N-SSA Members Working to Promote Blackpowder with Interested Kids
The following article was shared on the American Longrifle’s forum and has been reshared with permission from the author. Minor changes have been made, including the edition of the editor’s commentary on this great opportunity.
I've been shooting the holy black for over 40 years and one thing I've noticed is that there are very, very few young people getting into shooting traditional muzzle loaders. A group of us North South Skirmish Association competitors have banded together to take a crack at how to solve this problem. We found that nearly every youth organization with a shooting sports program mandates an NRA certified Muzzleloading Instructor. We also found that the NRA certification is a very rare one and not only that, many with that certification weren't even active muzzleloading enthusiasts. So we got certified, obtained support from Schuetzen for powder and caps and we worked in a couple Scout camps with kids through the summer. We had an interruption thanks to Covid but in the last summer, we worked two camps. The Covid thing made NRA certified muzzleloading instructors even harder to find and as a result, had we not been volunteering in those two camps, there would have been no muzzleloading shooting going on at all for those kids. Here's a couple links to what we did-
So to expand our efforts, we are needing more adults to get involved as certified Muzzleloading Instructors. So an announcement about our first training session aimed at starting adults on the path to becoming a certified instructor-
The NRA Basic Muzzleloading Course is going to be offered on October 9, 2021 by the Yadkin Valley Rangers. This is the first course on the path to becoming an NRA Muzzleloading Instructor. Location of the course is Camp Raven Knob in NC. Scouters are encouraged to take this course as a step towards becoming a Certified Instructor who can organize or hold a Scouting muzzle loading event. Course duration is one day and will begin at 8a in the training center at Camp Raven Knob.
For more information please contact YadkinValleyRangers(AT)gmail.com, Subject- Course Info.
The rest of the Instructor course series is being planned for late November. To be a certified NRA Muzzleloading Instructor, you must take the Basic Course, Basic Instructor Training and Muzzleloading Instructor courses.
Dave goes onto describe what seperates their training program from the duldrum normal muzzleloading education programs out there.
Our sessions are unusual. A standard BP session by a non-BP shooter "instructor" is a lackluster "this is a round ball muzzleloader" blah blah blah followed by at most 3-5 shots per Scout and it takes all day. Ours start with a quick safety brief and a history lesson with a show n tell where we let the Scouts handle the guns and ask questions. And our history lesson will be from flintlocks to early breech loaders used in the Civil War and of course, we focus on muzzleloaders. Then it's on to shooting. Scouts will get to fire the round ball camp craptastic plastic guns 3-5 times in the first relay. Then we move to muskets and minies in the second relay where they fire another 3-5 shots. Next relay is dealer choice, whatever the Scout wants to shoot for another 3-5 shots. Then we break for lunch. Shooting resumes after lunch with another 4 relays. So with us on site, the Scouts each get to fire a minimum of 20+ shots during the day and all the while, we are working on their marksmanship cuz, hey we're competition shooters after all. The day ends with Civil War style volley fire. We modify the Civil War manual of arms for safety and brevity and then let the Scouts shoot a 2ft square piece of drywall in a blast of musket fire. That's a huge change from just 3-5 shots. Any wonder our program is so popular?
Many people complain about kids and their “lack of interest” in muzzleloading/blackpowder, but enthusiasts like Dave951 taking initiative to develop new and interesting programs for today’s kids should give us all hope.
But do not rest and expect Dave951 to pass the torch alone, it becomes ever apparent that we as enthusiasts must take it upon ourselves to pass the torch, not wait for the next Jerimiah Johnson or wait for the bureaucrats of “national” organizations to develop a plan.
Together, we can make muzzleloading great again and see it passed on for future generations.