April 2026 (2) - Flipbook - Page 28
Black Powder Long Range Shooting:
A Sport at a Crossroads
By
Henning
Langness
Editor’s note:
We are extremely pleased to
welcome Henning Langness
to the ModernBPCRShooter
sta昀昀.
I sometimes joke that we, the
international community of
black powder long range shooters, are a threatened species.
A glance down the 昀椀ring line is
enough to con昀椀rm it — our average age wouldn’t exactly qualify
us for the Olympic 100-meter
dash. We are far more suited for
a wellpaced wheelchair race at
the senior home.
I’ve been shooting highpower
competition since I was 8 or 10
years old. But I didn’t discover
the art — and addiction — of
black powder ri昀氀es until I was
39. My 昀椀rst long range match
was the 2015 MLAIC World
Championship at Camp Butner.
I was 44 years old then, and if
my memory is correct, I was one
of only three shooters under 50.
A decade later, not much has
changed.
There’s nothing wrong with an
aging line of competitors as long
as the veterans keep showing
up, but my concern is what happens after. Without fresh blood,
I fear the sport could be nearly
gone internationally within ten
28
years. And I’m pointing my 昀椀nger at every country except the
United States. No one promotes
and sustains this sport like the
Americans. They keep the 昀氀ame
alive. The rest of us? We could
use a serious injection of vitamins.
The International Challenge: You Can’t Train
What You Can’t Shoot
There are actually quite a few
international shooters passionate about this sport. But our
April, 2026 - Issue #2
