Report from the 2010 Nordic Championships

Read this article in Finnish/Suomi.

The 2010 Nordic Black Powder Championships were held this weekend in Orivesi, Finland, just outside Tampere about 200 km north of Helsinki. The championships should have been hosted by Denmark, but the Danes had to succumb to the new Danish legislation which makes black powder shooting impossible, and had to cancel the event. Finland however graciously offered to take over.

Because of this the number of competitors was a bit low. The Norwegians counted eight, the Swedes eleven, and Danes three. Unfortunately, two Norwegians had to return home because of a ferry breakdown in Sweden. Including the Finns the total number of competitors reached about 70.

Being from Western Norway I first crossed Norway and then Sweden, and arrived in Stockholm for the ferry to Helsinki after a 13 hour drive. Then 15 hours on board the ferry, and another 2.5 hour drive to Orivesi. Some people think I’m crazy to drive 1500 kilometres one way to shoot 78 shots.

The shooters started to arrive on Thursday and Friday. The firearms control started on Friday, and the shooting began at Saturday.

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Firearms control queue.

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More firearms control

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Some interesting firearms are displayed.

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Lada – a car rarely seen anymore!

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The first team starts at 08:30 at Saturday

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Øyvind F. - forum admin
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Saturday 17 July
The shooting commenced on Saturday 17 July, in hot and dry weather – about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). For a Norwegian from the Western coast, this is considered hot!

I started with Minié original, and after having shot 94 points in the last training session before I left for Finland, 76 is considered miserable, but it was enough to win the silver medal. A Finn had the same score as me, but he won because he had more 10s than me. The dry weather and heat is not a particularly good combination in the P-1856.

Shortly after I shot Remington match (the Nordic replica black powder rifle cartridge competition). I’m satisfied with my shooting here, and I ended up with 95 points and secured the silver medal. Arne Riis, another Norwegian also scored 95, but since he had one 10 more than me, he won the gold medal.

I finished the day with smoothbore military musket in the Miquelet original competition, and I scored 83. This was only my second competition with this musket, so I was happy with 83 points and the third silver medal that day. R. Wikstedt from Sweden won with 86.

On Saturday evening the Finns invited the other nations to a shooter’s party, with lots of good eating and drinking. A representative from the Finnish Minister of Cultural Affairs was present and handed out honorary medals to two of the Finnish black powder enthusiasts.

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The four flags.

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Getting ready on the 100 metre range

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Sondre is greasing his minié balls for his Pedersoli Mauser.

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From the 100 metre range

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Robert from Sweden is cleaning his guns after the first day.

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Shooters are checking their scores.

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Shooters party

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Sunday 18 July
Sunday started with Lamarmora, which is the same as Minié original, but shot offhand at 50 metres. Again I failed with the P-1856, and ended up with 74 points, and finished way down on the list. Too much drinking the night before, perhaps.

For the first time I had decided to shoot handguns this Nordic. I started with Mariette right after the disastrous Lamarmora shooting, and did ok with my .44 Uberti Remington New Army. 83 points.

The big surprise occurred in the Smith & Wesson replica competition, which is the Nordic black powder revolver competition. I use the previously mentioned Remington New Army and an R&D conversion cylinder. On the first target I started with three shots in the inner ten, followed by two nines that touched the outer ten ring and an eight. I did a poorer job on the second target, and ended up with 91 points. This meant that I improved my personal best with seven points. And best of all, it was enough to steal the bronze medal, with a bunch of very competent handgunners behind me.

The award ceremony finished the 2010 Nordic championships, and I think the Norwegians did it best overall. Many were pleased to see that two women ranked first in the Whitworth event. We need more female as well as young shooters. I was the youngest Norwegian, but being 32 I’m not considered young and promising anymore.

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The Norwegian team. Back, left to right: Oddvar Deberitz, Sondre Nordhagen, Arne Riis and Kjell Bergersen. Front, left to right: Ragnar Hegge, Håvard Hansen, Rune Stensrud and Øyvind Flatnes.

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Young, a bit older, even more older and oldest: Rune, Arne, Kjell og Ragnar.

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Original Colt Single Action Army.

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Matchlock pistol used in the Tanzutzu competition.

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Manton (flintlock clay shooting).

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Clay pigeon breaks.

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Lorenzoni shooters. This is the competition for percussion muzzleloading shotguns.

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Sondre Nordhagen – Nordic Lorenzoni champion.

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Oddvar shows what to do with a clay pigeon.

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Ragnar is pleased with his medal.

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Whitworth team competition was a close race between Sweden and Finland. The two teams had the same score and the same number of tens, nines, eights. Sweden won after measuring.

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Silver in Scandinavian Cup (the black powder cartridge revolver team competition) for me, Rune and Oddvar.

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We also secured the gold medal in Nordic cup (the black powder cartridge team competition).

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The Swedish team.

I would like to thank all the competitors from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway for a great time – both on the range and socially. The European Championships is hosted by Finland in 2010, and I hope to be back next year!

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Øyvind F. - forum admin
Click here to read more about my upcoming book: blackpowderbook.com.

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Short movie from the championships - mostly from the clay target event.

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Øyvind F. - forum admin
Click here to read more about my upcoming book: blackpowderbook.com.

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Øyvind,
Very interesting. Thank you for the report. :-D

John

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Nice review! Looks like a nice cozy competition in a great outdoor setting. The lack of younger shooters is a worry and seems to be an international thing.

Even I am heading to 31 with grey hairs appearing everywhere so not even I count. If any new shooters are about on the range I always invite then over to try out whatever I have to get them interested. So far I have converted two but even they are in their late twenties.

At least in 12-15 years or so my kids will (hopefully) join me on the range, and probably thrash the pants off me :-D

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I guess we all have a recruiting job to do. It seems like most shooters get into the sport rather late. Our national black powder union keeps growing though, and we are now 1200 members. A couple of years ago we were 850.

Here are the results from the Nordic Championships by the way (pdf file).

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Øyvind F. - forum admin
Click here to read more about my upcoming book: blackpowderbook.com.

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Report from the 2010 Nordic Championships (General)