Third Year Student Gunsmiths Aid Black Powder Competitors

Students from the Brownells-sponsored Third Year Gunsmithing program at Trinidad State Junior College (TSJC) donated their time to help shooters at the recent Black Powder Cartridge Rifle National Silhouette Championships. The students repaired guns during the event, held at the NRA’s Whittington Center Range near Raton, New Mexico.

The TSJC gunsmiths-in-training worked on almost 40 guns belonging to the 200 competitors in the event. In the photo at right, John Cowell and Bob Campbell work on a firing pin problem for one of the shooters. The Whittington Center experience let the students practice their skills with the extra time pressure of helping a shooter get back to competition. “This is exactly [what] the 3rd Year Program was designed to do — get the students hands-on experience solving real gun repair problems,” said Brownells President, Pete Brownell.

Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette Basics
You’ll find a good summary of Black Power Cartridge Rifle Silhouette History, Rules and Equipment on the Outdoor Adventures Network website.

In Black Powder Cartridge Silhouette Silhouette (BPCRS) competition, shooters must knock down steel silhouette chickens at 200 meters (656 ft.), pigs at 300 meters (984 ft.), turkeys at 385 meters (1,262 ft.) and rams at 500 meters (1,639 ft.). As in high-power rifle silhouette competitions, the chickens must be shot off-hand, in the standing position. However, BPCRS differs in that the pigs, turkeys and rams may be shot in a prone or sitting position using a cross-stick rest. Ten shots are fired at each target, for a total of 40 shots per match. The challenge is in the equipment — BPCRS is limited to single shot, exposed-hammer, American rifles of the era preceding 1896. Only original or reproduction single shot rifles that shoot cartridges loaded with black powder or Pyrodex are allowed. Only original sights may be used –- no scopes.

Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Links:

• LongRangeBPCR.com (Informative site for BPCR Long-range Competition).
• BPCR.net (Active Forum, Tech Pages, and Match Results).
• Outdoor Adventures BPCR Silhouette Page (Summary of BPCRS Rules and Equipment).
• Ballard Arms (Beautiful Hand-crafted Black Powder Cartridge Rifles).

Similar Posts:

• Black Powder Target Rifle Championship Oct. 1-7, in Raton, NM
• Black Powder Target Rifle Championship Next Week in Raton, NM
• The Holy Black — BPCR Nat’l Championship is One Month Away
• High Power Silhouette Championships Commence at Raton
• NRA Nat'l Silhouette Championships

Tags: Black Powder, BPCR, Brownells, Colorado, Silhouette, Trinidad