January 2026 copy - Flipbook - Page 66
to be competitive in the
sport. Later that night,
I was back in my room,
packing up my stu昀昀 getting ready to hit the road
home early the next morning. Out of the 550 rounds
of ammunition I had
brought with me, I had two
rounds left. I knew that I
would never truly be able
to compete so long as I
held on to smokeless powder and the dream of easy
shooting. I understood late
Sunday night, that I needed to adopt the deliberate
style, the preparation,
and the thoughtfulness of
black powder shooting. I
resolved to head home and
do the impossible…learn
how to shoot black powder.
When I got back, I purchased my 昀椀rst Shiloh
Sharps and a more appropriate, Creedmoor
style, bullet mold. It was
a number one Sporter
chambered in 45-70 with
an 18 inch twist barrel. It
didn’t have the checkering
I wanted and I was already
thinking about faster twist
rates at the time but the
ri昀氀e was a good ri昀氀e and
the following year at the
Quigley I shot a 29 with it.
In a way, shooting smokeless can be an entry into
the world of black Powder.
This is fully legal at the
Quigley Match. So to answer that question for people who pose it, yes, there
is a low bar of entry, it’s
called the Quigley. A person can go to the Quigley
without knowing anybody.
They will be surrounded by a couple thousand
other like-minded people,
have lots of opportunities
for shopping and meeting
people, making friends,
and asking questions and
learning things. This is the
method I used. I feel that
I have been well served
by my experiences (especially the tough lessons!)
over the last 5 years, and I
wouldn’t change anything.
I have learned at a fast
pace and am 昀椀nally starting to become pro昀椀cient
at BPCR shooting. It is
incumbent upon the new
shooter to make the decision to switch over to
straight black powder
shooting. No one can force
them to do it. They will
either want to compete in
this format, or not.
My fourth Quigley, having a great time! No regrets at all about switching to Black
Powder. Fact is, I havn’t loaded a single round of smokeless in over four years now.
66
Modern BPCR Shooter - January, 2026
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