Yes the N-SSA is fairly large. There are over 200 teams and around 3000 active members but our member ID numbers go into the 13000s. We have been a shooting organization since 1950 and was originally founded to represent and honor the brave men that fought in The War Between The States. Many people believe it is a reenacting group, but there is no reenacting, it is all live fire events and the competition is just as big as the honoring of actual Civil War Union and Confederate units that fought in the war.
Though the bullets aren't flying around you like on the battlefield, everyone stands shoulder to shoulder with their team at a designated position on the firing line and faces their targets. Much like a line of men would fire during the Civil War. When the buzzer goes off and all of the shots begin to ring out, it sounds just like what you'd expect a Civil War battle to sound like. The roar of muskets and clanging of ramrods is pretty much all that is heard besides the occasional calling out of hit targets from you or a teammate. The blackpowder smoke hangs in the air and the smell of the burnt propellant is immense.
You asked about the capabilities of these arms. Well during the War most units were not given the chance to practice marksmanship so the capabilities were more up to the shooter's ability than the firearm's. Examples of regiments that did stress marksmanship was the U.S. 1st and 2nd Sharpshooters known as "Berdan's Sharpshooters." These men had to be able to consistently hit targets at varying ranges with their .54cal Sharps Rifles and had the ability to judge distance. Today though, original and reproduction carbines, repeaters, muskets, revolvers, and single shots are all tack drivers in the right hands. We have the guys that just shoot for fun, then we have teams that live for the sport and cut members and have mandatory practices and all that. Personally, I'm very capable with my carbine and rifle-musket and hitting a 4" bullseye at 50yds offhand is what my main practice target is and I can hit it 8-9 times out of 10 shots. Now this isn't the best shooting at all, but for team competition this is superb because each shooter is normally only responsible for 2-4 targets of similar size but if I can clear mine plus help a team member out and get some of their targets too, we beat the clock faster which is our main goal. We shot a team member's reproduction .577cal Parker-Hale Enfield Pattern 1858 Naval Rifle this summer after tuning the lock for him and replacing the front sight, and were able to keep our shots within a 18" group at 600yds offhand. Now this is no where near what our precision long range rifles are capable of, but that is still able to hit a man sized target offhand with an iron sighted muzzle loader that has a muzzle velocity that is subsonic! The 1858 Naval Enfield features a 33" barrel that is considered heavy because it is nearly twice as thick as the longer 39" barreled 1853 Enfield or U.S. 1861 Springfield with 40" barrel. Both the shorter "heavy barreled" muskets such as the U.S. 1841 Mississippi and 1858 Naval Enfield and the "3 band" muskets with thinner longer barrels like the U.S. 1861 Springfield and Enfield 1853 weigh about the same, 7-8lbs. I prefer the 1853 Enfield with its longer barrel because it has a longer sighting radius and just holds good for me, others like the shorter 33" barreled rifles because they claim they're more balanced, faster, and handier but I tried one and still like the longer rifle musket over the shorter models.
For videos, you can check out www.n-ssa.org or go to YouTube and search North South Skirmish Association.
