The Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee (www.MLAIC.org) was formed in 1970 and held its first World Championship in 1971.

Since then a flourishing industry manufacturing working reproductions of historic firearms now exists in the United States and Europe, particularly in northern Italy, for example at Gardone Val Trompia, in the Province of Brescia.

In the United States muzzleloading guns are, subject to a number of qualifications, generally not considered firearms.

Driven by demand for muzzleloaders for special extended primitive hunting seasons, firearms manufacturers have developed in-line muzzleloading rifles with designs similar to modern breech-loading centerfire designs.

Knight Rifles pioneered the in-line muzzleloader in the mid-1980s, manufacturing and selling them to this day.