Long Range Muzzle Loading

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Long range target shooting with the muzzle loading rifle offers the discerning rifleman opportunity to participate in a challenging and ultimately very rewarding discipline. The sport is rich in heritage and the origins of many of todays national shooting associations stem from the muzzle loading era. To discuss the sport today and historical topics, join the Long Range Target Shooting with the Black Powder Rifle group on facebook.

The following articles credited to Bill Roberts are reprinted (with permission) from “Long Range Black Powder Shooting” – William A. Roberts, Jr. Muzzle Blasts, USA, November 1999, December 1999, January 2000.

Further reading:

  • Pedersoli Gibbs: Instructions & Advice for Long Range Shooting – Special instructions packed with new Pedersoli Gibbs rifles after late 2006.
  • Bedding the Parker-Hale – It is perfectly possible to clean a muzzle loading Enfield type of rifle thoroughly without ever taking the barrel out of the wood.
  • Breech Plugs – The long range muzzle loading rifle is a specialty of its own and has components that are not found on any other type of muzzle loader. The most important of these is the breech plug.
  • Enfield Optics – Problems with open sights for the shooter past the first flush of youth.
  • Euroarms Volunteer: Disassembly Assembly – Removing the breech plug from the Volunteer is not a straight forwards process!
  • Paper Patching: A Pictorial Guide – A quick tutorial on paper patching bullets.
  • The Art of Shooting with the Rifle – Further contemporary articles, historical perspectives, and advice for the rifleman.
  • Long Range Target Shooting with the Black Powder Rifle – a facebook group. Long range target shooting with the percussion muzzle loading rifle and black powder cartridge rifle. Historical study and shooting today. 19th Century competition at Wimbledon, Creedmoor and Dollymount. Rifles, ammunition and equipment. Riflemen and Gunmakers.
  • Whitworth Rifle Enthusiasts – This facebook group is for those who shoot original or reproduction Whitworth rifles today, and those seeking to learn about and share knowledge of its special history. Whitworth artillery is also included.

Related Posts

Euroarms Volunteer: Disassembly Assembly

When you first remove the barrel from the stock, what appears to be step one is to unscrew the tang/”breech plug” from the bolster. If you do that one then sees a recessed “plug” flat on two sides. We first tried to remove that with no success. I then ordered a parts diagram from Eurorarms – which showed the tang/breech plug, the bolster and the barrel. It did not show the threaded center that actually holds the bolster onto the barrel and into which the tang is screwed. This is the piece that actually has the chamber cut into it on one end and is solid on the other. We’ll call it the “chamber”.

Long Range Muzzle Loading

The hey-day of the muzzle loading era for rifle marksmen in Great Britain was the first two decades of the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) existence; broadly 1860-1880. Today, two national associations within the UK cater for the discipline of long range muzzle loading, namely the Muzzle Loaders Association of Great Britain (MLAGB) and the National Rifle Association (NRA). The World Governing body for muzzle loading shooting is the Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (MLAIC), who in 1999 introduced long range World Championships to their competition programme.