This week the Muzzle Blasts team takes you on a tour of the Conner Longrifle Living History Trade Fair and Antique Arms Show
Mike Beliveau on Writing, Youtube, and the Duelist’s Den | Muzzle Blasts Podcast
A look inside February 2020's Muzzle Blasts Magazine
Muzzle Blasts Editor Dave Ehrig gave you a little taste of what February’s magazine had to offer last week with the Editor’s Message, now it’s time for a look inside at just some of the articles in February’s Muzzle Blasts.
Interested in reading these articles, but not ready for a 12 month commitment? Order single issues today from the NMLRA Store
2020 Muzzle Blasts Magazines
$5.00
Interested in trying Muzzle Blasts but not ready for a 12 magazine commitment? No problem! We now offer single issues in our store!
Muzzle Blasts is your membership magazine included in the annual membership fee
of $50. Material content of the publication relates only to the muzzleloading guns,
accoutrements, and historical data of that particular era. Because of the diversified
approach to muzzleloading guns, Muzzle Blasts is not responsible for opinions expressed
by its writers, and is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use
of published data or from recommendations by any member of the staff.
Advertising appearing in this magazine relates to the muzzleloading era and appears purely on a
non-endorsement basis by either the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Assn. or Muzzle Blasts.
The Muzzle Blasts editor has the right to refuse advertising for any reason whatsoever.
For information on submitting articles, advertising rates, magazine mechanicals, and so forth, send for
free brochure to NMLRA, P.O. Box 67, Friendship, IN 47021, or call (812) 667-5131.
Membership fees are explained on the Association Affairs pages in this issue; $50 is the one-year membership
fee for 2019.
2020 Copyright © National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, Friendship, Indiana, 47021 USA.
In this month’s issue
A Moment Frozen in Time Part 2
A Noble Idea Worth Copying
Deer Horns and Rut Nuts - Making Unique and Useful Hunting Trophies
Journey to Flint Part 2
Making a Shotgun Wad Cutter
John Brown’s Hawken Rifle
Focus on Family
Rendezvous Monthly
And MORE
Message from the Board of Directors - Muzzle Blasts February 2020
This article and many more are published each month in Muzzle Blasts Magazine. Order your copy today!
I would like to introduce myself for those that don’t know me, I am Mike Yazel your Treasurer of the NMLRA and a past President of the same. I have been involved in Muzzle Loading most of my life as my parents began coming to Friendship in 1962 when I was about 3 years old. Our whole family shot together for many years until us kids got older and my sisters drifted away from it but my father and I continued on shooting, building guns and collecting interesting Muzzle Load-ers. I have served on the Board of Directors in various capacities over the years although I have devoted the bulk of my effort to updating the Associations business and accounting practices. While this has been a very long journey we are in the home stretch now and will have things modernized with far better reporting that will aid the board and membership in making the best decisions for the NMLRA going forward.
This is truly a time of transition for the NMLRA as the Board of Directors has voted to move forward with the Pittman Robertson program which will help us transform the range to better serve the membership and other shooters who come to use it. This alone provided much impetus to update our accounting procedures so we could track Range Operations as well as Association Operations. The NMLRA is roughly a $1.5 to $1.8 million dollar operation in any given year with many different and diverse areas of operations. We print a monthly magazine that requires specialized staff both in house and outside, membership requires people and programs to sign people up and interact with them across the country and around the globe. Our accounting system is much more than simple dollars in and dollars out. We need the ability to track the performance of our events large and small, powder and target sales, gate revenue, camping, registration and the list goes on and on.
Off shoot time there are memberships to be entered daily and this time of year camping reservations are in full swing for the coming shooting season. We take registrations for programs like the Gunsmithing Seminars and classes held here in the Education Center at the Range in Friendship. We have people joining the 1 of 1000 endowment which if you have not yet done please consider it as this program is about three-quarters of the way to its goal of establishing a $1,000,000 endowment from which 75 percent of the yearly earnings can be used for projects on the range.
This year will see new camping software come online along with card swipers at all points of sale, later in the year we hope to begin the first use of barcoding to make your transactions quicker and our accounting of them much simpler. For those of you that do not frequent the range there are many changes you are beginning to see as well. The NMLRA presence online has expanded dramatically in recent months as we have begun podcasts and videos about all things Muzzle Loading and Living History. As we reach out to an even wider audience online you will see growth in the digital version of the magazine as it becomes more interactive and sign-ups for memberships, camping, classes, and registration take on a new look at the website. Behind the scenes of all of this has to be an accounting system that ties all of this information and the thousands of transactions we process each year together. This system had in the past simply contained too many separate and often out of date pieces that prevented us from doing the job as well as we could and burdened the staff with work that should be automated. With the hiring addition of Kim Scobee to our accounting operation, this transformation has kicked into high gear. Kim has a broad background in IT as it applies to finances and has been working hard for several months putting the pieces of software and systems in place to move us forward. While most of you will never see all of the changes being made behind the scenes rest assured they are all to serve you, the membership of the NMLRA better in the future.
Thank you for supporting the NMLRA and helping all of us serve you better as a member.
Mike Yazel
Be Sure to Visit our Sponsors!
The February 2020 Muzzle Blasts is here!
The Baxter girls swipe the new issue of Muzzle Blasts as soon as it arrives in their home. Sorry Mom and Dad!
In this month’s issue
A Moment Frozen in Time Part 2
A Noble Idea Worth Copying
Deer Horns and Rut Nuts - Making Unique and Useful Hunting Trophies
Journey to Flint Part 2
Making a Shotgun Wad Cutter
John Brown’s Hawken Rifle
Focus on Family
Rendezvous Monthly
And MORE
From the Editor
One of the new efforts at Muzzle Blasts this year is an effort to
focus on the families at Friendship. Many families are in their
3rd and 4th generations as they travel across the continent
to visit with old friends, share stories, celebrate births,
graduations, weddings and changes in home, work and life.
But the key ingredient in all of this is the story of “friendship”
in Friendship. Lonnie Vermillion was brave enough to be the
first in sharing a vignette of a storied gentleman by the name
of Jack McDonald . . . and we at MB are looking forward to
yours.
On the Cover, “Night Camp” by Dave Hasler
View more of Dave’s work here
“I have been interested in art since I was a boy taking all the drawing and painting possible in high school, and majoring in art at college. I taught art for 32 years and retired 10 years ago.
My paintings reflect the people and places of the early eastern frontier with an emphasis on historic accuracy of the period. I use many reenactors as models and much of the landscape here in western New York as the backgrounds. I have reenacted mainly French and Indian War and Revolutionary War impressions since 1976.
My Americana paintings depict a more rural and simplistic lifestyle when the country was being settled. Barns and cabins set in landscape compositions along with still-life painting reflect the beauty of early American stoneware pottery and other utilitarian pieces. ”
Be sure to visit our sponsors!
February 2020 Muzzle Blasts Editor's Message
NMLRA meets with Western Powders |SHOT Show 2020
It was great to meet up with the team behind “Blackhorn 209” at the SHOT Show last week. We talked about last year’s sticker promotion, where an NMLRA sticker directing customers to our website was placed on many bottles of 209, continuing it in 2020 and bringing more promotion to their small company in thanks to their support of the NMLRA.
Western Powders has been a great industry partner for us, and we are excited to continue working with them. Lookout for the Black Horn 209 team on the Muzzle Blasts podcast later this spring.
Modern black powder substitutes aren’t for everyone, but they are doing a great job of getting more people interested in muzzleloading and hunting with muzzleloaders.
A Riffle Gun and What Belongs To Her | Muzzle Blasts Archives
Blending Fine Art, History, and the Outdoors with Traditional Craftsman Eric Ewing
Insurance and gun ranges | Colton Fleetwood on Indiana Senate Bill 9 | Muzzle Blasts Podcast
An original Augusta County Virginia | Original Flintlock from 1750’s
Longrifle made in Augusta County, Virginia Circa 1750s. This is a quintessential Virginia frontier workhorse rifle, which likely saw more than a century of service. At .62 caliber, it has an extremely large bore for a rifle. It is a rare example of a French and Indian War era rifle, in a conflict and time mostly comprised of smoothbore guns.
This is a very early relief carved longrifle attributed to Augusta County, Virginia School of longrifle gunsmiths. Possibly made by John Hannah, Augusta County Gunsmith or from the Augusta County Gun Factory in Staunton, VA. It is very possible that it was made by John Hannah. John was among the earliest gunsmiths known to have worked in Augusta County, Virginia. Prior to 1739, the Hannah family settled in Augusta County on land southwest of Staunton, Virginia on Colliers Creek (Colliers Creek lies southwest of Lexington, VA in present day Rockbridge County).
They settled on land acquired from Benjamin Borden who had been the recipient of the Borden Land Grant in 1738. In 1754, John Hannah agreed to teach his indentured servant, John Mitchell, the art of a blacksmith and gunsmith. In 1768, John built a mill on Colliers Creek.Based on his inventory of tools recorded after his death in 1782, he was a blacksmith, white-smith, silversmith, and gunsmith. Early southern wooden patchbox longrifles attributed to a Virginia maker are rare.
This longrifle was owned for many years by George Shumway. There is wonderful early carving on the check piece and the longrifle retains a period patchbox lid which may be the original patch box cover. The check side of this longrifle was subjected to heat from a fire in George Shumway’s home. The damage to the wood was minimal and the wood was sucessfully stabilized after the fire.
The lock was converted to flint by Alan Guthchess (Curator at Fort Pitt). Alan commented that this was his favorite “frontier longrifle”. This longrifle was on display at Fort Pitt in their renowned French and Indian War display, “Captured by Indians” in 2015 – 2016, along with the original spike tomahawk I posted yesterday.
Muzzleloading Basics, an excerpt from Guns & Ammo Magazine
Our friends at Hodgdon Powder shared this great excerpt on muzzleloading basics from Author Dave Emary and Guns & Ammo Magazine.
“For all you muzzleloader hunters headed out this season, be sure to check out January’s issue of Guns & Ammo Magazine for a nice write-up on our GOEX black powders and Pyrodex and TripleSeven substitutes from our good friend Dave Emary.”
Starting with blackpowder’s origin in China in the 9th century and continuing through modern black powder substitutes, author Dave Emary brings a comprehensive look at our beloved powder’s history.
The mystery of a naked flintlock from 1815
While on the road, we stop in to a muzzleloading gunsmith Allen Hunter's shop to see what he's been building, little did we know he had his hands on a mysterious hardware-less flintlock. Tune in as we discuss different signs of what may have happened over 200 years ago.
New video from the Black Powder Maniac!
Get started with Living history and Muzzleloaders with these books
We’re always on the hunt for good resources to share with anyone looking to learn more about muzzleloading and black powder. These books might look a bit dated, but they are old favorites from our members.
Click the cover to be taken to a page where you can view or purchase each book.
Whether you are wondering how to get started in reenacting, or a veteran of many encampments, these books have something for you! Learn how to select the time period that's right for you, join a reenactment unit, and get the clothing and equipment needed. These books offer a variety of knowledge, whether you are wanting to focus on muzzleloading or living history.
If you’d like to join in on the conversation, head on over to our NMLRA Facebook Group! The group is open to anyone who is interested in Muzzleloaders and living history as long as they follow the rules.
Find out more about the NMLRA
Editor’s Message | Muzzle Blasts Vol. 81, #5
The following article appeared first in the January 2020 Issue of “Muzzle Blasts Magazine”, the official magazine from the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association.
Happy New Year! It is always exciting to greet January 1st as it holds all of our dreams and expectations for the coming months. New muzzle loaders to sight in, new loads to explore, and new hopes for Longhunter adventures are just but a few of our wide-eyed hopes. And here at the NMLRA we look forward to the many opportunities to serve our membership through black powder shoots, rendezvous, educational programs, seminars, shooting and sighting in at our world class ranges, and of course our two gatherings during the national shoots. Moreover, our Muzzle Blasts staff can’t wait to bring you the best stories and columns full of muzzleloading equipment; muzzleloading rifle/pistol/shotgun building tips; history; treks; hunts; primitive camping/cooking; trips beyond Friendship and insight into the best information from our muzzle loading culture.
To improve our arrival of monthly MB magazines, we are asking our magazine writers to get their articles/photos to us a week ahead of the previous deadlines. In other words, submit your material by the 25th of two months prior to publication. This allows the USPS time to get the magazines to the members by the 1st week of the month. If you would like a new schedule for submissions, email the office and we will reply with a schedule.
Our old friend (and past editor) Eric Bye brings sage advice to this New Year Muzzle Blasts with his article “Charge!” He writes, “I just bought a dandy antique gun that needs some TLC. At home the first thing I did was remove the barrel from the stock, insert a wooden ramrod as far as it would go, mark it with a pencil at the muzzle, and lay the rod along the outside the barrel to see if it reached all the way to the breech plug face. It stopped almost an inch short, so I re-measured to confirm. Sure enough: there was something inside that barrel.” Obviously, checking the inside of a muzzleloading barrel is not as easy as with a modern gun. But there’s nothing difficult or technical about it, and this article will reinforce the wisdom of making sure there is no charge lurking inside the breech.
Clary Estes brings a heartfelt story to our souls with a story about Rifle Number 42. Growing up with the idea that a gun was equal to art work seemed odd to my peers, but in my house it was always understood. “It’s country boy art is all I can tell you,” my father, Wayne Estes, a talented gun maker in his own right, once told me, but these were no ordinary guns. These were guns that took 60–160 hours to make. They were guns that were meticulously handcrafted by artisans who had spent decades honing their craft. These guns were heavy and loud, shooting off a KA-PANG of smoke with the pull of each trigger, before needing to be cleaned and carefully reloaded with hand molded round lead bullets for their next shot. These were guns that tied men to their American ancestry. These were long rifle muzzleloaders, the guns of colonial America.
There are so many great articles in this issue that it will be hard to decide which to start with first. But if you are me, I always read from the back to the front and am never disappointed. In “Beyond Friendship,” Jim takes us to Union City, Tennessee to visit with the iconic business that gave many of us a nudge down the muzzleloading trail. Dixie Gun Works was officially started in 1954 by Turner Kirkland. He started it as a hobby to make extra money while working as a traveling jewelry salesman after World War II. He would travel from town to town visiting stores to sell jewelry but would ask about any antique guns and gun parts. He bought sold and traded antique muzzle loading gun parts and his car trunk until it became full. He placed a small ad in Muzzle Blasts magazine in October of 1948. He placed a three inch ad at the cost of $3.50; he would make $16 from the orders and his wage as a salesman at the time was $20.00 a week. From there Turner Kirkland’s business would grow and continues to grow until his death on July 26, 1997. Dixie Gun Works has an over 600 page catalog which is loaded with a lot of information. The catalog isn’t just about what is for sale, but it also has a large section with reference tables covering service loads of muzzle loading rifles to muzzle loading cannons; weights and measure tables, including drams to grains to ounces. I always make sure I have a Dixie catalog at my desk.
And if your imagination hasn’t run wild yet, you need to pay attention to Bob Copner’s “The Campaign Horns of Copner!” Yes, this is our Bob Copner who serves as our 1 of 1000 Endowment Fund Chairman. Bob has put together a memorable article detailing how campaign horns had another place in the history of American campaign powder horns . . . in Vietnam!
Bill Carter, Editor of the HCH Horn Book, has given us permission to reprint The Campaign Horns of Copner following the American tradition as it is dedicated to the men and women who have served, or are serving honorably in the Armed Services of The United States of America, especially those who were wounded or WHO gave their lives for their country. The intent of this article is to document that the long- standing American tradition of creating a powder horn, while serving in the military in time of war, was continued in the 20th Century. Copner is quoted, “On July 25, 2009, the powder horn that I made and scrimshawed in 1972, at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB), Thailand, while flying a combat tour with the United States Air Force, was awarded the Madison Grant Award at the 2009 Gunmakers’ Fair at Dixon’s.”
Keep yer powder dry!
Dave Ehrig