Shooting USA - Creedmoor

This time it’s black powder, both muzzleloaders and cartridge guns, firing to preserve the famous competition from the past. It’s Creedmoor 135 years later and the famous guns from the period when thousands of spectators turned out to watch long range competition.

Try to Imagine, the New York state Legislature gives the NRA the money to buy the land and build a shooting range. Now, picture 5,000 cheering fans turning out to watch a long range shooting match. Hard to imagine? Well, it really happened nearly a century and a half ago, and today’s fans of the old rifles are now making sure that remarkable event lives on in spirit.

The year was 1874 and men with rifles had come to New York to compete on a shooting ground known as Creed’s Moor. A fledgling group of Americans taking up the challenge of the world’s best team, the Irish, at 800, 900 and 1000 yards. The outcome is etched in muzzle loading history.

The Americans won simply because the Irish cross-fired on the wrong target, and the American went up, and hit the bulls eye on his target to win the match. 

Now that day is being relived on a range at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. It’s the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association’s Creedmoor re-enactment. Shooters who revere the long-range sport, and who can’t get enough of the smell of black powder, have come to ram lead down the barrel of a rifle and throw it at a target a half-mile away.

Unlike the original Creedmoor Matches, contested only with muzzle loaders, the NMLRA’s long-range match allows black powder cartridge rifles, too. So, there on the line beside the Whitworths and the Gibbs, you find Remington Rolling Blocks and legendary Sharps. 

Related Links:

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association Website

Pro Tips - Reading the Wind

The Army Marksmanship Service Rifle Team teaches reading the wind for long-range competition.

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