Why are you in Cowboy Action Shooting?

[The Arapaho Kid]

The question is:  Why are you in Cowboy Action Shooting?  Here's my story:

I came into Cowboy Action Shooting by accident.  I know a person who guided me to TFS.  I went in there, had a look around and liked what I found.  I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE what Cowboy Action Shooting was!  I thought it was those folks who put on those fake street gunfights for the tourists in places like Tombstone, or other, still active, Old West Towns.

So...being the curious type...I started asking questions and getting answers.  The more I asked the more I learned.  After I discovered this was a sport, not a tourist show, my interest grew to the point where I began asking what I needed to get into it.  I had a desire to be there.  I was told I needed two pistols, a rifle and a shotgun.  I thought...good grief! I need an arsenal to get into this?

Well...as time progressed I began putting my irons together and digging up some duds that would fit the purpose.  I joined SASS and got an alias.  At length I had my irons and duds.  It cost me a bloody fortune, but I felt it was worth it.  Now I was ready!

I checked around this area for places to shoot.  I found a couple of them, not far from the old homestead and went to one of them and did a shoot.  My first one!  I didn't do well, but had fun.  I thought that most of the people I was shooting with were ok, but some of the officials were a little stuffy for me.  I left there with good feelings about the shoot, but bad feelings about some of the officials.  I have not returned to that range.  I have since found another range where most, if not all the officials are characters.  Good officials, but with a funny side.  This I like!

Now I am involved in CAS and this is where I want to be.  Unfortunately I work every weekend, so shooting is a real hit and miss (no pun intended) thing for me.

I would also like to add to this that all the folks here in CAS City and the folks I shoot with are the best dangned bunch of owlhoots and sidewinders and feller could hang out with!  I'm dangned proud to know all of ya!

And you can take that to the bank!

[Micheal Fortune]

Why?  Easy, it's the most fun you can have with a gun and stay out of jail! 

[Stump Water]

This is a good start...

I've been shooting guns since I was old enough to do so safely.  I read about CAS and thought that it would be a BUNCH of fun a long time before I got started in it.  Me and Stump had talked about it for quite a while but didn't know that it was going on anywhere close to us.  Then one day we went to check out a local range for a place to sight in long range rifles and there was a bunch of cowboys there getting ready to do awards.  We got to checking into a found out there there are a bunch of CAS clubs around so I talked Stump, then just Barry, into going to a local match to watch.  We were hooked right away.

The people we met were just a hoot.  We didn't know it at the time, but we had just met our best friends.  (Our collective best friends that is, I'm married to my personal best friend).
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Now I'll post a reply from a thread on another board that asked, "Where do you fit in CAS?"

It's a competition.  I compete. 

Been shooting and reloading all of my adult life.  Only competition before CAS was small-bore, indoor rifle in high school.

I have a SS rifle and otherwise "slick" guns.

I don't dress minimal, but I'm not going to win any "working cowboy" costume awards either.

On the range I play the game to the hilt. I shout the starting lines (and often ad lib). I congratulate those that shoot good stages and I console those that have a rough one.  I shag brass, spot, set targets and run the timer.  I offer advice if asked.  I help folks up the steep hill with their guncarts. I gee-jaw and poke fun at my friends every chance I get.

Meanwhile, on the line, I shoot as fast as I can and do everything I can within the rules to win.  In case you forgot... it's a competition.

For those that say, "If you take away the timer...."  I say first, "You just do't get it do ya?"  I say next, "Let's leave the guns at home and just meet and drink some beer and have some grub."

Cowboy Action Shooting: I came, I saw, I competed.  I got to know the people... I stayed.

Hope that answers yer kweshtun.

[Tensleep]

I thank you Stump, you put it very well.

I wish that I could have said it that well.

Again, thank you.

[Arcey]

Sos I kin run thru the woods wit a big ole hammer knockin' Olivers in the haid.......

[Tensleep]

Sos I kin run thru the woods wit a big ole hammer knockin' Olivers in the haid.......

LOL!!!!!
That was a hoot!!!!!

Ya had to be there....  Then there was tha "prop failure." 

[Sam Perfye]

I had the privelage of my grandfather living with us when I was a kid. He was semi-retired and only worked during the summers. During the winter he taught me how to play cribbage, poker, chess and the joy of a good western on TV. As a teenager he left home and traveled the upper mid-west on threshing crews. During his travels he met alot of old-timers who had lived and experienced the times we emulate. I've tried to live my life in a way he would have been proud of, the people I've met at CAS/WAS events seem to have the same philosiphy(sp?). To me, it's heritage, a simpler time when you said what you meant, and meant what you said. Plus it's more dang fun than really ought to be legal.

[Camille Eonich]

Sos I kin run thru the woods wit a big ole hammer knockin' Olivers in the haid.......

Tink tink......tink tink....tink tink.


Toooo funny!

[Four-Eyed Buck]

First, I've always loved the old style guns, Getting to shoot the real thing and repros is just flat out fun to me. Second, Is the people. Can't think of a better bunch( cyber and local) to be associated with.........Buck

[Big John Denny]

Because they went and passed a law down here that made it illegal to shoot at people that needed shooting.

Actually, because I had all the guns already, but had never been to a CAS match. A friend of mine and I went to a match at our local gun clib and were interrested in what we saw. We both went to the next monthly match and participated. Been having a lot of fun ever since.

[Cuts Crooked]

Why are you in Cowboy Action Shooting?

Well, it involves old timey gunz, cowboy duds, competition, 'n wimmin in frillies! Wat's not ta like?

[Mogorilla]

I was into it before I knew it existed.  I did the buckskinning thing with some other overly hairy teenagers when I was young, and love all things history.  In fact my 2nd bachelors degree is in history, 1st is chemistry it pays the bills.   My first pistol was a pietta 1851 navy colt, my first rifle a winchester, all before I heard of CAS.  In fact, about 10 years ago, 2 other like minded buddies and myself got together in the flint hills of Ks.  We spent a long weekend, shooting cap and ball revolvers, henry rifles, and bp muzzleloaders, making our own competition.  The evenings involved whiskey, westerns on tape, and cards.  We get together and still do this, more often than I make it to shoots.  That is my kind of cas, no one for miles, lots of smoke and friends.

[Ozark Iron John]

History.  Guns.  Horses.  Dressing up and playing cowboy.    I've got five nephews.  I want to teach 'em to ride and shoot.

[The Arapaho Kid]

All of you folks have durn good reasons for being part of CAS.  I like to toss in a little comic relief with my reasoning for being and staying here.  "Well!  I always wanted to be a Cowboy!  Now I are one!"

[Irish Red O'Toole]

I've been shooting for a long time and owned guns since I was 18.  I've known about CAS for a long time.  Since I first read about the 1st EOT in Guns & Ammo many years ago.  But I didn't become really interested until both my older brothers got involved.  One Christmas a few years ago, my immediately older brother, Aesop Mysleeve, gave me a complete cowboy outfit and his Ruger Blackhawk.  Well, there was no other excuse for not going anymore, so he came and got me and we went to the Cajon Cowboys one Saturday morning.  I shot the match (borrowing gear from my brother and some of the pards there) and had a great time.  I think my average stage time was over 90 seconds.

Now, a few years and many tens of thousands of rounds downrange later, I'm having the time of my life.  I've met some of the finest people on earth, swapped many lies around campfires and drank more than was good for me on occassion.  I even joined four different clubs.  Now, I'm an officer in one of them and running for officer in another.  If I could go back in time and change anything, it would only be to get involved a whole lot sooner (like back in the 80's!!).  This is too much fun.

[Spanish Marshal]

    I've always loved the old style guns and now I can make reality a dream of my childhood. 

      Spanish Marshal

[Qball]

I like blackpowder guns and shooting them.
Before CAS i shot target, 13 shots on a paperboard, match over.
Now i can blast away all day long with my blackpowder guns.
Ain't life grand

[DarkBlack]

For me, it may seem trite, but I grew up wanting to be Matt Dillon, or at least Newly O'Brien . . . Perhaps Brett or Bart Maverick, maybe even Jim West on a particularly wild day.

I come from a long line of rednecks & I grew up around firearms. I was taught firearm safety at an early age & learned to appreciate the mechanich of guns almost as much as the usage. I used to compete with rimfire pistol early in life, but the clubs shrank from around my area & most of the ranges went away, so I kinda fell out of touch with the circuit.

I went out in search of a replica SAA to practice twirling, then I needed a rig. While looking for a suitable gun rig to "play cowboy" in my workshop I kept coming across the same sets of initials "SASS" and "CAS". Not willing to let a known unknown remain, I Googled the terms, then I eBayed them. I found my answers and discovered the wonderful world of Cowboy Action Shooting.

I was in heaven. Okay, it wasn't Dodge City, but the iron down range wasn't shooting back either! I set about selling off all my old hobbies to buy a set of Uberti Colt clones, traded off my BuckMark & Grendel for an M'92, and began selling some leather work to save up for a shotgun.

I searched the resale shops for period clothing (with great success), and bid on 50 pair of spurs on eBay before I could afford to win a pair. Got a deal on a pair of shooter boots on-line, & worked up a pretty good outfit (my wife says I dress like a dandy - I say I could ride all day & work all night . . . dressed just right).

Along the way I met fellas like Big Shooter Mike, Six-Fingered Shootist, Jailbird, & Laity Kid who offered advice, sources, and even the loan of guns when I hadn't collected mine yet. I found the Kishwaukee Valley Regulators, & was welcomed right in.

I got to work and built myself a gun cart using lumber on hand form past projects and wheels I found on sale at the local Harbor Freight Tool Store ($5.00 EACH!!). Made the axel myself. Painted with a Red & Yellow scheme akin to an Overland Coach. Even found a patio umbrella for $6.00 to give a bit of shade at the range (Harbor Freight again)

I've learned (am learning) how to reload. I've accumulated all the reloading equipment I need, I used to shoot rimfire, I was clueless to the cost of .45LC!! Reloading is a must.

So what started out almost a year ago has evolved into a realization of a childhood fantasy, a renewed appreciation of shooting sports, a change of wardrobe, a new challenge, a new set of interesting acquaintances (present "cyber"company included), and a small grass roots Dry Goods concern.

My first year in CAS has been good to me, and my wife likes that I dress like a (modern) cowboy (sans suspenders or vest) most of the time now. I wear my hat every day, & spread the word about the wonderful hidden world of CAS.

Why, I'm like a Cowboy-vangellist. I CRACK ME UP

[Stump Water]

Dark,

Ya gotta get suspenders an' a vest.  'Course oncet ya do ya better bring the wife with ya, 'cause wimmins like fellers in suspenders and a vest.   

[PWDFR POSSE]

It's a fantastic way of gettin' out all my aggressions!  Did I spell that right?