Friendship?

[hotfxr]

Help a poor lost and lonely soul out here on the rocky left coast understand. What exactly is the twice yearly gathering in Friendship entail. I looked at the web page and it looks like a lot of fun and it looks large. What all goes on there?

[Papa]

Hotfxr,
The best way to describe Friendship is that it is 600 +/- acres of fun. Any direction you look there will be something to see or do related to muzzleloading. The sheep sheds, traders row, has everything you think you might need but usually slows down after the first weekend, but if you're a shooter, it goes on all week. I don't know where you are but if you're close, you should try to get to the winter nationals north of Phoenix in February, it's very similar but smaller.
Mark

[mongrel]

Well, there's a non-juried, pretty laid-back primitive encampment, there's Commercial Row (also known as Traders Row or the Sheepsheds) across the two-lane state highway from the encampment, there's a series of shooting ranges for various disciplines in further past Commercial Row, there's regular camping, and there's two respectably-sized flea markets flanking the whole shebang. Many of the camper/vendors in what we call "the Primitive" are highly knowledgeable folks and are liable to turn a sale or even a customer's question into an entertaining history lesson, and some of us up in Commercial Row are known to occasionally talk at length to passers-by who are unwise enough to ask questions that we think we have answers to (not necessarily the RIGHT answers, just answers). If an item of gear or clothing can't be found there, odds are it doesn't exist.

Caveat: If someone's perception is that the only "correct" example of a specific item is one made by a single hermit in Wyoming whose great-great-great-granddaddy handed down the secret through only each firstborn of the male line, and that everything else is an unworthy imitation, in that case you more than likely WON'T find it at Friendship -- but guns, clothing, and accoutrements satisfactory to 99.99% of the participants in this pasttime are available there. Several world-class gunbuilders have booths there and if you favor items such as Chambers and L&R locks, Davis locks and triggers, Rice barrels, and a variety of other top-notch components for builders, find the right booth and you can buy the things right from the source.

You can do period correct if you want, but it's not required; it's not required that you shoot competitively; it's not required that you buy or join anything; we do strongly-encourage you to have fun. There are the actual formal Shoots up on the line, there are woodswalks, there are competitions involving a real blockhouse and a simulated Indian attack, there's hawk-chucking and knife-tossing, and most everywhere you turn if you get footsore there's a chair to toss down in and get to know new friends. Laughery Creek flows alongside of State 62 and there are some respectably-sized fish in it, if you have a license and a mind to get a line wet.

The official cause to all of this are the Spring and Fall National Championship NMLRA Shoots, but to be perfectly honest I've never fired a gun on the line and if it weren't for the non-stop blast and crack of rifles, pistols, and smoothbores I wouldn't be able to swear there was a range there at all.

[BruceB]

Like minded individuals from all walks of life. I think I got a few pics. Let me look.

[BruceB]

Mongrel in his old booth (Sheepsheds).


Some of the Primative area


Looking across the Creek at the Sheep sheds/ Firing line.

[hotfxr]

He does look kind of like his little avatar, doesn't he?     

[Watauga]

He does look kind of like his little avatar, doesn't he?     

Yes hotfxr you could be right! 
Except I think he has a better Smile in the Avatar Picture.   

[pilgrim]

       

[mongrel]

Never cared for having my picture taken. Back in the days when pictures couldn't be deleted, had to be developed, and you had to buy film for every shot and that film could pretty pricey, people tended to give up trying to take my picture because of how quick my middle finger can reflex when a camera's aimed my way.

But other than the one of me thinking "Go away", those are some pretty good shots of the grounds. As you can see, it's a beautiful part of the country, and, as a major bonus, on the majority of the NMLRA grounds you can't get cell phone service. You do get a certain number of people walking around with the plastic umbilical device attached to their ear, repeatedly saying in different tones and levels of voice, "Can you hear me?" But eventually most of them give up, actually talk to one another instead of into the electronic ear-teat, and start to pay attention to what's going on around them -- and I think they're the better for it.

Friendship, on a distinctly non-religious, non-faith-based level, for black powder folks is sort of akin to Mecca for followers of Islam, or the Vatican to Catholics. It's not necessary to go there to completely enjoy and appreciate this pasttime, but if at all possible, at least just once, a person if at all possible should.

[hotfxr]

Friendship, on a distinctly non-religious, non-faith-based level, for black powder folks is sort of akin to Mecca for followers of Islam, or the Vatican to Catholics. It's not necessary to go there to completely enjoy and appreciate this pasttime, but if at all possible, at least just once, a person if at all possible should.

So from your description it seems that this is the Sturgis for muzzleloaders. This year like the last few before, has not been, well let's just say financially rewarding, but 2014 might see me taking breaks from my hermit ways and this seems to be a destination worth visiting. If I had to choose spring or fall, which would I like better?

[mongrel]

I'd be inclined to say spring (June), but it's pretty close to six one way, half a dozen the other. I think there's a somewhat larger crowd in June simply because, all else being equal, kids are out for summer vacation and if families are going to show up at all, it'll be in June.

And the comparison to Sturgis about nails it.

[Red Badger]

My only question is - (When I used go to Sturgis I used to stop at friends places to crash on the way... ) How many bedrooms you have at your place Mike?   

[DandJofAZ]

REd Badger--He does have a spare dog house...

Doug

[mongrel]

I actually have two, but the upstairs one is stock blank storage. I think there's still a couch in the living room, but with all the crap piled on it I haven't actually seen it in over a year....

[pilgrim]

     As I see it,  No one can accuse you of being a couch potato.