by James C. Fulmer | Past President NMLRA
At a Table Shoot at the NMLRA range, left to right, Grandfather Don Blazier, Grandson Lucas Fulmer and Dad Curt Fulmer.
The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association does truly fall into the definition of National. I read in the Muzzle Blasts magazine, the monthly publication for the association, the letters to the editor about all kinds of topics. The one that raises much discussion is the modern or “in-line” muzzleloader.
I enjoy all forms of shooting with muzzleloading rifles, pistols, and shotguns. I love shooting in competition with period correct muzzleloaders like at pre-1840 events or the “Brigade of the American Revolution National Championships.” It has been years since I shot in the “Brigade Matches,” but it was always fun and all firearms where period correct.
I do also shoot in-line muzzleloaders. For me it is another form of a firearm I can shoot in competition. I keep busy nowadays just with my flintlock rifles, but I will go out and shoot an in-line muzzleloader. I shot in the very first NMLRA muzzleloading scoped in-line match they held one spring several years ago. It was hard competition and the people who were there shooting were just as much in love with their in-line muzzleloaders as I am with my flintlocks. But what we have in common is we love to shoot and love to shoot muzzleloaders.
This year at the NMLRA Spring National Shoot at Friendship, IN, I realized it takes everybody. To be a true National organization the NMLRA must always include all muzzleloaders. E Pluribus Unum “out of many, one” which is inscribed on the official seal of the United States and also describes the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association.
The NMLRA Spring National Championship Shoot takes place at the Walter Cline Range in Friendship. This year it was June 10-18. For those who’ve never been to the Nationals you need to go at least once in your lifetime. You will learn the people who compete at the Nationals are as diverse as the matches they shoot. The range facility is huge and I recommend when you go there for the first time to plan on a day learning where everything is located, from where the ranges are to the best deals on commercial row, to the showers and food.
Facing the range to the extreme left next to town is the chunk gun range that has the table shoot, running boar, and the Youth Range. If you’re here for the first time and want to see if your traditional muzzleloading rifle is still sighted in after your trip, head for the Table Shoot. Here is where light rifles, both flint and percussion, with iron sights can shoot from a “Table” which the NMLRA also provides along with a five gallon bucket for you to sit on and shoot at 30 yards. Since they started the table shoot I head there first thing usually with a rifle I have been working on and never really got sighted in that good. I will shoot a few practice targets, file and bang my sights around, and go for record.
Usually the range is not busy first thing in the morning at the beginning of the week, but by mid-week it gets busy and full.
This year I took a rifle given to me by Charlie Thomas before he passed away. I wanted to shoot and make sure it was sighted in for deer season this fall. Charlie only shot one gun in competition and this was the gun. I knew Charlie for over 40 years and we became great friends almost immediately. He built the rifle himself. It was a 42-inch straight 7/8” across-the-flats barrel in .45 caliber. He had over the time I knew him a .45 caliber Douglas barrel he wore out cleaning with a wood ramrod in the early days, then a .45 caliber Getz, also a .45 caliber gain twist which he shot patched round ball out of and said that for targets he never saw an advantage except he believed the barrel liked a wide range of powder charges. The final barrel he had in there is a Getz .45 caliber barrel with a coned muzzle. There is a slow taper in the bore; it starts around a half inch at the crown and slowly gets smaller about 3-4 inches down the muzzle until it blends into the bore. He had it made for easy loading for woods walks and rendezvous so he didn’t need a short starter to load. I sighted the rifle in and shot a match with it off the table; it didn’t drive tacks, but it’s good for hunting.
I had to leave there and hurry down to what I call the “Bench Rest Jungle.” Here is where shooters with heavy muzzleloading bench guns will shoot patched round balls with extreme accuracy. Most of the rifles in heavy bench weigh over 30 pounds. My son Curt was taking my grandson Lucas to shoot bench rest under the watchful eye of his other grandfather, Don Blazier. At the nationals it is very common to see a grandparent with their children and their grandchildren all shooting their muzzleloaders.
Shooting in the woods of the Quail Walk.
The NMLRA National Championship shoots have something for everybody. As I left the bench rest line, I ran into David Keene doing a book signing in front of the NMLRA club house. David Keene and Tom Mason co-wrote a book called “Shall Not Be Infringed.” The book signing was a success with many NMLRA members stopping by to purchase the book. I have a copy myself and it’s a must read. David is a past president of the National Rifle Association and stopped by several times during his presidency to visit the NMLRA.
I like to shoot at the far west end of the range on the Chunk Gun range. I also shoot on almost the far east of the property on “Shaw’s Quail Walk.” The Quail Walk is actually the oldest sporting clay type course in the country that was done with muzzleloaders. The course simulates small game hunting with muzzleloading shotguns. In the woods part for this year you had four shots that you walked with an un-mounted shotgun as you would in a hunting situation and a clay bird was released sometime in between two lines marked on the path. Then there were six shots in the field; you shot with an un-mounted gun, but in a stationery position. It’s great fun.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the range being built. 50 years is a long time for anything. That is what makes the NMLRA great; it is the history and the generations of shooters and members who make it a success.
Phil Ackerman has had a space in commercial row longer than I have been coming out to Friendship. Phil has been coming to the National Championship shoots since 1964. He first came out with Russell Carpenter who was a gunsmith and owned Carpenter Gun Works. Phil opened up his own shop on commercial row in the “Sheep Sheds” some 50 years ago. Phil always had a lot of original military gun parts and guns. I always made sure to stop by and visit because we both share a love of the sport. He decided he wasn’t going to make the long trip from Vermont anymore. I live ten hours from the Friendship and Phil must to live five hours beyond me so I understand. We will see each other at Revolutionary War events in New York and New England.
It takes a lot of people to make a National Association with many ideas and interests. Phil is one of many members of the NMLRA that shares the love of muzzleloading firearms and will be missed at Friendship.
E PLURIBUS UNUM.
