Muzzle Blasts Online
Aug 1997/Sep 1997	Volume 2, Number 4

Muzzleloading News

Editor's note:  In an effort to keep our readership informed about the new products available to muzzleloading enthusiasts, as well as newsworthy events within the muzzleloading and reenactment communities, Muzzle Blasts Online will regularly publish press-release information from manufacturers, foundations, and other sources.

Muzzleloading News

Colt and Colt Blackpowder Sign New 5-Year Agreement
Colts Manufacturing Co. Inc. and Colt Blackpowder Arms Company have signed a new 5-year licensing agreement. The agreement authorizes Colt Blackpowder to manufacture and sell the authentic Colt Blackpowder Signature Series, a one-time limited production of both 2nd generation and 3rd generation Colt percussion guns. The agreement also includes the licensing of deluxe presentation cases of all Colt pistols and revolvers.

Colt™ Gamemaster .50

Colt Blackpowder is also developing a new line of modern percussion arms to be marketed as Colt Blackpowder Today. One such rifle is the Colt Gamemaster .50 a rifle designed to satisfy those who prefer real tradition and performance in a muzzleloader. This Colt carries a .50 caliber barrel with a 1:28 twist, and features Colts all new hunter designed aperture peep sight system. A redesigned ignition allows use of musket caps five times the ignition power of standard percussion caps.

For a free Colt Blackpowder catalogue call (718) 499-4678 or write to CBAC 110 8th St., Brooklyn, New York 11215.

Cline Ltd. Introduces Perfect Puller
Stuck bullets or cleaning patches are no longer a problem. One person in the field alone can readily extract a barrel obstruction with the aid of a compact and easily carried Perfect Puller. Attach it to the ramrod, and while grasping the Perfect Puller with one hand and the muzzleloader barrel with your other, simply pull out the obstruction.

The Perfect Puller components are brass and firmly grip ramrods that have no threaded metal cap. With one of the two included adapters it easily screws into ramrods that have securely fastened 8x32 or 10x32 threaded caps. No larger than a small speed loader, it will attach to any ramrod.

The Perfect Puller can also be used as a ramrod handle for cleaning or swabbing the barrel. or to assist in seating the charge when loading at the shooting range.

For more information, please write to: J.B. Cline Jr., Cline Ltd., Rt. 1, Box 214-A, Belleville, WV 26133; phone (304)863-5372.

CVA Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Mountain Rifle
The rifle that made CVA famous is back! The 25th Anniversary Limited Edition CVA Mountain Rifle commemorates Connecticut Valley Arms' first quarter century as the leading manufacturer of muzzleloading guns and accessories.

CVA Mountain Rifle PR4200

Modeled after the original CVA Mountain Rifle, which helped launch the rebirth of blackpowder hunting and shooting in the early 1970's, this gun authentically replicated the no-nonsense rifle of the mountain men who first explored the American West. Featuring all browned steel hardware, fine figured American hard maple stock, buckhorn rear sight and German silver wedge plates and blade front sight, this rifle offers custom quality and true traditional appeal. Designed to shoot patched round balls, the 32" browned steel barrel has 1 in 66" rifling and is extremely accurate.

Made in the USA and limited to a production run of only 300 finished guns, this CVA Mountain Rifle is a great choice for the collectors as well as the hunter. Each finished rifle comes with a traditional fringed suede leather gun case and bullet pouch. Call the CVA Custom Shop for additional information at (770) 449-4687.

Firelocker Offers Cases for Longrifles, Muskets and Fowlers
Firelocker has expanded its line of hard and soft gun cases made exclusively for muzzleloading long guns to help you protect your investment.

A high impact case 65" long, lockable, airline approved is available for guns with up to 44" barrels. A 65"x10"x4" Modified Styrene case with web, snap wrap handles and full length YKK zipper, convoluted foam lining has been added to the line.

A Sunforger Army Duck case is available with plain or flannel lining. Breathable and water repellent, it is available in two sizes to fit both rifle and musket.

The Oilcloth (the trekkers case) is made of 6oz. high thread count Egyptian cotton treated with an oil/wax finish which makes it compact, waterproof yet breathable protection that can be taken anywhere.

Contact Firelocker at (800) 492-3326 for information or a catalog.

NRA Adds a New Monthly Publication and Names New Editors
American Guardian, the NRA's all new monthly publication featuring issues vital to the defense of life, home, liberty and the Second Amendment right to protect them, premiered in May, 1997. Initial circulation will be approximately 50,000.

NRA members will now have three diverse, official journals from which to choose: American Rifleman, American Hunter and American Guardian. Members receive one official journal as a benefit of membership, and can purchase subscriptions to one or both of the others for an additional, nominal fee.

Jessica Sparks has been named editor of American Guardian. An NRA Endowment Member with over 10 years experience as a writer, photographer, and magazine editor in the shooting sports world, she brings to American Guardian a strong enthusiasm for the NRA's goals and programs, and for recreational and competitive shooting. Sparks is a certified instructor in the NRA's Personal Protection Program.

Hunting and outdoor enthusiast John R. Zent has been promoted to editor of the American Hunter magazine, the National Rifle Association's official monthly publication for its hunter members. With a circulation of 1.1 million, American Hunter is the largest publication devoted to hunting and the role of the sport in wildlife management.

Zent, an NRA Life Member, served as Associate Editor of American Hunter for four years before his promotion to Managing Editor in 1991. He became an NRA employee in 1982, and also served on the staffs of American Rifleman and American Marksman (now Shooting Sports USA) before transferring to the American Hunter staff.

Museum of the Mountain Man to Host Fur Trade Symposium
The Museum of the Mountain Man and its parent organization, the Sublette County Historical Society, will host the 1997 Fur Trade Symposium in Pinedale, Wyoming September 11-13, 1997.

Museum of the Mountain Man Medal

The Fur Trade Era: The Influence of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade on the Development of the American West is a symposium designed to examine the significance of the Fur Trade in the Rocky Mountains and Upper Missouri River on the economic, cultural and social development of the peoples and geographic area involved. The primary focus of the Symposium will be the concept of enterprise as an organizing principle in understanding the Mountain Men.

In addition to a presentation of academic papers, plans include a pre-conference trek to historic sites of the Fur Trade Era, a demonstration Trappers' Camp, which will be given by personnel from the National Park Service, and a special culinary presentation on American Bison offered by renown food historian Sam Arnold of The Fort Restaurant in Colorado. Robert Utley, noted author of Western Americana will give the keynote address.

The Fur Trade Symposium is funded in part with a grant from the Wyoming Council for the Humanities.

For more information, contact the Museum of the Mountain Man, Box 909, Pinedale, Wyoming 82941; call (307)367-4101; or FAX (307)367-6768.