Shooting USA - Long Range Muzzle Loading

It’s a shooting tradition with American roots running back nearly 150 years, long range target shooting with a muzzle loading rifle. Long range means competition at distances greater than half a mile. 

The first significant competition on American soil was the famous Creedmoor Matches, when the Irish world champions came to the United States to take on all comers. These days, the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association carries on the Long Range shooting tradition at its annual National Championships. And, like the Creedmoor Matches of old, this year’s competition has an international flare. 

Camp Atterbury, Indiana is the host range for the Long Range Championships as a part of the NMLRA National competition in nearby Friendship. The Long Range shooters come to this National Guard post, because the range at Friendship isn’t long enough. These matches are shot at extraordinary distances of 800, 900, and 1,000 yards using Black Powder Firearms. Most are traditional English target rifles from famous makers—Rigby, Gibbs Medford, Alexander Henry. 

And the teams on the firing lines are also international with both Great Britain and Australia here to compete against the Americans.

Related Links

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Assn.

 

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