How many muzzle loading shooters and hunters are in the EU and how much lead they use yearly?

We made an estimation about the number of black powder shooters and their yearly lead consumption for target shooting and hunting purposes within the EU.

Key points in understanding the collected data:

  • The data of competitive and recreational muzzle loading shooters and hunters were collected from the member national associations of Muzzle Loaders International Confederation.
  • In many countries muzzle loading weapons are not registered or licensed, therefore large of the possible shooters, collectors and hunters are not visible for statistics.
  • These figures include only muzzle loading shooters. The users of historical breech loading arms designed for lead projectiles and black powder charges can be a multiply of these values, and are not included in our statistics.
  • Bullet weight and shot count are pure estimations as trade values cannot be accessed, because most of the shooters and hunters cast their own lead projectiles, mainly from scrap lead collected from old buildings.
  • The number of occasional muzzle loading shooters/collectors is nearly impossible to estimate as these shooters are not recognized by national organizations, and their weapons are not registered or licensed.
  • The data we collected are rough estomations surely not accurate values, but we do think the total represents the situation of EU well.

Number of competitive muzzle loading shooters

The number of competitive shooters is the most accurate number of all data provided, as these shooters participate frequently on national and international level competitions. They are recognized by national associations; they are members of gun clubs. They visit the shooting range at least once a week, firing an average of 60 shots per occasion.

Competitive shooters do practice. In black powder shooting, according to the rules of MLAIC each competition consists of 13 shots fired in a 30-minute time frame. Additional fouling shot can be fired into the backstop before the competitive shots, and also there is a chance to fire one additional shot into the bullet stop in case of a loading procedure problem. In Germany the national rules use 15 shots relay. We calculated a weekly 60 shots quantity for the competitive shooters, with an average bullet weight of 200 grains (13 g).

Number of recreational muzzle loading shooters

Recreational shooters visit the shooting ranges approximately once a month. They are recognized by gun clubs, but they seldom attend shooting matches. Their estimated shot count is 15 shots weekly.  Lead consumption of recreational shooters is calculated with an average bullet weight of 200 grains (13 g).

Number of occasional muzzle loading shooters / collectors

Occasional shooters are mainly collectors, who try their guns not more than 2-3 times a year. As muzzle loading weapons are not registered or licensed in many countries, these shooters are mostly invisible to statistics, they do not participate on competitions. Their numbers can only be estimated very roughly. We estimate their numbers to be 10 times more than the number of the sum of competitive and recreational shooters. In case of Poland the national organization indicated 80,000 persons as collectors/occasional shooters, this was the only case when we did not calculate this data, but used the original data provided by the Polish contact.

The yearly lead consumption of this class is estimated 52 shots / person, the average bullet weight used is 200 grains (13 g).

Number of muzzle loading hunters

Muzzle loading hunting is a new phenomenon in Europe. One of the first countries to legalize these arms for all the accessible hunting methods was Hungary in 2016. Muzzle loading hunting is a licensed activity. The total number of muzzle loading hunters in the EU is not more than 1000-1200 today. Their yearly shot count for target practice and hunting estimated is 150 shots yearly. Lead consumption is calculated with an average projectile weight of 400 grains (26 g).

Summary

The total number of muzzle loading shooters and collectors within the EU according to our estimation is c340,000 women and men, out of which c27,000 are frequent shooters. The number of muzzle loading hunters is c600 based on the data provided by the national associations, but as large number of muzzle loading hunters are not visible for the statistics, we assume that the exact number can be around 1000-1200 persons.

The estimated yearly lead consumption of muzzle loading shooters in the EU is c683 tons, out of which c682 tones are fired on licensed shooting ranges, and only 0.8 ton fired for hunting purposes. (We assumed that the muzzle loading hunter fires 2/3 of his shots at shooting ranges for practice and only 1/3 in the nature for hunting).

Thanks for all the shooter friends who helped with the figures!

Balász Németh, 2021.

 

Table 1.: Number of muzzle loading shooters and hunters in the EU

  Number of users    
Competition shooters Recreational shooters Occasional shooters / Collectors Black powder hunters Total  
Austria 150 250 4000 0 4400
Belgium 10 175 1850 0 2035
Bulgaria 200 4000 42000 0 46200
Ciprus 0 0 0 0 0
Croatia 0 0 0 0 0
Czech Republic 60 200 2600 0 2860
Denmark 250 1600 18500 50 20400
Estonia 0 0 0 0 0
Finnland 65 100 1650 0 1815
France 1000 2000 30000 200 33200
Germany 3000 4000 70000 100 77100
Greece 0 0 0 0 0
Hungary 80 800 8800 100 9780
Italy 500 1000 15000 150 16650
Latvia 0 0 0 0 0
Lituania 0 0 0 0 0
Luxembourg 8 12 200 2 222
Malta 0 0 0 0 0
Netherlands 500 1000 15000 0 16500
Poland 300 3000 80000[1] 0 83300
Portugal 20 50 700 0 770
Romania 0 0 0 0 0
Slovakia 58 150 2080 0 2288
Slovenia 0 0 0 0 0
Spain 150 500 6500 0 7150
Sweden 200 1200 14000 0 15400
          0
Total 6551 20037 312880 602 340070

 

 

Table 2.: Yearly lead consumption of muzzle loading shooters and hunters in the EU

  Lead consumption yearly estimation (kg) Total lead consumption by country (kg) Total lead consumption by country (kg)
Competition shoothers (3120 shots/year, 13g bullet weight) Recreational shooters (780 shots/year, 13g bullet weight) Occasional shooters / Collectors (52 shots/year, 13g bullet weight) Black powder hunters (150 shots/year, 26g bullet weight)
Target shooting Hunting
Austria 6084 2535 2704 0 11323 11323 0
Belgium 405,6 1774,5 1250,6 0 3430,7 3430,7 0
Bulgaria 8112 40560 28392 0 77064 77064 0
Ciprus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Czech Republic 2433,6 2028 1757,6 0 6219,2 6219,2 0
Denmark 10140 16224 12506 195 39065 38870 195
Estonia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Finnland 2636,4 1014 1115,4 0 4765,8 4765,8 0
France 40560 20280 20280 780 81900 81120 780
Germany 121680 40560 47320 390 209950 209560 390
Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hungary 3244,8 8112 5948,8 390 17695,6 17305,6 390
Italy 20280 10140 10140 585 41145 40560 585
Latvia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lituania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luxembourg 324,48 121,68 135,2 7,8 589,16 581,36 7,8
Malta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Netherlands 20280 10140 10140 0 40560 40560 0
Poland 12168 30420 54080 0 96668 96668 0
Portugal 811,2 507 473,2 0 1791,4 1791,4 0
Romania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Slovakia 2352,48 1521 1406,08 0 5279,56 5279,56 0
Slovenia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Spain 6084 5070 4394 0 15548 15548 0
Sweden 8112 12168 9464 0 29744 29744 0
  0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EU Total          265709            203175      211507          2348            682738       680391        2348[2]

 

[1] Exact data was provied by Polish shooters, in the case of all other EU members estimated values are calculated.

[2] One third of this value is fired in the nature for hunting, 2/3 at shooting ranges for practice