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This week we’re talking with Ian Egbert, an active muzzleloading and black powder cartridge shooting competitor. Ian was drawn to the history of muzzleloaders after attending a civil war battle reenactment at 8 or 9 years old, but soon fell in love with shooting and competing with black powder. At the age of 14, he acquired his first muzzleloader, falling in love all over again. As a young adult, Ian became active in the NSSA ( North/South Skirmish Association. Returning to his roots, Ian participated in NSSA Matches with muzzleloaders from 50 to 100 yards for many years.
14 years ago, however, he was drawn to a different type of black powder shooting, black powder cartridge. After seeing photos and hearing stories about the NMLRA 1,000 yard matches, Ian knew this was something he wanted to shoot. Now, at the age of 39, Ian eats, breathes, and lives competitive black powder cartridge shooting by practicing, developing his own loads, and traveling to matches around the eastern half of the United States.
During our talk, Ian goes into detail about his rifles, loads, practice regime and more, but we’re giving you a basic run down below.
Ian shoots one of three rifles depending on the match and how he’s feeling.
A C. Sharps High wall, in 45-70 set up for iron sights or a scope, this has been his main rifle for 2020
A Shiloh, which he admittedly hasn’t used much lately.
A CTA rifle as a backup iron-sighted rifle.
When using a scope, he’s enjoying his DZ Arms 8 power scope, it gives him enough to see and isn’t distractingly overpowered. He’s using paper patched bullets, with a 14:1 Lead to tin ratio. While his bullets aren’t pure lead, Ian mentions that this is a historic recipe used by BPCR shooters in the late 1800s. The tin brings a low level of hardness to the lead, making sure the nose of the bullet does not crumple and stays aerodynamic in flight. In the past, Ian primarily used 81 grains of Swiss 1 1/2f black powder, but this year he's been using Swiss 2f with great success. In his 45-70 rifle, this load is flying at 1300 fps out of his rifle’s 33” barrel.
We’ve been following more BPCR matches this year as they picked up in the summer and it was great to follow the shooters’ progress around the country. If you are interested in lat 1800’s black powder history, black powder competition, or just learning how to be a better shooter, you’ll enjoy this podcast.
Thanks again to Ian for coming on the show, and special thanks to his wife Deanna Egbert, for sharing her photos from the 2020 matches.
Find out more about the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association at our website - NMLRA.org
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A special thanks this week to the guys at Primitive Pursuit for sponsoring the podcast! Primitive Pursuit was founded in 2017 to be an outlet for learning experiences as a traditional bowhunter.
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