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Shooting USA - Tennessee Long Hunters
 We're stepping back in time to the 1700s, with the Long Hunters, who shoot the Kentucky Long Rifles that settled the wild frontier. They're keeping alive the history and the traditions from an era when Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio were still Indian country and a Long Hunter would be out a long time with the need for a reliable rifle.
 Few firearms have played as important a role in America’s history as the famous Kentucky Longrifle. The name is applied to both flintlocks and percussion ignition rifles. And to the men who carried one in America’s early frontier. The pioneers known as the Longhunters can rightly claim they helped shape a nation out of a vast and unsettled wilderness.
Today blackpowder enthusiasts still honor both the men and their firearms. We’re heading to a now civilized part of Tennessee to meet a group of 21st Century Longhunters.
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Tennessee Long Hunters
Hunting Tips – Wade Bourne on Keeping your Powder Dry
 You muzzleloader hunters know that black powder and precipitation do not mix. You get a little moisture in your black powder, you’re not going to get ignition and you’re going to be a disappointed hunter. I actually had this happen to me several years ago. I was on the stand on a rainy day in the muzzleloader season. A big buck walks up, I aimed, thought I got him, take my shot. The cap goes off but I don’t get ignition, the deer hears the cap pop, he looks up and runs off and I sit there and watch him go. So from that day until now I have been very fastidious about following the right steps to keep my gun dry so I’ll get a shot on those rainy days.
 Let me go over a few steps with you, things that I do. Number one, you obviously have to have a clean rifle. Clean that rifle very, very well. I’ll take a patch, put it on the end of my ramrod, run it down to the breech and snap a couple of caps to make sure I’m getting good fire through that breech plug to ignite that powder when I want it to go.
 Second thing I’ll do is on a rainy morning I will load my rifle in the house or in the camp. I won’t load it outside. I’ll load it where it’s dry. Then I will take a latex glove, cut a finger off, run it over the barrel. This completely blocks any moisture intrusion down your barrel. There’s no problem about getting rain down the barrel to the powder if you use a latex fingertip. An alternative to this would be a piece of black plastic tape. Just stick it over the barrel. By the way, you can shoot right through that latex tip or black tape, no problem. Forget it’s there. Just aim, take your shot.
 The other thing I’ll do and this is especially important with traditional muzzleloaders. With a gun like this, a modern muzzleloader, the nipple and the primer are not exposed. No problem. But with a traditional gun where the nipple and the primer are exposed to the elements I will just sit and I will hold a Ziploc bag over the action where it’s not going to get any moisture intrusion.
So you follow these tips. I promise you that when that opportunity comes by, you’re going to get that shot and you’re going to get your buck.
The Memphis Charity Challenge
 People in the shooting sports have a long track record of supporting charitable causes – especially charities that help children. But it’s notable when the action shooting handgun sports get involved with a worthwhile charity and that’s exactly the case for he Memphis Sport Shooting Association putting on a terrific USPSA revolver match to support an outstanding cause.
 Le Bonheur Children’s hospital is the only pediatric hospital within about 250 miles of Memphis. Not only do they treat children from Memphis and the mid-south, they see children from all over the nation and the world. Fund raising is critical to the hospital, seeing children, regardless of their ability to pay.
The Memphis Sport Shooting Association provided their ranges for the charity match, Sam Keen organized the match and served as match director.
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