Went to the training class yesterday with "The Cowboys"

[Marthor]

I attended the training class offered by "The Cowboys" in Norco, CA. This is the very first CAS group that started it all, BTW. I brought my own guns, but it turned out I didn't need them for the class. All the guns & ammo were provided by the instructors. There were 24 new shooters including several junior shooters. They said they've had as many as 45 in a new shooters class before too.

Anyway, they had quite a numbers of guns on display to handle and even shoot to try out. They gave a lot of tips and at the end we got to run through a timed event with 5 pistol, 6 rifle and 2 shotgun targets. I did 31 seconds clean the first time. The second time I did 27 seconds, but 2 misses. The best in class (although he had attended the new shooters class before so he was more experienced) did 21 seconds. The instructor showed what he could do in 16 seconds.

Anyway, the training class was a lot of fun. Looking for some new gear that I'd never seen before. They make a shotgun bandalero which works better than any other system for shotgun shells. They also had leather wraps for the rifle lever. I need one of those too.

They offer an advanced training class too where you have to bring your own guns and they give you tips for speed and technique for new shooters. I'll take the advanced training class next time.

Top tips I picked up...
1) faster to cock with your other hand. I had been practicing duelist, but now I'm going to use my other hand for cocking, because it is faster and steadier.
2) Bring a chair. I was well prepared for a new guy, but didn't bring a chair.
3) new gear bandalero and rifle lever leather wrap
4) use low recoil shotgun shells. They made this point very effectively. They had a split barrel to show how a shotgun can wear out and break with regular loads. Also, if you use regular loads and have to shoot the shotgun around 30 times through all the stages, your shoulder will take a pounding.

I got many more tips, but those 4 I'll need to do for sure.

Many thanks to the nice instructors "Wells Fargo", "Adam Cartwright" and "Apaloosa".  

[Marthor]

4) use low recoil shotgun shells. They made this point very effectively. They had a split barrel to show how a shotgun can wear out and break with regular loads. Also, if you use regular loads and have to shoot the shotgun around 30 times through all the stages, your shoulder will take a pounding.

OK, I just ordered 500 rounds of low recoil AA Winchester.  Here's a link for a good sale and free shipping over $75...

http://www.basspro.com/Winchester-AA-Low-Recoil/Low-Noise-Target-Loads-Shotshells/product/67999/

[Red Cent]

 
http://www.mecreloaders.com/