPC Silhouette), allowed it, or had separate classes for it like CAS. Nobody introduced me to it and for years I new no one else who shot BP cartridge.

In my old age and retirement I'm still shooting it pretty much alone. I've introduced a number of people to BP cartridge shooting as a point of historic interest. They all say it's an interesting experience but none of them have taken it up.

Dave
 
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I got a cheap .22 revolver for my 10th birthday. By the time I was 12 it was worn out so I saved my grass cutting money and went to the gun store to get a new one. They had a Rigarmi 1858 Remington and all I knew was it was a Civil War gun. The gun, a pound of Dupont powder, a tin of Remington caps and a Lee round ball mold was 60 bucks more or less. The man that sold it to me gave me rudimentary instructions on how to load it. He said nothing about measuring powder or lubing the chambers. I eyeballed the powder charges and sometimes had to shave the front of the balls off to get the cylinder to turn and I had chain fires galore but I was hooked. I have never really shot bp with anybody else. I had a couple of friends that wanted to shoot it but they only shot it a few times and didn't think much of it. I knew a few people that hunted with inlines back when you had to use bp but they never did anything but hunt with them.
 
I'm one of the young ones.
I would say interest in black powder weapons has gone up in popularity, the number of people in the gun world who at least know what they are is quite a few. Every major sporting store stocks caps and black powder revolvers. However, us people who take these guns very seriously, We're a minority. But I dont see this being an issue, because first and foremost, we enjoy this stuff for ourselves. When I was a teen just last decade and was a little too obessed with this stuff for my own good, I took big pride in the fact it made me unique. We all do, it's what puts us in our zone. Black powder weaponry was my first love in firearms.

If you want to talk about the young generation not taking pride in the history of their country, and thus interest in frontier stuff is waning and people moving further away from the American way of rugged independence, that's a completely different topic altogether (but is indeed a issue with in of itself). But I do find even within this young generation there's a lot of people who like guns through video games. Games like Fallout: New Vegas and Red Dead Redemption has done a great job in making people notice black powder weapons more. Is this enough to make them actually interested in the history of this stuff? No. But at the least they learn to respect these weapons.

For me, what got me interested in black powder weapons was just the guns themselves. There was no movie, book or reenactment scenario that got me hooked. I just saw a pic of a percussion Colt revolver and it was love at first site. I was 12 years old just watching video after video on youtube of guys shooting the 1847, the 1851, learning about the Remington 58. One thing lead to another and I found myself deeply absorbed into these weapons. I would frequent Duelist1954s channel, and Capandball. of course this also lead me into other things, like military history, I was also briefly interested in reenacting but thats not for me. What is for me is enjoying the experience of using civil war era tech and appreciating them as both art, history and marvels of engineering.

So It's a very personal connection to black powder firearms for me. The only thing that'll get someone interested in these weapons is the person themselves, and it's a very specific type of person who likes all the accessories, the cleaning, measuring every charge. If the majority of people want to stick to smokeless cartridge shooting, then more true black for me.
 
Interest in all outdoor sports is declining. We live in a digital age. Young people have their noses buried in their cell phones, when they're not absorbed playing video games. Obviously there are a few exceptions.

I watch the number of hunting and fishing license sold in this state. They've been in decline for many years. We have a ML season here but it isn't much different than the modern firearm season which is being compressed. I think most non-rifle hunters have moved to archery because of access and longer seasons. This state doesn't support ML hunting. I know some bow hunters but don't know any ML hunters. It's either modern rifle or bows mostly.
 
All I see at my gun club is people sighting in in-lines before deer season and not a lot of those. NM has a primitive rifle season only besides the regular muzzleloader season and my LGS always get one sidelock in before that season because there is always someone that gets a license without paying attention and needs one to hunt with. He just put out a Lyman for this year's customer.
 
Hmm…

I think there are a couple of issues. First, all precision shooting disciplines are under pressure. People want tactikewl tommy, not one perfect shot. You would not believe the looks I get when I put up a pistol target at 25 meters. In the last 18 months, I’ve offered three BP classes…for a total of six students.

Second, the guns are often closer to semi-finished kits than quality firearms. Part of this is the market being unwilling to pay for quality, but as much is the manufacturers being willing to sell cheap stuff. But to a new shooter who doesn’t have a home workshop, a fixer-upper “new” gun is a frustration.

I don’t think things are lost, but we need to get out there in public. One thing I do disagree on is wearing period clothes. We come off as a group of people playing dress-up…we need to look like serious shooters.

I wholeheartedly agree about grown men playing dress up in public. I’m not reenacting anything. I’m a man of the west, same as any who came before. And I carry a revolver because I like it, it still works just fine, and I shoot it well.
 
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