COWBOY ACTION SHOOTING

My wife and I are avid Cowboy Action Shooters. Of course I am the first to admit that we are not exactly at the top of the game, but unlike many sports, that really does not matter in Cowboy Action Shooting. It is one of the few shooting sports in which the game itself is the main goal. Of course we all want to do well and my wife and I could certainly do better if we would spend more time practicing. I generally go shooting once a month and my wife goes once a month when the weather is good. This coming season we may shoot more often. She got crazy last year and decided we were going to train for and run a marathon. We completed the Seattle Marathon on November 18, 2004 and I informed her that I had given up a year of Sundays training for her run so this year she gets to go Cowboy Shooting with me every Sunday!

Cowboy Action Shooting is a game of speed and accuracy. Targets are generally steel but sometimes paper, clay birds or other types of targets. Competitors must shoot guns of the type used in the old west: single action pistols, lever action rifles and double barrel shotguns (and some types of pump and lever action shotguns). Pistols must be .32 caliber or larger, Rifles must be chambered in a pistol cartridge and shotguns must be 20 through 10 gauge.

Competitors are also required to dress in authentic old west attire and to shoot under an assumed name or alias out of the old west. This is a unique requirement among the shooting sports. Although competitors in games such as Practical Pistol Shooting quite often dress in the appropriate uniform (i.e. the same clothes and sunglasses the current national or world champion wears) there is no requirement for them to do so.

Cowboy Action Shooters compete in one of several classes based on gender, age and type of guns and or propellants used. For example a Traditional Class shooter would shoot single action pistols with fixed sights using smokeless powder where as a Modern Class shooter would use pistols with adjustable sights. A shooter in the Black Powder Class would use nothing but black powder or an approved black powder substitute in all of their guns. While there are no classes specifically for men (i.e. most any class men can shoot in, women can and do shoot in also) there are classes limited to women. A woman who shoots modern class pistols can shoot in either Womens Modern Class or if she wishes to compete against the men she can simply enter the Modern Class. There are also classes for juniors and seniors. In Cowboy Action Shooting there is a class for just about anyone!

At Cowboy Action Shooting matches the shooters are assigned to a group called a "posse" and they will shoot with that posse all day. The match is divided up into a number of separate shooting stages and each posse will start on a different stage. When all members of that posse have finished shooting that stage, they move as a group to the next stage. If the posse ahead of them is still shooting they will wait until that posse is done and has moved on then they will shoot that stage. The match proceeds like this all day until each posse has shot all stages.

A typical stage will be based on some sort of scenario such as a gun fight out of a movie, or perhaps one based on an historical event or even based on a simple story the stage designer has made up. For example a stage might say that you are a farmer living during a range war with the cattlemen and while guarding your ranch a bunch of cowboys set upon you to kill you and your family. The stage description could have you start sitting on a stump with two loaded pistols (for a total of 10 pistol shots) and your rifle loaded with 9 rounds leaning against the barn next to your shotgun. At the start signal, you jump up and draw your first pistol then shoot 5 steel targets as fast as you can. Each time you miss a target you will have 5 seconds added to your total time so it pays to shoot accurately. You then holster your first pistol, run to the barn and grab your rifle and use it to engage 3 steel targets 3 times each. You set the rifle down open and empty then grab your shotgun and load two rounds which you use to knock down some steel targets, reload and engage two more steel targets which must fall to score. Often, but not always, if you miss with your shotgun you can reload and make up the shots. You may even be required to make up missed shots. After shooting your shotgun, you set it down open and empty draw your second pistol and do a "Nevada Sweep" on three targets.

All of this is timed using an electronic timer. When the range officer conducting the shooter through the stage presses the start button the timer beeps to tell the shooter to begin shooting. It records the sound of each gun shot to within a hundredth of a second. Your final time has added to it 5 seconds for each missed shot and 10 seconds if your incurred any procedural penalties. The fastest time wins the stage. Although there are a number of ways to score matches the most common is stage rank scoring. For each stage your score is compared to all the other shooters scores. The fastest time is given a 1 for first place, the second fastest shooter gets a 2 for second place and so on for each shooter. After shooting all stages your rank for each stage is added together and the lowest score wins. For example at a 6 stage match you might come in 4th on the first stage followed by a 12th place, a 2nd place, a 6th place a 1st place, and another 4th place on the final stage. Your total score would be 29 (simply the sum of all your stage rankings). Your score for the match would put you behind all shooters with a lower score and ahead of all shooters with a higher score. The best possible score in this example would be 6 (a first place in each of the six stages).

The stage description will specify the guns which must be used, the order they are to be used in, the specific targets that are to be shot with each gun and the shooting order of those targets. For instance you may be told to sweep your rifle targets three times from left to right. In this case you would shoot the targets in the following order: left, center, right, left, center, right, left, center, right.

As an alternative patten you may be directed to triple tap the three targets left to right. In this case you would shoot the targets as follows: left, left, left, center, center, center, right, right, right.

Since single action "six shooters" are always loaded with only five rounds a common pattern is called a "Nevada Sweep." In this pattern the shooter would engage three targets as follows: Left, center, right, center, left. Since steel targets are expensive, this pattern is popular with many clubs as it allows a 5 shot string using only 3 targets

Shooters always carry their long guns open and empty and their pistols holstered and empty when not shooting. The order in which shooters are to shoot each stage is determined by the posse leader and when a shooter is next on the list to shoot, he will go to the loading table and under the supervision of the shooter who follows him in the line up, he will load his pistols and rifle. The shotgun will be staged empty and will be loaded on the clock unless the stage description has the shooter starting with his shotgun in hand in which case it may be loaded before the timer is started. Once he is ready, the Range Officer is who is conducting the shooter through the stage of fire will call him to the starting place and the shooter will stage his long guns as specified in the stage description. When he is in the starting position the Range Officer will ask if he understands the course of fire and if so he will ask if the shooter is ready. If so he will say "Stand By" and will then start the timer within 2 to 5 seconds. The shooter will then shoot the stage. The Range Officer will follow him closely through the stage. His primary job is safety and he can stop the shooter or correct any unsafe situations. He will also assess penalties. There are also at least two and preferably three scoring officals who will watch the targets for hits. Once the shooter has finished shooting the stage, the Range officer will have him holster his pistols and take his long guns to the unloading table where the previous shooter in the line up is waiting to supervise the unloading and clearing of the shooters guns. The Range Officer will call out the time for the stage from the electronic timer timer and will poll the scorers to determine how many if any misses the shooter had. The chief scoring official will enter this info on the score sheet and turn it in to the match director. The scores are entered into a computer program and the match winner is determined.

The shooting stages quite often make use of props such as stage coaches, buck boards, windows to shoot through, double swinging saloon doors to shoot and move through, safes to open and bags of gold to carry through the rest of the stage. The types and numbers and uses of props is limited only by the imagination of the stage designers. The game is fast, exciting, loads of fun and very safe.

Visitors are always welcome at clubs throughout the world. If you live in the United States there are several clubs within an easy drive of where ever you live and you can go to a match to watch or join in this weekend.

For more information check out the Single Action Shooting Society which is the international sanctioning body for the largest Cowboy Action Shooting style and if you want to check out a local club try visiting the Rattlesnake Gulch Rangers.