GAF/Military Shooting Catagory

[US Scout]

Bill,

I've been following the discussion and agree that the NSSA is a potential source of recruits for both the GAF and NCOWS.  I also concur with expanding the NCOWS timeline to allow these CW enthusiasts an easier entry into CAS/WAS.  We don't have that problem with the GAF since we are already established for 1860-1900 (and easily accomodate those who extend a few years on either side).  In fact, after watching a program on Pershing's Punitive Expedition into Mexico, I think we have grounds to expand the GAF time limit to 1914, if there is sufficient interest in doing so.

Actually, most of the NSSA people I know and have met are competative shooters first and foremost (they call themselves skirmishers) and do not consider themselves reenactors, though some do reenact outside of the NSSA.  Reenactors are the ones who just shoot blanks as far as most of them are concerned.  In the NSSA, they shoot bullets at targets for score - not unlike SASS and NCOWS.

While not a member of NSSA, I do visit their semi-annual National Skirmishes at Ft Shenandoah in Winchester, VA.  I find it a great place to pick up BP items, as well as the odd bit of military equipment and clothing (since my persona is of the decade immediately following the War).  I particularly like watching them shoot their cannons for both time and accuracy.  Very impressive!

US Scout
GAF Commander

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Actually, most of the NSSA people I know and have met are competative shooters first and foremost (they call themselves skirmishers) and do not consider themselves reenactors, though some do reenact outside of the NSSA.  Reenactors are the ones who just shoot blanks as far as most of them are concerned.  In the NSSA, they shoot bullets at targets for score - not unlike SASS and NCOWS.

US Scout,
Could be that some feel that way, but that is the information that I got from Norma Coates, and it is also stated in their by-laws and literature that they hand out.

I find it a great place to pick up BP items, as well as the odd bit of military equipment and clothing (since my persona is of the decade immediately following the War).

I agree, I plan on attending their shoot in may as they ask me to attend in my Apache clothing, but I think I am going to suprise them when I show up in my 1st. Mounted Cherokee Volunteer persona. Stone Watie's Cherokee Indian regiment that fought on the side of the confederacy at the start of the war, but changed sides when it looked like it was going down hill.

So, I have both a Southern persona & a Northern persona and I don't even have to change clothes....

Bill

[US Scout]

...I plan on attending their shoot in may as they ask me to attend in my Apache clothing, but I think I am going to suprise them when I show up in my 1st. Mounted Cherokee Volunteer persona. Stone Watie's Cherokee Indian regiment that fought on the side of the confederacy at the start of the war, but changed sides when it looked like it was going down hill.

Bill

Let me know if you do and we'll link up sometime over that weekend.  Besides, I'd like to see the outfit you come up with!  I have an interest in Indians fighting in the CW. 

This is what I found on the NSSA website, which pretty much sums up how the NSSA people I've met think.  Perhaps the literature says something different, but I've generally found that calling most NSSA shooters a reenactor is "fighting words."

Competition is intense in the N-SSA. Unlike Civil War re-enactments, skirmish shooting is done with live ammunition in original or dimensionally certified reproduction military firearms of the period. The core of N-SSA shooting is the 8-man musket team match. Uniformed Union and Confederate teams compete in timed, rapid-fire events, shooting at breakable targets such as clay pigeons, ceramic tiles, and clay flower pots at ranges of 50 and 100 yards. The team with the lowest time wins.

I remember when they used to dress up in just blue or gray shirts and pants, but they've come a long way in the last few years and now attire themselves in the proper uniform of their chosen regiments. 

For that matter, most reenactors, at least here in VA don't like being called skirmishers because they "recreat" historical battles and a fair number don't even shoot (other than blanks).  Hard to believe isn't it?  I'm almost always surprised at the number of reenactors I meet who have never shot live ammunition from their muskets.  Found the same to be true with Rev War reenactors (which is one reason why I prefer organizations like COHT).  When I belonged to a company of the US Sharpshooters, I found I was the only one who had actually shot a muzzle loader, not to mention being the only one in my comany who had actually met the original qualification standards of the Sharpshooters.  I once met a reenactor who swore to me that our muskets could not be safely used with live ammunition, only blanks.

US Scout
GAF Commander

[Dr. Bob]

Ottawa Creek Bill,

Help me out here!  Is that Cherokee feller, Stand Watie, gonna let an Ottawa who is dressed like an Apache ride with his unit?   And, iffen yer Bill who is riding with Stand Watie's Cherokee Brigade, then wouldn't that make you Cherokee Bill??

Now, I'm going to go hide in the rifle range in the basement where ya can't shoot me through this here gizmo!

[Frenchie]

I once met a reenactor who swore to me that our muskets could not be safely used with live ammunition, only blanks.

Heh. Maybe his musket couldn't be safely fired with a Minié ball on top of 65 grains of powder because the only times he'd ever bothered to clean it were when it refused to fire at all, and then all he did was pick the cone and run hot water down the bore. I've seen muskets so fouled with residue and rust that I doubted a .575 ball could be rammed to the bottom.

For those who might not know why that reenactor was wrong, the company lawyers made the designers build the guns so they could survive most of the stupid things people were likely to do. That's why a repro '61 Springfield usually weighs 2 or 3 pounds more than an original, the steel parts are thicker (and the original stock might be a lot drier, but that's not the major reason for the weight difference). Even if the dimensions were identical, modern steels are so much better than those of 150 years ago that there would still be a big difference in strength.

There is an abyss of ignorance about our firearms out there. I've learned not to be surprised when reenactors, who very much should know better, say things like that.

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[US Scout]

Frenchie-

Actually the individual in question considered his Brown Bess musket merely a prop and the steel of such inferior quality that it would burt on firing a ball.  You should have seen his face when he learned that some of us not only shot our muskets (and flintlock rifles) for real, but were getting ready to do it again.  He just knew one of them was going to explode like a bomb and blow us all up! 

He is not the only one I've met of this mentality, but he certainly ranks as one of the worst informed.

US Scout
Bvt Brig. Gen., GAF