Getting Started in CAS on A Shoestring Budget

[Col. Riddles]

I've been reading here and on other forums that some pards haven't yet started shootin cuz they ain't got the greenbacks to get the guns, clothes, gun cart etc etc.

Well pards this sport can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be. Here's some tips on where to find the $$ for what you need.

GUNS

You don't have to have new real Colts or S&W Schofields, or USAFAs to get started. Keep an eye on the auctions & classifieds here, the SASS Classifieds & The Frontier Spot Trader's Tent for new & used guns. Quite often you will find some great buys from pards just like you. They started out with the plain Jane basics and are upgrading as their finances improve. Cabelas offers the Uberti Cattleman Mellinium for $280.00. The Rossi 92 rifles & Stoeger, and Spartan Gun Works (formerly Baikal) shotguns are good entry level guns. They will all need action jobs. But they will get the job done right out of the box till you can trade up or have the action jobs done. Most gun shops will allow you 90 to 120 days lay-a-way on guns. Pawn shops are good places too. If you're travelling stop in towns that don't have a cowboy club nearby. A pard of mine bought a nice Winchester 97 for $150. Another pard bought a NIB Rossi SxS 12ga Coachgun for $250 in a pawn shop. Pawn shops generally loan about 25¢ on the dollar value. If it's something that doesn't sell quick they'll sometimes come way down off their asking price just to move it out of their inventory.

CLOTHES
You can start with a pair of jeans, a banded collar shirt, boots and a cheap cowboy hat. Thrift stores such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army etc. are good places to start. Pard of mine bought a vest for $5 from a 2nd hand thrift shop when he first started CAS. Garage or rumage sales are good places to find not only clothes but guns & reloading equipment.

LEATHER
Here again check out the SASS Classifieds & The Frontier Spot Trader's Tent for some very good buys on new & used rigs.

GUN CARTS
If you have a few hand tools and are 1/2 way skilled in their use you can build your own. A pard of mine, John Larn, bought a golf cart at garage sale for $5. He threw the bag away, and built a coffin style box & attached it to the cart. Looks & works good. Probably has less than $25 in it for wood, screws, hinges & varnish. I've seen one made from one of those 3 wheel jogging baby strollers. The pard that made it said he got the stroller at a garage sale for $15. Saw another pard at a shoot using a golf cart. He simply put his long guns in sleeves & put them muzzle down in the bag. I started with a kids wagon with wooden side rails. Made a metal frame covered with leather to hold 4 long guns upright. Two bolts welded to the bottom went through the bottom of the wagon & were held on with wing nuts & lock washers. Had room for a wooden ammo & accesory box & a small cooler for cold drinks & sandwiches. Took out the bolt that held the handle on the wagon & replaced it with a small trailer hitch pin & cotter pin. The whole thing could be assembled or disassembled in less than 5 minutes & carried in the trunk of a small car.  Rolan Kraps has some free plans for building gun carts. Any new construction going on near you. Go look in their dumpster after they knock off for the day. Visit enough sites & you can probably get enough scrap material to build your cart.

Ok I've told you where to get the things you need to get started. Now where do you get the much needed $$$$?

A good place to start is right in your own home. Ever start packing up to move & run across things you haven't seen or used in years? Your attic, garage & basement are good starting places. Clean them out & have a garage sale & get rid of stuff you haven't used in years. Your wife will love you for it. Go around and ask your neighbors if they have anything they want to get rid of. Then have a garage sale. I have had a few. The least I made was $400 & the most I made from one was $1200. These were 1 day sales, Saturday, 7:30a.m. to 2 p.m.. Our youth group at church just had one & made $1400. I have a pard that hits the garage sales everyweekend & buys guns & reloading equipment, then sets up at the gun shows & sells them for a profit.

Then there's Ebay. A couple friends of mine hit the garage sales on weekends then sell the stuff on Ebay. They have both said that they quite often make 200 to 1,000% profit.

You'd be amazed at the junk people will buy at garage sales. I once sold some 8 track tapes that were so old & brittle that the tape would break when it changed tracks. I told the guy that but he still bought about 50 of them from me for 25¢ each. How about those old LP albums you haven't listened to in years? Transfer them to cassette tapes then sell the albums. If you have a record store near you they can tell you what they're worth. Or you can go online & find out. Put them on Ebay. Some will fetch quite a pretty penny. Children's clothes are good sellers. There are collectors for everything under the sun, from buttons & bows to zippers. That old hand tool that's been laying around your work shop for years might be junk to you but treasure to someone else.

How about the gun safe? Got a few guns that haven't seen the light of day in a long long time? Sell em or swap em for some cowboy guns. Been there done that.

Got an old car sitting around that you've been meaning to fix up & get running for the past few years but just haven't found the time? Sell it. You can get $1500 for just about any old junker from a junk yard. They'll even come haul it off too.

Get a part time job & set your earnings aside for your guns & gear. After you get what you need you can quit & go play cowboy/girl. Best one to get is a job in a gun shop. Then you can get em wholesale or have the boss pay you in equipment & supplies. 

Well pards I hope these ideas help you get started in CAS. If anybody else knows of ways to make money or get what's needed inexpensively feel free to jump right in here.

[litl rooster]

Col.. These are good tips so to help us new pards this will Bump it up

[thehairlessone]

Pretty good tips.

I am just gathering stuff myself right now.

I found a good place for guns. It is like ebay but is for firearms. Here is a link:
www.gunbroker.com

I also found an ebay store that sells really nice holster sets at a VERY reasonable price. Here is a link to their store:

http://stores.ebay.com/411-Western-Store_W0QQssPageNameZl2QQtZkm

I got a stainless ruger blackhawk .357 from gunbroker for $250. I also found a stoeger 12 ga. side by side shotgun at a local pawn shop for $250 and I found out that walmart can get you a marlin .357 lever action for $379 new.

I will scrounge up some clothes and I will be ready to go!

I sold off a couple of my other hunting things to pay for most of the gear that I needed.

rick

[thehairlessone]

I did some more research on the rifles before I decided. I went in yest. and ordered a winchester .357

They had one as cheap as $350 and some much more expensive. I ordered the legacy with a 24" barrel and I think it holds 13 rounds. Got it for $386.

Can't wait to get it! 

rick