Every muzzleloader club has matches and some type of scoring system to help the club’s members improve and compete. I spoke with the last two range officers of our club, Mike Briscoe and Art Buckowitz, asking questions about how our own club’s scoring works to understand it better. I thought I would write this post to help our members as well as other muzzleloader clubs see how our matches operate to see if there is anything they want to use.
Our club started in 1950 and we have over 70 members with 30-35 regular shooters. It’s very active with many lifelong members and the Gemmer club has produced some excellent shooters over the years. Keep in mind that what I’m going to share has evolved over the last 74 years to meet the needs of our members and encourage healthy competition while keeping the sport fun and enjoyable.
Schedule:
We have 10 club matches each year starting in March and ending in December. The club matches are typically on the first Sunday of the month. Targets are posted and shooting starts at 10am. Many shooters begin arriving by 8am on match day. Our range can support 25-30 shooters at a time, so we have a second relay that starts at about 11:30am. The range officers from the first relay, and anyone that couldn’t make the first relay, shoot the second relay.
Here are the matches for the 2024 season. They typically remain like this most years:
- March – Rendezvous
- April – 50 Yard Bench Match – Open and Peep
- May – The 5 Position Memorial Match
- June – The Bottle Match
- July – The Buffalo ReEntry Match – Open and Peep
- August – The Mystery Target Match
- September – 100 Yard Bench Match – Open and Peep
- October – Hunters Match and Schuetzen Target
- November – 75 Yard Bench Bull Match
- December – 100 Yard Buffalo Match – Open and Peep
The links above take you to a detailed explanation of the rules for that match. Our matches are a mixture of offhand, bench, prone, and cross stick shooting from 25 yards out to 100 yards with a few shots out to 200 yards. I’ll continue to provide more pictures and updates to the matches so that they will be easier to understand.
Shooting Targets:
Rendezvous match targets are a variety of special targets, most of which are steel. Some are fun targets like splitting playing cards, cutting a string, lollypops, ping pong balls, or whatever else the range officer dreams up for this fun match. These targets are placed at distances that make the shot difficult, but not impossible to hit. For example, the playing cards on edge maybe at 10 yards out. Other steal targets are setup between 25 and 100 yards, with the largest targets farther out. It is important to have targets that reset themselves after they are shot the next shooter can shot at the target again without having to shut the range down to pickup or fix the target. This is tricky and we typically have to stop the shooting for at least one target repair during a match.
Targets below are purchased from the NMLRA.org.
The Mystery Target Match: This target and distance is kept secret until the day of the event. No one know so the practice of this match is limited.
Shooting Groups:
Most of our matches have three age groups for our shooters to make shooting fun for everyone. The General group is for everyone under 65. The Senior group is for members 65-72 years old. A Super Senior group is for shooters over 72 years old.
The General group and Senior group shoot the same targets at the same distances as called for on the match rules, but the Senior group members compete against others within that group.
The Super Senior group shoots a different target from the bench each match at 35 yards. Only 6 shots are taken to make the shooting less physically tiring.
You must be within that age group by the first shoot of the season, or you must wait until the next year to join that age group. Each age group has their own aggregate season scores, which we will discuss more later. Members of the Senior and Super Senior groups have the choice of shooting against their group, or they can shoot against the younger group. Whichever group they start the season in, they must stay in that group for the remainder of the season to participate in the Aggregate competition.
Optional Club Matches:
On most of our club match days we also have a pistol match and a smoothbore match. This adds variety to our shooting for the members that choose to participate in these matches. The pistol match is 6 shots at the pistol target shot at 25 yards, and the smoothbore match is the best 5 out of 6 shots. Awards are given out for the top 3 aggregate scores of these matches each year. We do not hold these two matches on our Rendezvous match because there is so many activities and there isn’t enough time.
Aggregate Scores:
Each of the three age groups has an annual competition called the aggregate. This is the total score for all the matches during that season and rates the shooters overall for the whole season. In the past we used all ten matches to come up with this score, but this doesn’t allow for the shooters to even miss one match and be competitive. So recently we decided to have the aggregate score the best 9 match scores. If you shoot all ten matches, we throw out the lowest score from the total. All shooters are allowed to miss one match a season and still have a good chance at competing in the Aggregate score. This Aggregate score is the best guide to see how the club members rank against each other overall for the entire season.
It only works well if you attend most, if not all, matches. It is nearly impossible for shooters that regularly miss 2 or 3 matches every season to rank very well against a group of members that attend every month. So, for example, if you shoot in 7 matches throughout the season, you will get a 0 score for the 8th and 9th match, which really hurts your aggregate score.
Another thing to note is if a shooter shoots both open and peep targets, their best score counts towards the aggregate score. The pistol and smoothbore matches also have aggregate awards given out. Here is how many matches count towards the aggregate score for the various matches:
General Match: Aggregate is top 9 scores.
Senior Match: Aggregate is top 9 scores.
Super Senior Match: Aggregate is top 7 scores.
Pistol Match: Aggregate is top 8 scores.
Smoothbore Match: Aggregate is top 8 scores.
Award Ceremony:
At the end of each season at our annual meeting we hold an award ceremony with plaques giving out for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in certain matches as well as the Aggregate scores for the various match types. This meeting is typically held on the first Sunday in February and is the kickoff for the next season.
Public Matches:
In addition to the official club match days, we have a few other public matches that are thrown in. These include Meat Matches, Silhouette Matches, and Chunk Gun Matches. We even have Archery Matches added to the schedule for the 2024 season.
Conclusion:
It’s important that your club members enjoy shooting and find ways to compete against other shooters to refine this skill. Whatever rules your club uses, don’t be afraid to adjust them for the next season so that everyone can compete. Most of our matches have the details posted well in advance so that members that want to practice can do so before each match. Our members go to the range regularly and practice, but it’s also nice to know that many members shoot the same time every week. Wednesday’s at 10am is our clubs practice day when you have the best chance to shoot with others. The shooters that spend the most time at the range practicing almost always perform better than those that just shoot at the matches. Muzzleloading is a great sport, so pass on your love of muzzleloading by inviting a new shooter to join you at the range. That was one of the best gifts anyone has ever given me, so be sure to reciprocate.
