Minnesota Territorial
Aug 20 – 23, 2026
Sponsored by:
Sponsor Club:
Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club
Contact:
James O'Meara
612-570-2664 | jimisinish@gmail.com
Range Location
Gopher Rifle and Revolver Club
5180 450th Street
Harris, MN 55032
Available Aggregates
Download a PDF with details about aggregates.
A – Offhand
One flintlock or percussion rifle.
B – Hunter
One traditional flintlock or percussion rifle.
C – Longhunter
Any flintlock, percussion, or inline muzzleloader. Any projectile, ball, bullet or sabot.
D – One-Gun
One flintlock or percussion rifle. 14-lbs. limit max.
F – Cross-Sticks
One or more flintlock or percussion rifle. 14-lbs. limit max.
G – Light Bench
One or more flintlock or percussion rifle. 14-lbs. limit max.
H – Bench
One or more percussion or flintlock rifles.
I – Hunter Bench
Any Muzzleloader rifle, ball, bullet or sabot.
J – Pistol
One percussion, flintlock pistol, or revolver
K – Revolver
Any percussion, revolver (Never load more than 5 chambers & 1 cylinder at any time, Only cap on the line) 5+5=10
B-19 target is scored best 10 of 13
L – Pistol Hunter
One percussion, flintlock pistol, or revolver
M - Flintlock
One traditional flintlock rifle.
N - Tradegun
One traditional flintlock muzzleloader. No set trigger, .54 Caliber min. No rear sight above the plane of the barrel.
O - Sgt. Smoothbore
One flintlock or percussion Smooth rifle. Any Caliber, Fixed Open (Front/Rear) sights, may have a set trigger.
P - Musket
One NMLRA “as issue” Musket, See NMLRA Rule Book. Per National Matches Roundball or Minie Ball
Q - Cartridge
One or more Friendship rifle. 14-lbs. limit max. Any position: bench, prone, X-sticks, offhand…
Any sight, including up to period correct scopes.
R - Senior
One percussion or flintlock rifle. Over 60 years old at the time of registration.
S - Ladies Offhand
One or more flintlock or percussion rifles
T - Ladies Hunter
One or more flintlock or percussion rifle.
U - Ladies Rifle
One or more flintlock or percussion rifles
V - Ladies Bench
One or more percussion or flintlock rifles.
X - Sub-Junior
One or more percussion or flintlock rifles. Under 12 years old at the time of registration.
Y - Junior
One or more percussion or flintlock rifles. Under 16 years old at the time of registration.
Z - Intermediate
One percussion or flintlock rifles. Under 21 years old at the time of registration.
AA - Youth Hunter
Any Muzzleloader, ball, bullet or sabot. Under 21 years old at the time of registration.
Shooting the MinnesotaTerritorial
In 1992 the NMLRA initiated what was then called the Winter National Shoot (WNS). This was at the request of NMLRA members in not only Arizona, but other western states as well, to have a shooting competition in the west.
A dedicated group convinced the NMLRA to hold the event at The Ben Avery Shooting Facility.
Ben Avery is a world class shooting range built in the 1950’s to hold the shooting events for the Olympics. One of the events was the Running Boar, it is one of the ruminants of those games and was popular with WNS competitors. Unfortunately, the Running Boar range has since been condemned and equipment removed.
The event name of the event was ultimately changed by the NMLRA to Western National Shoot and retained the acronym WNS.
There were a variety of Coordinators in the first 8 years. In 2000, Bill Loughrige was selected to be the Coordinator and has remained so through 2018.
In Spring, 2018 the NMLRA Board of Directors voted to cancel the WNS. This was done without notice to the NMLRA Membership or to the group that had been running the WNS in Arizona.
That group led by Bill Loughrige decided immediately to continue the event as an independent event. Several months of discussions about whether or not the NMLRA was really abandoning the WNS event culminated in September 2018 when the NMLRA Board of Directors confirmed their abandonment of the event.
The Arizona group chose the name for the event as Arizona Western Independent National Shoot or (AZWINS).
Gallery
See photos from out past events.