by James C. Fulmer | Past President, NMLRA
Judy and Anson Morgan present Jim Fulmer (center) his prizes from Michigan State Muzzleloaders annual give-a-way.
Paul enjoyed life and if there was any sentence he uttered that described his life the best, they are those which were placed on his memorial at the chunk gun range in Friendship, IN. Paul loved to shoot and had fun shooting. Just because you have fun shooting doesn’t mean you don’t take it seriously. Paul was as serious as it got when he was trying to shoot through the same hole at 60 yards with his muzzleloaders. The fun for him was making it happen. Those five words say a lot about Paul or any man. He left a great legacy.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It Was Fun
Being Me.”
– Paul C. Griffith (1955-2014)[/pullquote]
So far in my short life I have had nothing but fun. This year is a good example. I got a call in July from the Michigan State Muzzle Loading Rifle Association President David Maddox. David called me to let me know I had won the annual drawing they have at their state shoot. I had bought tickets for the drawing when I was at an event at Kalamazoo in March and the ticket was not drawn until July. I support many different groups through the purchase of a ticket – from the Fraternal Order of Police to muzzleloading clubs everywhere I go. Why? Well, mostly I also sell tickets for the different groups I belong to, so I feel their pain in selling and I will buy one. But at this event there were three beautiful prizes: Lyle McGregor built a .32 caliber long rifle; Mike Root did a map horn of the Great Lakes Region; and Ted Thelen built a hunting bag that I have always admired. Ted Thelen sits on the NMLRA’s Board of Directors and I have always wanted one of his bags. I asked what the tickets cost and bought six. As I was filling them out I asked, “Is the hunting bag third place?” The reply was, “No – it’s winner take all.” I was crushed. I said goodbye to the bag. I thought I would never see it again. I went back to rifling a muzzleloading barrel in the NMLRA booth at the show and thought nothing more about the drawing until I got the call. Nobody was more surprised than me, I could remember every stitch of Ted’s hunting bag, but I couldn’t remember much about the rifle or the powder horn (no offense to Lyle or Mike), so I got David to put a picture of the flintlock longrifle and horn on Facebook.
Judy and Anson Morgan were both at the Michigan State Shoot; Judy actually drew the ticket. I always see them at the NMLRA National Championship Shoots. They are in Commercial Row and run Kenockee Tradin’ Post. They volunteered to bring the rifle, bag, and horn to me at the Nationals in September. I am still grinning from ear to ear!
The rifle is a .32 caliber flintlock Pennsylvania longrifle. I have wanted a .32 caliber since I was 15 years old and finally had Buddy Townsend build one for me. I didn’t even have it sighted in yet and now I have two! I have five grandchildren now and it won’t be long before I will be taking both of these rifles to the woods for squirrel hunting. I love hunting squirrels. The best quote I heard from a friend of mine from Tennessee is: “If squirrels weighed 150 lbs. that is all I would eat!”
Pennsylvania has a maximum .40 caliber muzzleloading rifle rule for hunting squirrels. I have shot squirrels with .25 caliber muzzleloading rifles, but the fouling from the black powder makes them a little finicky. It doesn’t matter so much what the caliber is if you can consistently shoot a one-half inch group at 25 yards and around one inch at 50 yards.
I picked up my winnings at the 2015 National Championship Shoot that was held Sept. 12 to 20. At this weeklong event I attend more meetings than I care to. But you do learn a lot by attending meetings. Sitting on the NMLRA Board of Directors for over 20 years I can remember the first survey that was taken on the age of our membership. I was 40 years old and the average age of our member was 50 years old. I thought – wow! When I turned 50, a new survey said the average age was 60! It scared me to know that the average age of the survey stayed exactly ten years older than me! Now that I am 60, this year’s survey said our average age is now 68.
This trend is showing that when I am 70 there is a good possibility the average age of our membership may be only 65! Why? The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association’s membership is not replacing itself with enough young people. We, as with all associations, must bring young people into our ranks and welcome them with open arms. I will be leaving the NMLRA Board of Directors in September 2016. Why? It is time I am replaced with another 25-year-old young man who has a young family and young ideas. It has to be fun for the young people.
Speaking of fun, the Altoona Rifle and Pistol Club is starting a brand new muzzleloading gun club. They are trying to make the shoots fun, with reactionary steel targets and meat shoot prizes, so everybody wins something. How do you do that, you ask? It works pretty easily. You need at least 20 shooters to be able to give out nice prizes. They are charged $20 for a monthly match consisting of five shots on paper from a bench and 15 shots at steel targets that are various sizes and shapes. Registration ends at 10:00 a.m. The match ends at 1 p.m. At 10 a.m. a club member is sitting in a grocery store parking lot (like Sam’s Club) and waits for the total count of registered shooters, let’s say 20. The club takes in $400 and divides it in half. The club gets $200. Then the member at the grocery store buys 20 meat or grocery prizes so everybody goes home with something. First place is only going to get a $25 item tops; last place will be a $5 item or less. It depends if you want to keep a 50% club profit rule. But the club can control how much they spend by doing it this way. I notice if I win a pork loin I am doing great, if I win bacon okay, and when it’s chicken legs or wings I am in trouble. The shoots are fun, if you can come up with a muzzleloading shoot that will attract young people under 35 years of age, let me know at Fulmer1776@comcast.net.
