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Simple things. When times are trying and we face the realities of the “New Normal,” (and I personally dislike this two-word phrase) it is important that we remember how we got the NMLRA and the Friendship National Range with its many opportunities for all forms of rifle and pistol events; the Club House; the Commercial Row; the Rand House Museum; the Primitive Range; the Shotgun Range with different challenges of Traps, Clays, and Quail; the Safari Range; the Running Boar Range; and the ever-popular Campgrounds, to become a reality for the muzzle loading culture to become a National Venue for all to enjoy.
It took the dedication of many devoted and selfless volunteers, with the support of scores of executive officers and Board members to bring us this far. Those who have competed, scored targets, maintained the beautiful lawns, electricity, compliant bath houses, fixed roofs, added public address systems, cell phone service, the ever faithful EMS folks; security officials, and just good folks. While not simple things, their memory and faith in our United States Constitution and Bill of Rights have ensured that we all have a muzzleloading future. I, for one, and joining with you, cannot wait to return to Friendship and celebrate!
In this issue of Muzzle Blasts, we start with a series of flashbacks that will surely light your imagination for what could be your next muzzleloading adventure. In “To the Range Away . . . You Rolling River,” As told to Max Vickery, the following was an actual account of the three men. Ed Keney, Tom Grant, and Gordon Byrd set out from Pittsburg, PA, in an eighteen-foot canoe and paddled 525 miles in 15 days, to the Walter Cline Range at Friendship, IN. This was a feat of endurance, determination, hardship, and not excluding the heartbreak due to loss of equipment. As you follow along with these men, part in narrative and part in actual daily entries from their diary, you will see they still had the fiber of the frontiersmen who opened this country.
In a flashback 1992 MB article by Jan Christian, we get a family’s perspective on the simple pleasures of the National Range. In “Reflections of 50 Years,” Christian wrote, “I will be attending my fiftieth consecutive NMLRA National Shoot in June of 1992 and would like to relate some of the changes and events that have occurred.
We moved to our present residence in Bradford, Ohio on August 21, 1941. My father worked for the Peter Kuntz Lumber Company and he had been promoted to managing a lumber yard in a nearby town. One of his customers knew about the NMLRA and invited my father to attend the Nationals with him, which were held over Labor Day weekend at the time.
My father was excited when he returned home and was very anxious for Mother and me to make the Dave Ehrig - Editor trip, too. The subject of our many conversations during the next year was about going to Friendship and attending the Nationals. We began searching for muzzleloading guns and accessories and read everything that was available. Our life style was making a distinct change! Labor Day weekend of 1942 arrived. Our small family, together with our newly acquired friends, the Jack Johnsons, started for Friendship. We traveled in the Johnson's auto, as our only mode of transportation was a pick-up truck supplied by the lumber company for which Father worked. Mr. Johnson towed a farm trailer that carried our camping gear and other essentials. There was no electricity in the camping area and the only restroom was the stone one with outdoor plumbing. The water was supplied by a well with a hand pump located near our flag pole.
Back to the future. Anyone who has competed or hunted with a muzzleloading rifle dreams of the day when they will be able to get “that gun.” We all share the desire, to build or have built for them that rifle which embodies all of the symbolism, quality and straight shooting characteristics that create a family heirloom. If the David Wright photograph of this July issue’s cover caught your attention, then “The Miss Laine Rifle” by Joe Jansen along with the photography by H. David Wright will inspire you to dream on. Jansen writes, “In the great room of their log home in northwestern Kentucky, Mike Mills cradled the fine Cumberland longrifle built as a tribute to his wife, who sat nearby and whom he affectionately calls “Miss Laine.” This flintlock rifle crafted by skilled Missouri gunmaker Chuck Edwards began simply enough: Mike wanted a quality rifle in the Cumberland style and talked to his old friend Chuck about building him one.”
July is the month for all of us to teach our children about the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and our beloved Constitution that guarantees all of our freedoms and liberties. Our simple pleasures are allowed, only by the sacrifices of those who gave their all to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Please thank a veteran, National Guardsmen and the rest of the active military; a police officer, an ambulance crew, fire/rescue, a first responder of every sort; a nurse, a doctor, hospital support and all the caregivers that have gotten us through this past pandemic virus. And now that we are free once again, let’s start thinking about getting together in and at Friendship to celebrate our victory over tyranny, both seen and unseen!
Dave Ehrig