136th N-SSA Nationals

Originally published December 2017 · pp. 1–3

Tropical storm Nate didn’t deter the 5th Virginia Infantry during the musket match. Over 100 teams braved the storm.

WINCHESTER, Va.—On October 6-8, the North-South Skirmish Association held its 136th National Competition at its home range, Fort Shenandoah, near Winchester, Va. The 67-year-old Association is the oldest and largest Civil War shooting sports organization in the country. Over the years, the N-SSA has grown and expanded its matches to include live-fire competition with original or authentic reproduction Civil War period muskets, carbines, breech-loading rifles, revolvers, mortars, and cannon. Nine team matches were held over the three-day weekend. The weather in the scenic Shenandoah Valley was perfect until the driving rain of tropical storm Nate arrived on Sunday; the day of the Rifle-Musket Team match, the N-SSA signature event. All targets are breakable and the pieces certainly flew as clay pigeons, ceramic tiles, and pot silhouettes were blasted by Minié balls at ranges of 50 and 100 yards. The rain didn’t slow down the

N-SSA events include period clothing and costume events and competitions. These dresses exhibit the skill and detail involved in creating the period clothing.

In spite of rain from tropical storm Nate, musket company matches proceeded as scheduled, and a fun, if damp, time

(Ben Harris Jr.)

Matt Booz of Company C, 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters touches off the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle owned by his father and N-SSA National Commander, David Booz.

(Ericka Hoffmann) consistently excellent 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) as they won the gold medal. They took the musket match with a time of 449.0 seconds for the five-event program, besting the next closest unit by a solid 20 seconds. A total of 107 soggy eight-member teams participated in this classic competition. The 110th OVI struck gold again in the Smoothbore Musket Team match, beating 118 other units to finish first with a total time of 206.5 seconds and a hearty 30-second lead over the second place unit. This relatively new match has become increasingly popular and, as you can imagine, a really great test of skill. Competitors participated with many different firearms including the U.S. Model 1842; Confederate Macon Arsenal conversions of the Model 1842; the Hewes & Philips conversion of the U.S. Model 1816 (which features a rear sight), and the occasional European Potsdam in .72 caliber. The match consisted of four events, including the extra challenging silhouette of a tiny clay pot at 25 yards and 6”x6” ceramic tiles at 50 yards. Not to be denied, the indomitable 110th OVI won the Carbine Team match as well, with a time of 335.9 seconds, besting the next closest unit by a whopping 38 seconds. Smith carbines, many of them valuable originals, were a favorite in this match. Skirmishers also used Sharps’ carbines and you could often see Burnsides’, Maynard’s, and even muzzle-loading carbines and musketoons in this match of speed and accuracy. Eighty-one four-member teams participated in the Revolver Team match of four events: 12 clay pigeons on a cardboard backer; eight hanging 6”x6” ceramic tiles; eight hanging clay pigeons and eight hanging 4”x4” ceramic tiles. The Nansemond Guards finished first and claimed the gold medals with a time of 114.2 seconds, a solid 26 seconds better than the second place team. Three additional shoulder arm team matches were held. In the Single-Shot Rifle Team match, the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry won their third consecutive gold medal with a time of 115.5 seconds; 40 seconds faster than any other team. In the Breech-Loading Rifle Team match, the 2nd Maryland Artillery won the match for the second consecutive national; better than 43 other teams. In the Spencer Team match, the 46th Illinois Infantry won for the third consecutive national. These teams obviously take their matches very seriously! Fifty-seven pieces competed in the Mortar Team match. We saw everything from ringing brass Coehorns to gigantic siege mortars at this National. It is always great fun to watch this match because you can actually follow the flight of the projectile given the relatively low muzzle velocity. The mortar teams fired seven shots at a stake 100 yards down range. Officials then carefully measured the shots’ distance from the stake and tallied the best five shots for score. The overall winner was Hardaway’s Alabama Battery (gun #1) with a five shot aggregate score of 23 feet-5.5 inches, a very close 1 foot-5.5 inches better than the runner up; the 3rd U.S. Infantry. The artillery matches are a spectator favorite with 49 guns participating at this National. The range is reconfigured so that the cannons fire perpendicular to the regular firing line. Target frames and their paper targets are set at a range of 200 yards for rifled guns and 100 yards for smoothbores and howitzers. Each cannon fires a solid shot at two targets; a bull’s eye and a silhouette of a cannon facing them that represents counter battery fire. A maximum of seven shots are fired on either target with a maximum point count of 25 per target. A perfect score is 50 points. The guns are classified by type: smoothbore, rifled, howitzer, and rifled howitzer. In the Smoothbore class, Hardaway’s Alabama Battery won their second consecutive gold medal with a terrific 48-2V (“V” is the dead center of the center ring). In the Rifled class, the 3rd U.S. Infantry (Smithgall’s gun) won with the amazing perfect score of 50-5V; even more amazing as it was their second consecutive win with the same score. In the Howitzer class, the Rowan Artillery won, shooting an excellent 50-3V, almost as good as the 50-7V they shot to win at the 135th National. The 1st Maryland Cavalry won for the fourth consecutive national in the Rifled Howitzer class with a 492V. The accuracy of these Civil

These young BB gun shooters from Company D, 33rd Virginia Infantry, “Little Mountain Rangers,” receive close instruction on their marksmanship from their coaches.

War cannons is truly amazing and N-SSA gun crews know how to get the most out of them. The N-SSA is a constituent organization of the National Rifle Association of America and we were honored to have Philip Schreier, Senior Curator of NRA Museums and Field Editor of American Rifleman, attend to present the many NRA sponsored awards. Winner of the Grand Aggregate Award for combined total score with rifle musket, carbine and revolver was Ben Waits with a total of 529 points including 5 X’s. The Young Skirmisher (under 19) Award for highest musket aggregate score went to Colin Scanlon of the 1st Maryland Cavalry with a 162. The Senior Skirmisher (over 65) Award was presented to Dennis Heuer of the Dismal Swamp Rangers with a score of 184-3X. The N-SSA is the country’s oldest and largest Civil War shooting sports organization with over 3,000 individuals who make up its 200 member units. Each represents a particular unit or regiment and proudly wears the uniform worn over 150 years ago. At the 136th National, 12 members were recognized for 50 years of membership in the association; quite an accomplishment. The 137th National Competition is scheduled for May 1820, 2018 at Fort Shenandoah, just north of Winchester, Va. For more information about the N-SSA visit the web site at http://

Two competitors carefully load their muskets in the Sunday morning rain at the 136th National Skirmish musket company

Rifled and smoothbore cannons, howitzers, and rifled howitzers all competed in the artillery matches at the 136th N-SSA National

Demonstrating their typically excellent marksmanship, the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (“OVI”) took first place in the 136th National Musket, Carbine, and Smoothbore company matches. Here, their musket team poses with the William Francis Keys Trophy for the 1st Place Class A-1 musket company.

5th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry fires a volley at the clay pigeons on a cardboard backer during the musket company match.