Chasing the Mile with Nick Parcher and Smokeless Muzzleloaders
Safety: Never put smokeless powder into a muzzleloader that is not rated for it. The muzzleloaders Nick is using and referencing are custom built to meet the demands of Smokeless Powder. Always follow manufacturer guidelines and safety protocol for your muzzleloader.
For Nick Parcher, muzzleloading looks a bit different than many of us are used to. Nick is focused on two things, precision, and hunting.
In the late 1990s, Savage arms released the first "mass produced" smokeless muzzleloader, the "ML" and later the "ML2". The fallout from these rifles reached far and wide, they lead to a series of injuries and muddied the water on muzzleloaders and how to use them.
But from the ashes of the Savage ML came a new breed of precision muzzleloading, one that would leave the roundball , sabot, and blackpowder behind.
Nick is an avid smokeless muzzleloader enthusiast and has been since the launch of the Savage ML. "Savage didn't really know what they were doing, in starting a whole new breed of muzzleloader", Nick says, and he was right. While the ML and ML2 are relegated to aftermarket parts for their shooters in 2021, Nick is part of a community doing what Savage couldn't, pushing muzzleloading to the limit while being as safe as possible.
Hunting for Nick has changed a lot over the years, when he was younger he hunted in a party with his buddies, all tracking and pushing deer through the woods/fields with shotguns. As his interested changed, and he moved towards hunting from a blind, he needed something with more accuracy and more range. Before switching to a muzzleloader, 190-200yds was as far as Nick had ever shot, now it's much further than that, about 492 yards. For 2021, Nick is hoping to take a deer at ~800 yards.
When it comes to the safety of modern smokless muzzleloaders, Nick is happy about the changes in technology and mentality among shooters, he's become a go to person to run simulations on pressure calculations to make sure a load is safe before it's shot.
Photos from the Hoosier Muzzleloader Classic, more content coming soon.
"Now I'm not going to lie, a couple of these guys actually blow up guns or you know most barrels getting to know stuff, but it was under a more controlled scenario where they kind of saw coming right. They'd push the limit a little too far and and nobody really got hurt, but these pressure traces were all over the message boards and and people were starting to do that and then, of course, quick loads came along. Quick loads had been out for a long time, but had never really been applied to muzzle loading and that's and that's kind of where I took over I took quick loads and being an engineer and using a lot of software, I kind of worked it out and and now quick loads is actually the go to name.
So whenever somebody asks me, what is as safe to shoot right. It takes me just a minute or two to plug the numbers in and find out. I can say, here's the velocity you're going to get and here's the pressure you're going to see and based on the kind of gun, whether it's a good idea or it's a bad idea! "
As any muzzleloading enthusiast will tell you, hunting seasons are too short to be "enough" muzzleloading for the year. Nick continues to be hooked to this day, sending nearly 1000 rounds a year downrange. Competitive shooting became a way to practice for the hunt, and try new things. Nick now travels as much as he can to competitive matches, and continues to try to enter "Precision Rifle Matches" for modern center fire rifles with his muzzleloader to prove a muzzleloader can compete and expose more to the muzzleloading hobby. Reception has been cold though, but Nick is hopeful for the future.
In recent years, Nick has participated in and now runs the "Midwest Muzzleloader Classic", a long range muzzleloading match in Iowa. All muzzleloaders are welcome, but you'll shoot the same course of fire if you have a break action or a long range bolt action inline muzzleloader, so come prepared!
Course of Fire is
3 rounds at 200 yards, one at each plate 12", 6", and 4"
3 rounds at 300 yards, one at each plate 12", 6", and 4"
3 rounds at 400 yards, one at each plate 12", 6", and 4"
3 rounds at 500 yards, one at each plate 12", 6", and 4"
3 shot group at 100 yards will be the tie breaker.
The prizes this year are
Medford Knives donated two knives $600 each
Tactile Turn Titanium bolt action pen $100
Defiance Machine 50% off an action $755 value
Nightforce Optics 25 hats and loads of other swag
Berger Bullets 100 bullet your choice
Vihtavuori powder 1lb of powder and lots of reloading manuals
Hankins Rifles Smooth Form Die
Fury Bullets TBD
Leupold TBD
Arrowhead Rifles TBD
For more information on this match, check out the flyer at ILoveMuzzleloading.com or visit the facebook event here.
Nick also hosts a series of "Cold Bore Matches" that, as the title states, rely on the barrel of your rifle being cold, forcing the shooter to know their gun and how it behaves with unknown yardages. These "cold Bore" matches are open to center fire shooters, but Nick has been converting them to muzzleloaders for some time now.
It's hard to sell a production gun to a custom muzzleloader shooter, Nick is well past anything offered by the "Big 3", but he respects their place in the community. If you ask Nick how to get started in muzzleloading, he's going to recommend the best of the best, something that does what he likes and it'll run nearly $4,000. "Most people can't and won't spend that kind of money on a muzzleloader, and I get that. There's a need for those $300-$500 guns out there, they bring people into the sport."
I often hear people complain that inline/modern muzzleloaders only shoot muzzleloaders for 2 weeks out of the year, that they don't care about the muzzleloading community. Nick is the opposite of that. I don't know that I've met someone that shoots as much and cares as much about seeing muzzleloading of all types preserved and passed on to future generations.
He cares about the sport, the people, and the businesses that make it all possible.
Follow Nick on Instagram- instagram.com/mista_paacha/
Join "Hank's Message Board" to chat with Nick and his friends - https://hanksmessageboard.freeforums.net/
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