Need some different side match ideas for our Black Powder Shootout

[Dalton Masterson]

Howdy all. I am trying to figure out some alternative side match ideas for our Shootout in October.
Speed pistol, rifle and shotgun is fun and all, but...........
Card cutting, bullet splitting, etc. Give me some more ideas please. Thanks! DM

[Jefro]

Team shoot. Each team has three shooters, one with pistols, one with shotgun, one with rifle. Set up a 2x4 (or 2x6) for each team with the wide side (3 1/2'') facing the line. At the beep both teams start blazing away until 2x4 is shot in half. This requires a table in front of each team for reloading. Smoke and choke untill it's broke.

I heard about a short form of cowboy silhouette last year on another fourm and always wanted to try it. Adjust target size, distance, and time as needed. It went something like this.
Modifed silhouette. Three 8x10 (small cowboy) at 25yds 5points,  three 12x16 (large cowboy) at 50yds 10points, three 16x20 (small buffalo) at 100yds 15points. Pistol caliber rifle port arms loaded with 9, at the beep ya got 60 seconds to shoot em all, one shot per target starting with the 5 pointers.... Tie breakers go to a shot off. Sound like to much??? How bout the same format only one target each, add a 4th target at 75yds and a teaser (12''gong for 25pts) at 100yds. Start loaded with 5 rounds, at the beep ya got 30 seconds to engage, one shot at each of the four targets, plus the gong if you have enough time left.

  Jefro,  Relax-Enjoy

[RattlesnakeJack]

An interesting twist on the "stake cut" suggested by Jefro is to suspend the 2x4 horizontally (from an eyehook or whatever at each end)  - gets to swinging when it is being hit, and can also 'bind up' when it starts to break - quite a challenge.  (We used to use 4x4s or the like, with somewhat larger teams.)

Another very popular event we used to hold was a "Wounded Man" shoot - two man teams, each with their weak hand/arm immobilized by tying it off to their belt in back.  Between them they have to load and fire a muzzle loading rifle as many times as they could in a certain timespan (e.g. 10 minutes.)  Requires great co-operation .... holding the rifle between them, each one being designated to perform part of the loading procedure: e.g. they could settle on something like this .... 'A' holds the powder measure while 'B' fills it, then 'A' dumps the powder in and drops the measure to the end of its thong while he retrieves a spit patch from his mouth and places it over the muzzle;  meantime 'B' is fetches a ball and centers it on the patch, while 'A' positions a short starter on it and presses it down, then 'B' whacks the short starter to get the ball started; 'A' retrieves the ramrod and they ram the ball home. Then the shorter of the two (usually) grasps the rifle by the forestock and swings it up onto his shoulder and holds it there as steadily as possible, pointed at their target, while the other fetches a cap and caps the piece, then aims and fires the rifle using his partner as a support.  Repeat as time permits, and the best scoring target wins.  This can be a real hoot if all teams are shooting at the same time, but also presents much greater possibility of accident.  A safer way, if time permits, is to have each two-man team shoot by themselves - much more entertaining for everyone else to watch .... and all act as "safety officers" .....

Another good one is a "Beer Can Buddy" event.  Each two man team has two beer (or soda) cans set out at a reasonable distance, one filled with water and the other empty and balanced on top of the first.  One member of the team has a loaded rifle and the other a shotgun.  First shooter shoots the bottom can with the rifle ..... if he hits it right, the water pressure launches the top can into the air, and it must be hit by the shotgunner (i.e. at least one - or more, your choice - pellet holes must be found in it for the team to stay in the running. Process of elimination until a winning team prevails.  (The 'wild card' in this one is that the top can may take off horizontally or at some other strange angle .... or not go anywhere at all.)

"Partridge Picking" - this simulates trying to shoot a gamebird (or squirrel, or whatever) in the head (or neck) to avoid wasting meat.  Fill the recesses of egg cartons (preferably the plastic ones) with a plaster of paris mix, and insert a popsicle stick in each so it sets standing straight up.  You then have a series of plaster knobs with a wooden neck, which are stuck into holes drilled into a wooden support (set horizontal to simulate a fence, or standing vertical to simulate a tree with the holes drilled at an angle.)  Shooter must hit the 'head' or 'neck' without touching the support.  Miss & Out elimination.

A bit of a variation on this is to set out raw eggs to shoot at.  One dastardly version requires any shooter who fails to break his egg  to eat it!

How about candle snuffing?  String cutting?

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[Dalton Masterson]

Those are some neat ideas. I do have the candle snuffing down already, as well as the team log shoot. I like the horizontal idea. Might make a good thing to do sunday after the main match.
That muzzleloading idea sounds like fun too. And yes, it would be a hoot to watch. DM

[RattlesnakeJack]

I am somewhat chagrined to say that I was thinking of muzzle-loading black powder matches when I wrote .....  This is a Cowboy Action Shooting forum, and I should have realized you were asking about CAS side matches.

Most of these ideas are adaptable to cartridge guns, of course. (I shot BP muzzle-loaders for many years prior to CAS, and a lot of my match ideas come from those experiences.)  Even the "wounded man" even could be adaptedt, I'd say, if the rifles had to be single-loaded for example.  (This would not involve the team having to take the rifle completely down to reload for each shot, of course, but you could add some sort of entertaining twist - e.g. having the extra cartridges in a pouch on the front of the non-shooter's belt, so the shooter has to reach around front each time and fumble for another cartridge .... )

Another good side match is a man-on-man "duel", miss-and-out elimination.  We have an excellent "stop plate" target - consisting of two round metal plates on the ends of a metal crossbar which is pivoted in the center on a stand.  First hit (winner of the duel)  is pretty easy to detect, as the plate on that side moves back first.  If both shooters hit so close to the same time that the spotters can't tell, then it is deemed to be a 'draw'.  (Other kinds of 'stop plates' could be utilized, of course - knock downs, balloons, whatever ....)  With muzzle loaders the 'duel' is just a single shot, of course, but with CAS rifles or revolvers we usually have 4 gongs out front for each shooter, which must each be hit before the shooter progresses to the next gong and finally to engaging the stop plate.  This adds a nice twist, with reloads in mid-stream a definite possibility, especially if a rifle is loaded with the minimum five rounds at the start.  With revolvers, an option is to use both revolvers if necessary. With revolvers we don't make it a 'quick draw' event, for safety reasons, but start with the firearms lying on a table, or held by each shooter in a 'safe,ready' position.

[litl rooster]

  You thought of having a good ole fashion Turkey shoot?