They may be more tolerant than I. . . .

[Dick Dastardly]

But, when I'm pullin' the trigger, real varmints are eatin' dust.  Ok, maybe it's my weakness, but when I kill steel I'm killin' something in my past that needs killin'.  It's ugly, but it's real.  I seldom miss.

So, who else kills and doesn't ask forgiveness on Sunday?  Am I the only deadly one?  Is there a 'dark' side in you?  There is in me.  Every match I kill some more of my gremlins.

Why heck, soon I'll be the nicest guy around cuz all my enemies are perforated. . .

Do you have a Darkside?

DD-DLoS

P.S.  I'm putting a modifier in here.  All was written tongue in cheek.  Steel is steel.  Real is real.  I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea.

[Pettifogger]

Golly, I've never viewed shooting steel as killing anything or anybody.

[Dr. Bob]

I'm right there with you Pettifogger!  When I shoot at steel what I'm looking for is a bog ole CLANG!!!

[Alabama]

I would certainly say Steel plates , Steel gongs , Steel Silhouettes , PAPER MAN Targets , are my mortal enemies , for sure 
Paper Man can get my mind a wandering . The steel Rams are a must kill situation too .
I may not always think of them as killing them like flesh , but being lethal from good practicing is always on my mind . I enjoy the fact I am VERY lethal .
The Darker the better !!!!!
If your not living on the edge , your taking up too much space , and its probably mine ...
I don't remember my Pappy teaching me the guns are for candy A$$'s and that you should take what your doing with them lightly . They were made for killing . Just because they are fun too doesn't make them less real or dangerous or lethal , or the people that use them less real or dangerous and lethal too even if they are only shooting Steel .
Nothing wrong with veiwing your steel plates as your enemies , you'll probably kill more of them .

Alabama

[Smokin Gun]

Anything I shoot I shoot to kill ... I have stirred up the ghosts of days gone by and focus with all the power I can summon from the Darkside. From my target back to my eye down my arm to the hand holding my Revolver and my finger charged to squeeze the trigger. First a scream then a "CLANG!" I hear, and the ghosts are gone there's nothing to fear...


SG

[Tricky Trina]

I'd probably hit more targets if'n they was painted orange like inmate jumpsuits.......    

[litl rooster]

    I must have some Skelatons in the closet.........

[Driftwood Johnson]

Nope. They're just targets as far as I'm concerned. Same with Trap. They're just clay targets, nothing more.

[Dick Dastardly]

Well, there you have it.  I'm among the minority.  My wrath runs rampant.  Otherwise, I'm quite a peaceable guy.

But, when I read the script I tend to personalize it.  I always have a line to say, and it's not necessarily the one in the script.  Damsels are rescued, jails broken out of and into, banks are held up or robberies prevented, cattle branded and Indians are shot.  I'm lost in the part for a few seconds.  Then, when the smoke clears I'm just a riverboat gambler stuck in the present.

I sure love Cowboy Action shooting with plenty of smoke and fire.

DD-DLoS

[Fiddler Green]

To me:

Targets are targets.

But then, I've fought in two wars and targets were just targets then, too. It's not until later that you think of the target as anything more than that.

Bruce

[Forty Rod]

I spent a fifth of my life shooting, preparing to shoot, or cleaning up after shooting live targets.  I considered all of them "targets", nothing more nor less. 

The CAS targets (and others) are the same thing only they don't have the capacity to shoot back.

[Frenchie]

"It's just like shootin' squirrels, only these squirrels shoot back!" -- A Union private at Shiloh Church, instructing green troops who had never loaded and fired their muskets.

I've always been grateful to a merciful God that I've never had to point and fire a gun at another human, and hope I never will need to, but I've little doubt I could if necessary. I've avoided possible violence by showing or indicating that I was armed three times, and I think I'm pretty savvy on the whys and wherefores of armed resistance to criminals. On topic, they're just targets, and I have enough trouble getting the bullet's trajectory to intersect their spacetime without thinking of them as enemies 

[Fiddler Green]

I spent a fifth of my life shooting, preparing to shoot, or cleaning up after shooting live targets.  I considered all of them "targets", nothing more nor less. 

And at 2:47 AM on Tuesday mornings?

Bruce

[Forty Rod]

No, but at about 6:15 one morning.  Sure screwed up the rest of his day, too.

[Angel_Eyes]

Hey, Forty Rod, have you ever been an extra in western films, 'cos you do look familiar. Or have you "just one of those faces". Excuse the language, I'm British!

[Dick Dastardly]

Hey Smokin' Gun, that's the feeling I was inarticulately verbalizing.  All my hate, wrath and prejudice go downrange when I attack the steel varmints.  I read the script for each and every stage to see what I can bring to it in keeping with my 'Dastardly' character.  Then, I plan a line to say.  Sometimes I'm laconic, like Eastwood.  Sometimes I'm verbose, like Wayne or Marvin.  I really try to act out the spirit of the stage writer.

So far, at all the SASS matches I've ever shot, they've never had me picking flowers and running after butterflies or dancing in a sunbeam.  Nope, I've carried a hanging rope, gold bag, dynamite sticks, firewood and some branding irons.  I've never been called upon to be a liberal thumb sucking school teacher or church choir leader.  Any songs I've been scripted to sing have had to do with the hard life on the range.  None of the scripts, so far, have had me sitting side saddle on a small donkey, but rather a noble steed with one leg in each stirrup.

Come on pards and pardettes, this ain't about no simple 'targets'.  It's life on the range, cow town or riverboat.  We gamble, cuss, wrangle, rob and prevent robbery.  We go to jail, the saloon or even the apothecary or to church to do good or evil depending on the whim of the author.  When the script is read by the posse leader we all grin at the originality of the writer and, to ourselves at least, personalize our part to be played and performed.

Don't try to convince me that your Cowboy ACTION shooting match experience is a simple emotionless 10-10-2 repetition.  I don't buy it.

DD-DLoS

[Frenchie]

Don't try to convince me that your Cowboy ACTION shooting match experience is a simple emotionless 10-10-2 repetition.  I don't buy it.

Oh, man, if it was like that, there'd be about half a dozen people in the whole hobby!    DD, I didn't mean to say I didn't have a rantin', roarin' good time shooting the Holy Black! I enjoy it the way I enjoyed blowing powder at the blasted rebels over across the way. The great thing about NCOWS is the added thrill of real lead and hearing that *ding*! We're just getting to the same place by slightly different paths, that's all.

All Hail the Holy Black Powder!

[Dick Dastardly]

I'd be happy to shoot on yer posse any time Frenchie.  I tend to blab a lot, but yup, it's about fun.  Part of my fun is more blab. . . Sundance was like that I hear.

DD-DLoS

[Fingers McGee]

Nope. They're just targets as far as I'm concerned. Same with Trap. They're just clay targets, nothing more.

+1

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Hey, Forty Rod, have you ever been an extra in western films, 'cos you do look familiar. Or have you "just one of those faces". Excuse the language, I'm British!

Howdy UKshooter

     I think your right about Forty Rod, I'm pretty sure he's really CHARLES DURNING, with a durby hat on, What Ya think??  I think Charles has lost a lot of weight since I last saw him in the movies, but I'm sure he's CHARLES DURNING, he just has to be.


                                                                    tEN wOLVES