Something for everyone in blackpowder shooting match

The 2017 Alaska territorial blackpowder shooting match results are in the books. This event occurred on Thursday through Sunday, July 13-16. The weather held off for the most part, with the only gully washer happening about midway through the last relay on Thursday afternoon. A couple of afternoons even got uncomfortably warm in the direct sunshine!

We only had 16 registered shooters for the entire four-day event. A couple of the regulars were sidelined by health issues and one other person was called away with a family emergency on Thursday before he could even begin shooting. This attendance was the lowest I can recall since I’ve been attending this match. We only had two youth shooters, one lady shooter, and no junior shooters. I hope next year’s participation improves!

As I had mentioned in previous columns, I wasn’t planning to shoot a bunch because of my shoulder. I did buy three aggregates worth of targets, but I only shot two complete aggregates. My shoulder did hold up better than I expected, but toward the end of my second aggregate, I was feeling the effects of a healthy powder charge behind a heavy lead projectile!

If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, an aggregate score consists of the combined scores for a series of individual matches fired with one type of firearm. For instance, the sighted smoothbore aggregate score is comprised of the scores from two separate 25-yard matches, one 50-yard match, and one 100-yard match. Medals were awarded for the first three places for each individual match and for the overall aggregate score in that category.

Now I’ll do a little bragging. Of the seven individual matches I shot in the two aggregates I participated in, I was only happy with my score in one match! The other six matches were okay, but nothing to write home about. However, having said all that, I did manage to win a medal in every match and two aggregate medals for the two I competed in. That’s a total of nine medals for seven matches!

A couple of the medals were gold, for first place, but the majority were silver, or second place finishes. For the record, I competed in the sighted smoothbore and musket (rifled musket such as used in the Civil War) categories. My unused aggregate was for smoothbore competition.

Everybody seemed to be having “off days” during this shooting event because no new records were set or even come close to during the four-day match. Part of that might be the reduced levels of competition. Having several other guys breathing down your neck in a tight competition will either spur a better than average score or, if you can’t take the pressure, a lousy one.

I have good and bad days when shooting. I also tend to do a lot of “experimenting” with loads and sight settings during these matches. If I was serious about the competition, I would get all my practice and load development done before the actual match, but then, I’m not that serious about winning anymore.

I heard several of the other shooters comment that they enjoyed the comradery with their fellow competitors more than the actual shooting! I tend to agree. Unfortunately, most of the folks currently competing are contemporaries to me age-wise. We can relate to comments, political perspectives, historical views and such because of being in the same generation. What is needed is an influx of younger folks taking up the sport, assuring the continued enjoyment of this aspect of shooting well into the future.

We did have a few folks stop in to see what was going on. Every one of them was curious about the guns or the loading process or some other aspect of shooting blackpowder. Each visitor was asked if they wanted to shoot and, while everyone declined the invite, I hope they consider chasing in the ‘raincheck” sometime in the future.

While most shooters used traditional firearms, meaning sidelock percussion or flintlock ignition, there are aggregates specifically designed for the more modern in-line style guns popular with today’s blackpowder hunters. These matches allow conical bullets like hunters usually use, and scopes if that is the shooter’s choice. A person can fire one aggregate with their blackpowder cartridge rifle, the next with their smoothbore “Brown Bess” Revolutionary War era musket, and the next with their Thompson/Center Omega in-line complete with a synthetic thumbhole stock, in-line 209-primer ignition, and scope.

There’s literally something for everyone when it comes to shooting blackpowder!