The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC) is the world governing body for competition with muzzle-loading firearms. Both originals (made prior to 1900) and replica's thereof.
MLAIC organises World Championships on even-numbered years, with European and Long Range Championships run in odd-numbered years.[1] In 2022, Deutscher Schützenbund hosted the 29th World Championship in Pforzheim, Germany.[2]
History
From an early document by our Patron, Paul Marchand 1976.
While M.L. guns were always used in Europe, especially hunting by farmers, there was no shooting club for old gun fans. In the U.S., Red Farris and Oscar Seth held a first shooting match at Portsmouth (Ohio) on 22 February 1931, then founded the N.M.L.R.A. in 1935, and held a yearly championship at Friendship (Indiana) attended by many shooters. Their scope was mainly civil free guns, and folklore, while Europeans were more concerned with military muskets and rifle events. In Europe, the M.L.A.G.B. founded on 25 October 1952, held a first shoot at Bisley on 1 August 1953, then first British Championship on 9 May 1954. In France, some collectors, grouped around Mr Demaison, began to shoot old rifles at the Tir National de Versailles in 1960, and founded a special division of T.N.V. to shoot old guns. They then founded "Les Arquebusiers de France" in 1962. The first French—British Championship organized at Bisley on 1 and 2 June 1953 by President Burton of M.L.A.G.B. and Mr Demaison—This "Entente Cordiale" cup became a yearly event, and attracted, as well as British and French shooters, some foreign spectators. During this time some postal matches were organized with South Africa and U.S.A. The Entente Cordiale continues till this day. In 1967, Piero Vergnano founded the "Archibugieri di Piemonte" (Torino) and had a first shoot with A d F, in Lyon, on 7 and 8 October 1967. In 1969, the manager of the Deutsches Waffen Journal, Richard Horlacher decided to sponsor M.L. shooting, and organized a first match at Schwtibisch Hall, that was a big success, and became a yearly championship. The rules for M.L. Shooting were different in each country and in 1971, Arquebusiers de France invited all countries interested, to an international championship at Vaudoy-en-Brie, based on roughly agreed rules, and to a provisory international committee: "to establish common rules acceptable by all countries involved, so as to permit the use of the international rules for the national matches, with standard guns, and equipment, facilitate postal matches, and to initiate an international committee able to organize championship, and take necessary decisions".
The response was enthusiastic, with British, German, Italian and Spanish shooters attending the match, and even two members of N.M.L.R.A. – U.S.A. – Jim Briggs and Thomas Evans. The committee formed by Landry, Marchand and Cunnington for ‘France, Bill Curtis for Great-Britain, Richard Horlacher for Germany, Piero Vergnano and Sterrantino for Italy, Jorge Sichling for Spain, and Jim Briggs for U.S.A., decided: 1) To found a M.L.A. committee-meeting at each yearly championship. 2) To adopt standard shooting rules. 3) To keep as Aim of the
a) Develop public interest in old arms thru shooting them as near as reasonably possible to original conditions and style. b) Prevent any alteration spoiling historical value of old weapons, promote intelligent cleaning and repair to save old guns from destruction or damage beyond repair. c) Develop historical research on old guns and on old shooting methods. d) Organize postal and yearly matches, establish shooting rules, publish results, give cups and championship titles, settle all litigations about shooting rules, etc.
The first M.L.A.I.C. Championship, due to initiatives of Jorge Sichling, was held on 23 and 24 September 1972 at Madrid, organized by the Real Federacion Española de Tiro Olimpico, under the Presidency of Jose Angel Escorial y San Felice, with British, French, German, Italian and Spanish teams. It was a big success with 31 expert-shooters, and contributed much to the establishment of muzzle-loading shooting in Spain.
The next year, the 2nd Championship organized by the, Muzzle Loaders Association of Great Britain (President E. Burton) at Bisley on 29 and 30 September, saw a greater number of shooters (83), and the miry of Danemark; clay pigeon events were tried, and officially adopted. The third championship was held on 5 and 6 October, at Schlibisch Hall (Germany) organized by the Deutscher Schützenbund (President Alfred Michaelis) under the direction of Hans Kowar, with 100 shooters, and addition of Switzerland and Netherlands, and attracted many spectators. The Fourth championship has been organized by the FIATA (Federazione Italiana Associazoni Tiro ad Avancarica), at Codogno, on 27 and 28 September 1975, with participation of South African and Austrian Teams, with 8 records broken. The fifth championship organised by Arquebusiers de France, Tir National de Versailles and Federation Francaise de Tir will be shot a T.N.V. range on 25 and 26 September, with participation of U.S. and Japanese shooters.[citation needed]
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles are typically designed more for firing short bursts rather than continuous firepower, and are not considered true machine guns. Submachine guns fire handgun cartridges rather than rifle cartridges and thus are not considered machine guns, while automatic firearms of 20 mm (0.79 in) caliber or more are classified as autocannons rather than machine guns.
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles are used extensively in warfare, law enforcement, hunting, shooting sports, and crime.
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun. This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading firearms. The term "muzzleloader" applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may also refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber.
An arquebus is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front (muzzle).
.22 BB Cap also known as the 6mm Flobert, is a variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition. Invented by Louis-Nicolas Flobert in 1845, it was the first rimfire metallic cartridge. The .22 BB Cap and .22 CB Cap are interchangeable and are relatively quiet low velocity cartridges, designed for indoor target shooting.
A pinfire cartridge is an obsolete type of metallic firearm cartridge in which the priming compound is ignited by striking a small pin which protrudes radially from just above the base of the cartridge. Invented by Frenchman Casimir Lefaucheux in the 1830s but not patented until 1835, it was one of the earliest practical designs of a metallic cartridge. Its history is closely associated with the development of the breechloader which replaced muzzle-loading weapons.
The Muzzle Loaders Association of Great Britain was formed in 1952 and is the governing body for muzzle loading within the UK. It is recognized by the Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee. Its objectives are to encourage an interest in muzzle loading firearms; to promote, regulate and safeguard their use; and to preserve their freedom of collection. It produces a quarterly magazine called Black Powder.
10 metre air rifle is an International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) shooting event, shot at a bullseye target over a distance of 10 meters using a 4.5 mm (0.177 in) calibre air rifle with a maximum weight of 5.5 kg (12.13 lb). It is one of the ISSF-governed shooting sports included in the Summer Olympics since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
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Fullbore Target Rifle (TR) is a precision rifle shooting sport governed by the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA). The sport evolved as a distinct British and Commonwealth of Nations discipline from Service rifle (SR) shooting in the late 1960s. Its development was heavily influenced by the British National Rifle Association (NRA). Due to this history, it is usually contested amongst the shooting events at the Commonwealth Games, although not at the Olympics. World Championships are held on a four-year cycle. The annual NRA Imperial Meeting at Bisley in the UK is globally recognised as a historic annual meeting for the discipline.
A muzzle-loading rifle is a muzzle-loaded small arm or artillery piece that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore. The term "rifled muzzle loader" typically is used to describe a type of artillery piece, although it is technically accurate for small arms as well. A shoulder arm is typically just called a "rifle", as almost all small arms were rifled by the time breechloading became prevalent. Muzzle and breechloading artillery served together for several decades, making a clear distinction more important. In the case of artillery, the abbreviation "RML" is often prefixed to the guns designation; a Rifled breech loader would be "RBL", or often just "BL", since smoothbore breechloading artillery is almost nonexistent. A muzzle loading weapon is loaded through the muzzle, or front of the barrel. This is the opposite of a breech-loading weapon or rifled breechloader (RBL), which is loaded from the breech-end of the barrel. The rifling grooves cut on the inside of the barrel cause the projectile to spin rapidly in flight, giving it greater stability and hence range and accuracy than smoothbore guns. Hand held rifles were well-developed by the 1740s. A popularly recognizable form of the "muzzleloader" is the Kentucky Rifle, which was actually developed in Pennsylvania. The American Longrifle evolved from the German "Jäger" rifle.
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A gallery gun, Flobert gun, parlor gun or saloon gun is a type of firearm designed for recreational indoor target shooting. These guns were developed in 1845, when French inventor Louis-Nicolas Flobert created the first rimfire metallic cartridge by modifying a percussion cap to hold a small lead bullet. In the 19th century, gallery guns were typically pump-action rifles chambered in .22 Short. Gallery guns are still manufactured, although by the late 20th century, they have been eclipsed by airguns for the purpose of indoor shooting.
Underwater Target Shooting is an underwater sport/shooting sport that tests a competitors’ ability to accurately use a speargun via a set of individual and team events conducted in a swimming pool using freediving or Apnoea technique. The sport was developed in France during the early 1980s and is currently practiced mainly in Europe. It is known as Tir sur cible subaquatique in French and as Tiro al Blanco Subacuático in Spanish.
The National Shooting Centre is the UK's largest shooting sports complex, comprising several shooting ranges as well as the large "Bisley Camp" complex of accommodation, clubhouses and support services. The centre is located near the village of Bisley in Surrey from which it takes its colloquial name "Bisley ranges". The site is wholly owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NSC is the trading name of the facility.
The French Shooting Federation (FFTir), FrenchFédération Française de Tir, is the umbrella organization for sport shooting in France. It was founded in its current form in 1967, but has roots as far back as 1866.
Louis-Nicolas Flobert (1819–1894) was a French inventor. He invented the first rimfire metallic cartridge in 1845. It was a major innovation in firearms ammunition, previously delivered as separate bullets and powder. The rimfire cartridge combined both elements in a single metallic cartridge containing a percussion cap, powder and a bullet, in one weatherproof package. Before that, a "cartridge" was simply a pre-measured quantity of gunpowder together with a ball (bullet), in a small cloth bag which also acted as wadding for the charge and ball.
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