Originally Posted by
52bore
Yep, George guilty as charged for being asked for my thoughts/suggestions on the NMLRA/NRA In-line matches by the president of the organization. Even as I was the rifle maker for 1st 2 In-line AGG National Champions. I was a proponent of change for the better.
BTW: A Knight won last year, the 3rd year with a mass produced hunting rifle.
Simple, create 2 additional matches for Custom rifles and change the In-line AGG to only 'mass produced hunting rifles'. That would not only include the out of date mass produced rifles such as White, Austin & Halleck, etc. also todays in-lines CVA, Knight, Remington, Traditions & T/C.
Match 859, Custom (any in-line) can shoot the mid-range match 100, 200, 300.
Match 860, Custom (any in-line) can shoot the M5 long-range match 100, 200, 300, 400, 500.
Better to be known as creating, hosting, supporting, shooting in matches than one that is not..
There were a number of shooters that were not happy with the changes made to the inline rules. If you think that it was only myself, then you're sadly mistaken. The numbers of shooters have declined and some of those who didn't shoot, wouldn't shoot because of the rule changes. Oh I remember the rules....
the rules that WOULD NOT HAVE AFFECTED ME, because I'm a senior and could have shot as it had been shot. My only dog in the fight was that it didn't support getting new shooters to the organization.
Its NEW SHOOTERS that the organization isn't attracting. Set it up for new younger inline hunters, instead of using old ways. Its like asking a kid today to use a rotary telephone. It isn't working and won't work. You've read the articles in Muzzle Blast and one is on the organizations site. Over 3,000,000 hunters us an inline rifle for hunting, but how many were on the line?
You've always looked at me as an enemy, when I tried harder than anyone else, including you, the organization, or the president, to get shooters to notice. Look over some of the old posts I made with the flyers. Check out other sporting sites, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, etc.,and even the organizations home state, Indiana. See who was advertising and promoting the organization. So when you say I might not support the organization or its shoots, its totally incorrect. I tried explaining that to your president, who promptly offered to "personally write" me a check for my dues.
So the Knight that you say is a mass produced hunting rifle, was that a .50cal? I was informed that the Knight that you're suggesting was a .45cal fast twist rifle. Knight does NOT list .45cal fast twist rifles on their web site. That's hardly a "mass produced" rifle, when they don't even list it on their web site.
https://www.muzzleloaders.com/produc...muzzleloaders/
Certainly not the Knight 500, which was considered a custom.
Description.... from the Knight web site:
A competition muzzleloader that can be used as a hunting rifle, the Knight 500 Muzzleloader is one serious long range black powder rifle. At 500 yard MOA you can be assured your shot will hit the intended target at impressive distances. With a Full Plastic Jacket ignition system the Knight 500 will shoot in any conditions you may find yourself in. It sports an impressive 28” handcrafted Green Mountain® barrel and a Boyd’s Custom Stock with an Aluminum Bedding Block that helps to free float the barrel for even more accuracy. The stock also features an adjustable cheek piece so no matter what position your firing in you have a clear view straight down range.
Its fruitless to get into the IDENTICAL rifle debate, so I'll stay completely away.
I like the M5, GREAT creation. I personally think its outstanding. However for the hunter class, no one, not even you, can tell rather a mass produced hunting rifle has been modified, and that's a contributing factor. There's no physical way you could have handled my last T/C Pro Hunter and identified that it was modified or not and it was HIGHLY modified.
IMO and that of a couple others you also know personally, creating all the different classifications only leads to more classifications and/or further concerns. You'd be better off having two classifications.
1) Rifles which shoot land riding bullets.
2) Rifles that shoot an encased bullet.
No more arguing over what's a custom or not, no difference between .45's or .50's. Heck, that would put you guys shooting PP in a great position.
Do not get the misunderstanding that I'm bashing or calling Ron's testing out. If ANYONE is believing that, they're totally wrong. There has been confusion by shooters, as well recognized in quite a few posts. Up until this last rounds of posts, there still were people with some confusion. Ron has settled that himself perfectly.