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The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA) is the largest association of muzzleloaders in the United States. The Association was founded in 1933 and is known for its promotion of the sport of muzzleloading which involves the firing of muzzleloader or black-powder firearms.
There are varying degrees of membership within the NMLRA, all of which entail paying dues to the Association. Members of the Association are granted all the rights of a member, and they receive a copy of the NMLRA's monthly publication, Muzzle Blasts.
The NMLRA has granted charters to local and regional muzzleloading gun clubs, groups, or associations in all fifty states in the United States as well as Canada. Generally, each of the charter clubs holds their own championship shoot and reports the results of the shoot to the NMLRA.
The NMLRA is based in Friendship, Indiana, approximately forty miles from Cincinnati, Ohio. The area is a combination of both modern and primitive facilities reflecting the diverse nature of the Association and the sport of muzzleloading.
On site at Friendship, the NMLRA has The Museum of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association as well as Gunmakers Hall, where the works of contemporary gunmakers are displayed. The Museum is located within the historic structure known as The John Linsey Rand House. The Rand House also houses the offices for "Muzzle Blasts", the NMLRA's monthly publication.
There are two shooting ranges at Friendship: the Curly Gostomski Primitive Range and the Walter Cline Modern Range. During national shoots, and other events, the site also hosts Commercial Row where some of today's most skilled muzzleloading craftsmen set up to sell their wares covering all aspects of muzzleloading.
The site also includes two camping area: a modern area for campers and modern tents and a primitive area for canvas tents, tipis, etc. No pets or animals are allowed on site for the national shoots or any other NMLRA-sponsored event.
The NMLRA holds two national shooting competitions at the Walter Cline Range at Friendship: the annual Spring National Shoot held in mid-June and the National Championship Shoot held in mid-September. Registration for these events is $30.00 ($20.00 for pre-registration) for members of the NMLRA.
According to the NMLRA website, "During the two major events shooters from around the world compete for national record scores. There are competitions for muzzleloading rifle, pistol, shotgun, musket, bench and slug guns, as well as tomahawk and knife throwing."
Several weekend shoots are also held at Friendship throughout the year including a 4-H Invitational Championship Shoot, the NRA National Muzzleloading Championship Shoot, a Youth Shoot, a Family Shoot, the Lore of the Laughery Shoot, a Turkey Shoot, and a National Women's Weekend Shoot.
The NMLRA was responsible for creating a number of National Regional Primitive Rendezvous, or historical reenactments of the North American fur trade, during the late 1970s and early-to-mid-1980s. These rendezvous spanned the entire breadth of the continental United States. These rendezvous were managed directly by the Association through the year 1998.
However, in late 1998 the NMLRA decided to discontinue their direct control of these national rendezvous as they no longer believed them to be profitable. They created the National Rendezvous and Living History Foundation to manage the rendezvous. While the NMLRA technically still continues to sponsor the national rendezvous, the NRLHF currently runs and manages those events that remained affiliated with the Association after its 1998 decision. Those rendezvous are the Eastern Regional Rendezvous, the Northeastern Regional Rendezvous, the Southeastern Regional Rendezvous, the Old Northwest Territory Regional Rendezvous, and the Midwest Regional Rendezvous.
The NMLRA also sponsors an activity known as The Longhunter. The Longhunter program is designed to encourage the sport of muzzleloading while hunting large game due to the challenges and thrills such activity entails. It is associated with the Big Game Records Program which is the only trophy recognition program strictly for the muzzleloading hunter.
The NMLRA also sponsors Muzzle Blasts Postal Match. A target is included in an issue of the NMLRA monthly publication "Muzzle Blasts" and the participant must shoot the target and mail it into the NMLRA along with a $2.00 entry fee. The winners are posted on the NMLRA website and the proceeds go towards the Association's Youth Program.
The NMLRA is currently seeking to restore the Rand House, a historic structure located on the ground at Friendship and home to both the NMLRA Museum and "Muzzle Blasts". In order to raise money for this restoration the Association is selling bricks to individuals so that they can inscribe any message of their choice on them for between $50.00 to $250.00. These bricks will then be used in the restoration of Rand House.
The NMLRA also has a college scholarship program. They offer two, $500.00 scholarships per-semester to members or dependents of members in good-standing with the NMLRA. The awarding of the scholarships is based on a number of factors including academic performance in high school as well as the financial need of the applicant.
The NMLRA is also seeking to create a permanent, $1,000,000 endowment for itself by seeking out one thousand individuals who are willing to donate $1,000 each to the Association. According to the NMLRA website, "The donation will be placed in the permanently restricted endowment fund of the NMLRA. The principal will remain in the endowment, and can be used only to generate interest or to purchase a permanent asset such as land. The principal can never be used for the general operation of the Association. The interest earned produces income for new and innovative programs that help ensure the long-term viability of the organization and help it to prosper."
The NMLRA also seeks to educate and train individuals in the sport of muzzleloading so as to further their goals as an organization and to have trained individuals available to manage their activities.
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
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 in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun. This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading firearms, in which user loads the ammunition into the breech end of the barrel. 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.
The long rifle, also known as the Kentucky rifle, Pennsylvania rifle, or American long rifle, is a muzzle-loading firearm used for hunting and warfare. It was one of the first commonly-used rifles. The American rifle was characterized by a very long barrel of relatively small caliber, uncommon in European rifles of the period.
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the (muzzle) end of the barrel.
A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressure gas(es) is used to propel a projectile out of the front end (muzzle) at a high velocity. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, and the diameter of the bore is called its caliber, usually measured in inches or millimetres.
Buckskinning is a branch of historical reenactment concentrating on the fur trade with different areas in the period of the Old West. Participants may choose to portray mountain men, American Indians, traders, missionaries, or anybody else who might have been in the Rocky Mountains between 1800 and 1840.
Muzzleloading is the shooting sport of firing muzzleloading guns. Muzzleloading guns, both antique and reproduction, are used for target shooting, hunting, historical re-enactment and historical research. The sport originated in the United States in the 1930s, just as the last original users and makers of muzzleloading arms were dying out. The sport received a tremendous boost in the 1960s and 1970s. The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (www.MLAIC.org) was formed in 1970 and held its first World Championship in 1971. Since then a flourishing industry manufacturing working reproductions of historic firearms now exists in the United States and Europe, particularly in northern Italy, for example at Gardone Val Trompia, in the Province of Brescia. In the United States muzzleloading guns are, subject to a number of qualifications, generally not considered firearms. Subject to state law they may be possessed by persons who might otherwise not be legally allowed to own a firearm.
Thompson/Center Arms was an American firearms company based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was best known for its line of interchangeable-barrel, single-shot pistols and rifles. Thompson/Center also manufactured muzzle-loading rifles and was credited with creating the resurgence of their use in the 1970s.
The National Rendezvous and Living History Foundation (NRLHF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which holds rendezvous across the United States for the period between 1640 and 1840 AD, or roughly during the heyday of the North American fur trade. Its unofficial motto, according to its website is, "Formed for the management of the rendezvous program by rendezvous people."
Friendship is an unincorporated community (village) in a scenic valley on State Road 62, Brown Township, Ripley County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Hunting weapons are weapons designed or used primarily for hunting game animals for food or sport, as distinct from defensive weapons or weapons used primarily in warfare.
A black powder substitute is a replacement for black powder (gunpowder), primarily used in muzzleloading firearms. Substitutes may have slightly different properties from gunpowder such as: reduced sensitivity as an explosive, increased efficiency as a propellant powder, different density, and/or reduced ignition efficiency. This also means that substitutes are subject to different restrictions than gunpowder.
The Whitworth rifle was an English-made percussion rifle used in the latter half of the 19th century. A single-shot muzzleloader with excellent long-range accuracy for its era, especially when used with a telescopic sight, the Whitworth rifle was widely regarded as the world's first sniper rifle.
The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC) is the world governing body for competition with muzzle-loading firearms. Both originals and replica's thereof.
The 8 bore, also known as the 8 gauge, is an obsolete caliber used commonly in the 19th-century black-powder firearms for hunting large dangerous game.
The .44 Henry, also known as the .44 Henry Flat, the .44 Rimfire, the .44 Long Rimfire, and the 11x23mmR in Europe, is a rimfire rifle and handgun cartridge featuring a .875 in (22.2 mm)-long brass or copper case. The round has a total overall length of 1.345 in (34.2 mm), with a 200 or 216 gr .446 in (11.3 mm)-diameter cast solid-lead heeled bullet. The original propellant load is 26 to 28 gr of black powder. The round has a muzzle velocity of approximately 1,125 ft/s (343 m/s), giving a muzzle energy of 568 foot-pounds.
The John Linsey (Lindsay) Rand House is a historic home located at Friendship in Brown Township, Ripley County, Indiana, United States. It is owned by the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association for use as their national headquarters and offices.
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.
The Norwegian Black Powder Union, NorwegianNorsk Svartkruttunion (NSU), is the Norwegian association for muzzleloading competition shooting under the Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC) and Muzzle Loading Association Scandinavian Committee (MLASC).
