Muzzleloading Instructors

[dave951]

So here's a project we've been working on in the North South Skirmish Association.

Early this year, we were manning a table at a gun show and a Scouter came up and started talking to us about muzzleloading. His main point, there is an acute shortage of NRA certified Muzzleloading Instructors and you have to have that credential to teach muzzleloading at any Scout function. After a bit of investigation, we found not only was his statement true, but it was also a huge understatement. Fast forward, a group of us NSSA members got certified and worked in a Scout camp each session this summer. We worked with about 300 Scouts and Scouters, I personally worked with about 75. Of the ones I worked with, I helped all but 3 improve their muzzleloading marksmanship to the point where they could shoot a Ritz cracker off a wire at 25yd off hand with a Civil War musket.

Here's what we're about to do- we're going to run a training session for NRA Muzzleloading Instructors at our home range, Fort Shenandoah, in early January. At the completion of the session, we will have about 35 more instructors ready and willing to instruct youth in Scout camps and other youth settings. These instructors will be able to do what we did last summer and help youth in muzzleloading safety and marksmanship.

We plan on introducing as many kids as we can to the REAL world of muzzleloading and not a pile of myths. Muzzleloaders can be accurate, muzzleloaders are real guns, and not last by any measure, muzzleloading competition can be great fun!

So I'm hurling the gauntlet down here and now- what are YOU doing to help kids?

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I am a county 4-H shooting sports instructor and I am also on the state training team and teach the 4-H adult muzzle loader certification.

our county 4-H shooting sports program has a little over a hundred youth enrolled that is about 1/4 of all in 4-H in the county.

I only see about 14 for muzzle loader but it's something.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I wanted to get NRA certified, but for whatever reason, it's a real pain in Wisconsin. For rifle shotgun, and ML each was a separate weekend. All were down by Milwaukee (3 hrs away) & were $150 each. Add to that the travel and hotel costs.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I wanted to get NRA certified, but for whatever reason, it's a real pain in Wisconsin. For rifle shotgun, and ML each was a separate weekend. All were down by Milwaukee (3 hrs away) & were $150 each. Add to that the travel and hotel costs.

you also have to pay every 2 years to keep your certification after paying 30 dollars for the first registration of your certification.

I took NRA Range Safety Officer this fall.

you should look into 4-H if your interested in helping in WI 70 dollars (many counties reimburse) for your first cert 50 for each additional taken in 2 years keep active with your county and no cost but your time to keep certified some counties charge 5 dollars a year adult dues but some clubs reimburse that cost even.

the NRA shooting sports just wasn't very strong in WI and training was hard to get and expensive. as weel as focused in the MKE area when I got started 11 years ago

the 4-H was local don't have to leave my county most years other than state training which I wouldn't have to got to any more if I wasn't on the training team. training's are offered by region so you shouldn't have to travel too far Eau Claire , Brown county , Marshfield , Lodi are typically where the training's are held.

[725]

I've been teaching ML'ing at a boy's & girl's camp for about 20 years. A couple of years ago they sent me to Camp Perry's Gary Anderson facility to get my Master Instructor's rating. For what it's worth, it was the stuff I grew up with. Great facility and modern with air gun stuff & computers, and the like. Got my Rifle Pistol & Shotgun cert from the NRA many moons ago. Used same in teaching our Department's QRT team (SWAT everywhere else in the world). Just last week, I got an old friend (73 years old) into the sport, and now he says he has the itch.

The OP has a great idea going. Wish we had same up here in Maryland.

[LabGuy]

I’m also a NRA Training Counselor, with muzzleloading and muzzleloading CO-OP ratings. Muzzleloading CO-OP is muzzleloading rifle only. Running the full basic class with rifle, shotgun, pistol, cap and ball revolvers, and then the instructor course, is a long long event. I understand why they did it, but I wish they had kept the MZ rifle, pistol and shotgun separate courses. I haven’t full a full MZ Instructor class in 2 years. No one seems to want to make the time commitment.

[dave951]

I’m also a NRA Training Counselor, with muzzleloading and muzzleloading CO-OP ratings. Muzzleloading CO-OP is muzzleloading rifle only. Running the full basic class with rifle, shotgun, pistol, cap and ball revolvers, and then the instructor course, is a long long event. I understand why they did it, but I wish they had kept the MZ rifle, pistol and shotgun separate courses. I haven’t full a full MZ Instructor class in 2 years. No one seems to want to make the time commitment.

From the NRA literature, the time for the class can be adjusted based on the skill/knowledge level of the group. In our case, we're all NSSA members and that means we're all muzzleloading competitors in various disciplines. That means I have a group that could have helped write the entire course. The challenge teaching the Basic course will be keeping everybody awake while we hit all the boxes.

[dave951]

I wanted to get NRA certified, but for whatever reason, it's a real pain in Wisconsin. For rifle shotgun, and ML each was a separate weekend. All were down by Milwaukee (3 hrs away) & were $150 each. Add to that the travel and hotel costs.

Part of what we're up to, we want to have a cadre of Muzzleloading Instructors from our group of muzzleloading competitors near to and accessible to about any youth organization. Our next phase is to move the training session to other of our regions to hit other NSSA members who weren't able to make this one. This is going to be a long haul to be sure, but it's taken years of neglect to get to this point.

Since you're in WI, the NMLRA does classes periodically. I don't know how they advertise the dates, but if you get into the NMLRA, I'm sure you could get involved through them. There are a couple NMLRA board members over on muzzleloadingforum.com

[dave951]

We looked at 4H, but decided against working with them for a couple very good reasons. First off, 4H does NOT recognize the NRA credentials, you have to be trained through 4H. The converse is also true, BSA, RR, TL and others, do NOT recognize 4H credentials. You guys need to reexamine that. Second, with that credential thing in mind, where are the majority of the youth? BSA has over 4MILLION kids by itself. Where would our effort have the most effect?

There are some things I like about 4H, namely they aren't hung up on 45 and 50cal and they do have a competition program for 4H members. But again, compare the 4H membership numbers to the others. I wish 4H would recognize the credentials, we'd be glad to help there too.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

For me it wasn't the time commitment as much as the cash. I was a scoutmaster at the time and thought it would be a fun option to offer the boys as well as the other troops. I called our council to see if there were any scholarships to send people to Milwaukee and they said "no".

It's all water under the bridge now. For me, the best thing to do to get kids involved was to have a good number of kids. As they grow, they make friends and invite them to deer camp and so forth.