18th Century Muskets take on the Cabin Fever Challenge 2023 | Charleville & Brown Bess

The snow turns to rain and back to snow as I unpack my musket. Sloppy snowflakes smack into my glasses with each step until I’m under the range cover. The brisk wind makes the 33F air temperature feel all the colder as I prep my supplies. I wipe melted snowflakes from my brow. This is how I will start the year.

If you are like me, by the time the holidays are over, you are ready for spring and all the muzzleloading fun that goes along with warmer weather. Plans are easy to make but hard to follow through with when it’s below zero or there’s a foot of snow on the ground, but for two years I’ve kick-started my range time for the year with “The Cabin Fever Challenge” (CFC). For those unfamiliar, the cabin fever challenge was started by Riflechair.com as an online shooting match and a way for shooting sports enthusiasts to get out in mid-winter/early spring to have some fun with marksmen from around the globe. The challenge runs from Jan 1 to March 31.

Originally, the match had divisions based on rifle and optics, but in recent years the team behind the challenge has added a muzzleloader division.

The provided introduction for the Cabin Fever Challenge goes as follows:

#1: Safety: If you can't shoot the CFC safely then do not attempt it. Please find a qualified coach to mentor you #2: Do not nominate someone unless they have the skills and experience to be safe. #3: Always shoot at a safe location and in a safe direction #4: Children may shoot but only under the direct supervision of a responsible and experienced adult #5: Competing Against Yourself - The Spirit & Intent of this match is for participants to explore and improve their own musketry skills. This is less about beating competitors and more about personal achievement regardless of knowledge and experience. An opportunity to learn from one another’s example...

The Muzzleloader Course of fire goes as follows:

Class 5 (muzzleloaders) Couse of fire is 4 rounds: 1 round standing, 1 round kneeling, 1 round prone, and 1 round sitting. Mandatory reload between each position change. Ammunition used is at the discretion of the competitor.

The official 8” Muzzleloader target is provided on the RifleChair website for anyone to download and use. http://rodandgun.netfirms.com/MAD_MINUTE/MAD_MIN_2.pdf Once printed, the target is posted at 50 yards for the competition.

Scoring is one of the most interesting parts of the challenge, it doesn’t matter where in the circle you hit - as long as you hit it.

Time is calculated from the first shot fired to the last shot fired. Bullet impacts that break the score line count for score. Countable bullet strikes are 5 points each. Bullet strikes outside the circle are misses.

Your score is calculated with this simple calculation - (Hits on target x5)/ (Time in seconds) x 100 = Score

With all of this in mind, I added some fun by bringing a muzzleloader I have never shot for a score - my 1777 Pedersoli Charleville Musket, shooting historically appropriate paper cartridges. My thinking was I would lose some accuracy through my own inexperience with the smoothbore, but I could pick up speed by having prepared cartridges. The Cabin Fever Challenge really shakes up muzzleloader ‘competition’ in my mind. I grew up standing on a line with 10-30 minute relays, calmly reloading and getting into the same position for each shot. With the CFC, the time it takes you to reload and pull the trigger is super important to your final score - and that’s on your mind constantly as you struggle against the elements and yourself between positions.

It was the middle of March before I could break away for some range time with my friend Barry, who each year leads the charge for completing the challenge. Thankfully in Indiana, March doesn’t mean spring. We woke up this fine Saturday to about an inch of snow and gusty winds. Temperatures would rise before we got to the range, but for this match, we were glad to not have perfect conditions. For many of us, part of the fun is being uncomfortable and this day would be perfect.

Barry and I met at a local club range with a 50-yard bay. Barry would be shooting his Pedersoli Brown Bess. Since we’d both be shooting smoothbores we thought it good to ‘sight in’ a bit, even though neither of our muskets had a rear sight! having never shot at this distance on purpose, I lined up on the firing line and began ripping into paper cartridges aiming at an 8.5x11” practice target. As with any muzzleloader, I started aiming directly at the center of the bull. As the flint caught and the shot ignited I was able to see a hole at 8 o clock, low on the target. Bite, rip, spit, pour, ram, and another shot rang out with similar placement. I was limited to 17 cartridges by my own fault of not making a ton before heading to the range so I began to adjust my point of aim. With some hillbilly math and figured holding on the upper right-hand corner would get me into the black. Bite, rip, spit, pour, ram, and the next three shots held true. I had a plan, but now it was time to pit the plan against the clock and mother nature.

As Barry and I finished up our practice rounds, the snow shifted to cold rain again and began blowing into the front of our range cover. While it may not look like it on the video, we were in the thick of it!

The first shot was standing, a common enough position for many of us in muzzleloading. My flint fell and ignited the first shot- the clock was now ticking. I wouldn’t know it until watching the playback, but this first shot was almost perfect, just outside the center at 3 o clock. After 23 seconds I reloaded and set to priming my pan. Sticking to modern safety practice of priming the pan last may slow me down a little, but I think that’s a fair trade-off. at 46 seconds I let off my second shot, same elevation at 3 o clock but this time the ball cut the edge of the paper. The time I spent fumbling with my priming horn and trying to steady my aim began to work on my head. As any competitive muzzleloader will tell you, it’s as much of a head game as anything and my head was out of shape.

Back up to standing, I tore open the third cartridge. My reload was much smoother on this one and I was back into position, this time laying down, in about 20 seconds. Prone shooting is a lot of fun, even with a long barrel hanging out front, I recommend you try it sometime. By this time in the challenge I’m shaking a bit, I know the clock is ticking so I try to make up time with an accurate shot, but the damp was working against me. My third shot rang out with a slight delay and I pulled it to the left. Same elevation as the first two shots but now I was out in the cardboard. I wiped the underside of my flint and returned to he loading position. At 2 minutes and 31 seconds, my 4th shot rang out but disappeared into the backstop without connecting to the paper. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the 50 yard “walk of shame”, as we jokingly called it, down to the target.

Of course, I wanted to get all the shots in the bull, it’s what I was raised to do- but for my first time out in several months, and in less-than-ideal conditions, the fun of the day was the priority. After some math, the score for my run was 3.91, just enough to be acceptable but also low enough to keep me pondering as Barry started his run.

Barry was in a similar boat as me, he had a large caliber musket with no rear sight and paper cartridges. However, where I had a functional front sight, all Barry had was an unmodified bayonet lug on the top of his barrel where a front sight would be on a more civilian-style muzzleloader of the time. Barry’s run started well, he hit the paper on his first shot a little high. It wasn’t until Barry’s third shot, in the prone position, that he hit his first snag - the pan didn’t ignite. Barry kept his cool, rocked the cock back into half and then full cock, closed his frizzen and the ball went flying with a pull of the trigger. Unfortunately for Barry, only his first shot contacted the paper and it was outside the bull. This is the kind of situation where the Cabin Fever Challenge shines. Even though Barry didn’t score any points, he was able to enjoy the challenge and see how fast he could fire his 4 shots in 4 different positions. His clock stopped at 2:55, just 24 seconds slower than me.

“I love how different this is than what we normally do with muzzleloading.” said barry as we walked to the target. “It may be a little less gentlemanly, but it’s so much fun. For me, hitting the target isn’t as important as getting 4 shots off in 4 positions while on the clock”.

Being a glutton for punishment, I needed to give the challenge another try. This time I wanted to focus on a new game plan. Last round, I stuck to my gut and went slow and it didn’t pan out for me. This time I was going to focus on speed and nothing else.

In what I call a flurry of “high speed, low drag musket shooting”, I got all 4 shots off in 1 minute, 41 seconds. Are you ready for the kicker? My hits remained the same; 1. I’m happy to admit I have a lot to work on and will continue for the rest of my life, hah! This faster run did raise my score from a 3.91 to 4.95.

I’m nowhere near the top once again this year, kudos to the folks at the top, but like always I walked away from the range with some great memories and a reignited passion for muzzleloading.

I’d like to thank Barry for pushing us to get together this year and I’d like to thank the Rifle Chair team and all of the division leaders for making this great challenge happen. You can see my run as well as everyone else's runs on youtube, simply search “Cabin Fever Challenge” and you’ll be treated with several years of videos to enjoy.

If you’d like to participate next year, the challenge opens on January 1 and runs to March 31. I can’t recommend it enough!