The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association is starting 2022 by kicking off the first national muzzle loading match of 2022 with beautiful weather and large crowds spelling a good year for enthusiasts despite supply and component shortages.

Last weekend I made the trip to Friendship, Indiana, home of the NMLRA for the first official day of the Spring National Shoot. This event draws the largest number of muzzleloading enthusiasts, competitors, vendors, businesses, and craftspeople in the country to one location that is typically home to a few hundred residents. It’s insane to see the valley swell to max capacity as people from all corners of the country arrive to live, breathe, and eat muzzleloading for an entire week.

When I arrived Saturday morning it was cool and damp, something normal for the June Shoot where weather can be unpredictable. By noon the sun was shining and the grounds were full, a sign of a good event to come. When I arrived, I had planned on visiting with friends involved with each aspect of the NMLRA including the vendors/craftspeople, competitive shooters, and living historians. Unfortunately, I underestimated the friends I would find on the grounds and didn’t make it to a single shooting event. If you are reading and looking for competition content, I encourage you to visit the NMLRA Social media pages, the Blackpowder Maniac shooter, and frontier Trading company for more event coverage. I’ll be interviewing a few competition shooters later this week about their matches.

What can you buy at the NMLRA Spring Shoot?

Built in the heyday of muzzleloading in the 20th century, the NMLRA “Commercial Row” houses nearly 100 booths where vendors, craftspeople, and businesses of all sizes sell their wares to muzzleloading enthusiasts. These businesses range from typical muzzleloading supply shops like “The Log Cabin Shop” or “Flintlocks LLC” from Mike Eder, to kit manufacturers like Jim Chambers Flintlocks, and contemporary makers like Mike Miller or Henry Bowman. If you are interested in muzzleloading, you’ll be hard-pressed to find NOTHING you need or want at the NMLRA commercial row. Since returning home I’ve seen NMLRA members sharing their “hauls” from the event including new and used muzzleloaders, supplies like caps and flints, roundballs and ramrods, and much much more. It’s really the largest muzzleloading supermarket, that supports small businesses, that you’ll ever see. I personally like to make a shopping list before the event and save a little money by buying in person, rather than having everything shipped.

The commercial row isn’t the only place to shop, the living history area, historically called “Primitive” is home to several “Living history” focused vendors like you’d see at events like the Feast of the Hunter’s moon, Fort Fredrick, and Fort Niagara. I noticed a wide variety of raw and cleaned horns for powderhorns, reenactment attire and trekking goods. I picked out a nice old knife and fork set to flesh out my 18th century pack as I plan to spend more time in the woods this fall.