We need new blood to keep NCOWS going

[Cliff Fendley]

For the ammo thing, I think if someone can't get primers, (possibly me) or
other components. That we should relax a rule or two. For instance, if they have
22 ammo and guns, we should do anything to get them to shoot. IMHO.


                              BTB

JCR did that for a while back during the ammo/primer shortage about ten years ago.

[bowiemaker]

JCR has tried a couple of things to attract new shooters with minimal success.

We once set up a table display at one of the bigger gun shows and posse members manned the table to explain what NCOWS was all about. It attracted a LOT of attention and interest at the show but few ever showed up at the range. I think our range being an hour away had a lot to do with that.

We also tried an "Introduction Day" where we invited people to give it a try for free and even offered to loan guns and provide ammunition to try shooting a stage with instruction. We had a few people show up and a couple even joined the posse.

I am not sure what it is that holds people up. I have talked to a lot friends about our cowboy matches and they seem interested and say they would like see or try it someday but they almost never follow through.

[River City John]

I am not sure what it is that holds people up. I have talked to a lot friends about our cowboy matches and they seem interested and say they would like see or try it someday but they almost never follow through.

Performance anxiety coupled with wallet anxiety . . .

[bear tooth billy]

Last winter I spent a couple months in Tombstone Az. I printed up
new membership brochures before I retired. I left a pile at the front
street museum in Dodge City. And handed out several in Tombstone.
Unfortunately no one had heard of NCOWS, they have a SASS club there
and lots of reenactors, so the perfect fit right??  The thing I heard the
most was, it sounds really cool but there are no posses or shoots within
hundreds of miles. So to pay $45 for 4 magazines, they just aren't doing
it. We need a couple people there to get a posse started, but me being
1500 miles away is pretty hard. Our group, being a historical group I would
absolutely love to see a posse in those 2 towns.

                                     BTB

[wildman1]

If you are ever back in Tombstone give me a call. Cell # sent in a PM.
wM1

[Silver Creek Slim]

My oldest son is now a member.

Slim

[ira scott]

My oldest son is now a member.

Slim

I'm proud to know Runs with Scissors,  a great young man!

Major B. N. Scotty

[Abilene]

Runs With Scissors is a great alias.  There was a gunsmith in Austin with that alias (SASS, although I don't know if he actually joined or not) who was just stopping CAS about the time I started.

[Robert Swartz]

I am not sure what it is that holds people up. I have talked to a lot friends about our cowboy matches and they seem interested and say they would like see or try it someday but they almost never follow through.

.....I'm late to the party on this since I only became involved last year. Even then it was difficult to find lead bullets, brass and large rifle primers for a 45-70. That situation sure isn't improving. Unless you have years worth of supplies, shooting is going to be limited. I'm retired and spending savings to shoot isn't high on the list. Coming from a BP background, the amount of shooting alarms some.
At least around here, your garden variety shoots are usually only 20-25 shots. Coming to a CAS event and shooting 90-100 rounds and using 4 guns in addition to spending a whole day. It's more than some want to commit to. Don't get me wrong here. The local club has some classes that allow one to shoot with a lesser number of guns. There are some in the club not in favor of these classes due to minimal participants. If you have to purchase your firearms. Attracting new people is going to be difficult in the short term. Just my .02rmabling cents.......

[Cliff Fendley]

.....I'm late to the party on this since I only became involved last year. Even then it was difficult to find lead bullets, brass and large rifle primers for a 45-70. That situation sure isn't improving. Unless you have years worth of supplies, shooting is going to be limited. I'm retired and spending savings to shoot isn't high on the list. Coming from a BP background, the amount of shooting alarms some.
At least around here, your garden variety shoots are usually only 20-25 shots. Coming to a CAS event and shooting 90-100 rounds and using 4 guns in addition to spending a whole day. It's more than some want to commit to. Don't get me wrong here. The local club has some classes that allow one to shoot with a lesser number of guns. There are some in the club not in favor of these classes due to minimal participants. If you have to purchase your firearms. Attracting new people is going to be difficult in the short term. Just my .02rmabling cents.......

In favor or not ALL of NCOWS allows two gun categories and they seem to be the most popular even when ammo and supplies are not limited. Unless your local club you speak of is not NCOWS.

[Robert Swartz]

In favor or not ALL of NCOWS allows two gun categories and they seem to be the most popular even when ammo and supplies are not limited. Unless your local club you speak of is not NCOWS.

...yes, we have the two gun categories.  Two pistols or one pistol and a single shot rifle is still 60 rounds. A buddy and I between us are OK supply wise for a bit. If you are just starting and have nothing. It's going to be tough sledding until or unless things settle down. Yes our local group is NCOWS.

[Baltimore Ed]

I think a lot of the shooting sports are having tremendous difficulty nowadays, between the still out of control covid, job losses, business closings, quarantines, the reloading component and ammo unavailability and the big elephant in the room - the new administrations attempts to curtail our the 2nd Amendment rights. Folks are afraid to shoot ammo or use components that they aren't sure that they can replace let alone the outrageous costs associated with a simple 150 rd monthly match. I really can't see anyone new getting involved in an organized shooting sport in the foreseeable future. A sad time. I saw the writing on the wall years ago and bought reloading supplies. I don't belong to NCOWS as my cas club is a combination of SASS [unaffiliated] and WASA, in fact we shoot a WASA match next Saturday, a double action and a 1911. Unfortunately Americans have a ways to go before we are back where we were before covid. Stay safe all.

[Abilene]

I've been following this topic since Gomezy3K started it about 16 months ago.   Needing new blood.  Really nothing new, more of a continuous issue.  A few months back I finally joined NCOWS, and also picked up 20+ years of Shootist magazines, which I am very slowly going through.  I read that in 2000, there was a membership-drive called "2000 in 2000".  After a year or so, the tally showed 134 (IIRC) new members in 2000.  With the natural attrition of some folks passing on and others dropping out, it was close to a wash.  Bear in mind that this was during the humongous growth period of CAS.

I don't have any answers.  Some ideas folks come up with can help but I think only a little bit.  But I do think the sport will continue for some time, just slowly fading.  The current ammo/primer situation certainly doesn't help, but it is temporary.  I haven't been to an NCOWS match yet but intend to this year.  Since the nearest club is about 5 or 6 hours, I will be danged if I'm going to go and just shoot 2 guns!  Fortunately I should be in pretty good shape for this coming year with ammo. 

[Major 2]

I think a lot of the shooting sports are having tremendous difficulty nowadays, between the still out of control covid, job losses, business closings, quarantines, the reloading component and ammo unavailability and the big elephant in the room - the new administrations attempts to curtail our the 2nd Amendment rights. Folks are afraid to shoot ammo or use components that they aren't sure that they can replace let alone the outrageous costs associated with a simple 150 rd monthly match. I really can't see anyone new getting involved in an organized shooting sport in the foreseeable future. A sad time. I saw the writing on the wall years ago and bought reloading supplies. I don't belong to NCOWS as my cas club is a combination of SASS [unaffiliated] and WASA, in fact we shoot a WASA match next Saturday, a double action and a 1911. Unfortunately Americans have a ways to go before we are back where we were before covid. Stay safe all.

My thoughts as well

[1961MJS]

Hi
In the past, more sports were populated by kids who tagged along with their parents including trap, skeet, golf, tennis, hunting, and reenacting.  With the advent of McDonald's being a "career" as opposed to a high school job, anybody with children (that isn't related to Bezos) can't afford most of those sports anymore.  That's afford for their children and possibly for themselves.  My Dad was born in 1919 and said he played 18 innings of unofficial baseball a day during the summer, and 27 innings on the weekends. 

I played a lot of baseball growing up, way more unofficial than official. 

My kid born in 1987 played more than double the hours of official baseball than he did sandlot.  Heck except for me playing pitch and catch, he didn't play any unofficial. 

In short, its not just a reenacting problem or even a shooting problem.

Later

[Major 2]

From my observation at  $1 plus  round  , =  $30 stage  and  $180 a 6 stage match   
add that to start up guns prices.....
reality sets in ...and nobody is gonna ....they may have interest , but Green fees are cheaper !  and fishing puts food on the table.

The hobby was on a collision course as current participants  aged out , covid pandemic & the Ammo/component shortage
have hastened the due course.

Local range is seeing little attendance, as shooters are conserving what they might have, in hopes prices and available supplies  might return to more palatable level     

[Baltimore Ed]

It has become a very expensive sport as everything that makes shooting what it is is a consumable, powder, primers and bullets. You might occasionally recover some lead to recast. At least hunting puts something in the freezer if you have a legal place to hunt. The alternative is that we are just gun collectors. I've said it for years that while there are a lot of gun owners and gun collectors in America there are too few shooters, even more new gun owners today. If there were as many shooters as golfers and tennis players our sport would be rock solid with no threats to it's future. Major2 has correctly stated our sport's dilemma but unfortunately I don't see any real solution. CAS had kicked the can down the road but if you removed the old farts from the sport how many would be left. The failure of Founders Ranch is a prime example. I plan to enjoy my firearms as long as I can afford to and am physically able to. Stay safe all.

[Cliff Fendley]

It has become a very expensive sport as everything that makes shooting what it is is a consumable, powder, primers and bullets. You might occasionally recover some lead to recast. At least hunting puts something in the freezer if you have a legal place to hunt. The alternative is that we are just gun collectors. I've said it for years that while there are a lot of gun owners and gun collectors in America there are too few shooters, even more new gun owners today. If there were as many shooters as golfers and tennis players our sport would be rock solid with no threats to it's future. Major2 has correctly stated our sport's dilemma but unfortunately I don't see any real solution. CAS had kicked the can down the road but if you removed the old farts from the sport how many would be left. The failure of Founders Ranch is a prime example. I plan to enjoy my firearms as long as I can afford to and am physically able to. Stay safe all.

Shooting overall is not a cheap hobby but compared to other shooting sports CAS is pretty cheap.

It's probably comparable to 3 gun or trap shooting it's all in how much you shoot but CAS doesn't require real expensive reloading equipment and the guns, brass, and bullets are cheap compared to other shooting sports like bench rest, PRS, F-class, etc.

The guns are an investment, decide to do something different and you can pretty much get your money back. CAS guns pretty much last forever unlike rifle shooting where you are replacing barrels every few thousand rounds. 

I used to truck pull in my younger days so I consider any shooting sports a cheap hobby. LOL Now that I'm retired I have to do what I can afford and enjoy and CAS is one of the cheapest shooting sports and I love the history aspect of it.

[bear tooth billy]

I hate to hear all the gloom and doom about cost. The first shoot I went
to 20 years ago, I bought 44/40 ammo and very quickly decided I had to
reload. So reusing brass and casting bullets, it was costing me about 4 cents
each. Now if I load smokeless and have primers at normal cost, it's about 8 cents.
So still a very cheap sport/hobby. I paid $3100 for my Shiloh sharps 15 years ago
and have enjoyed it immensely, and have been offered more than I paid for it a
couple times. So my friends go buy a $60,000 bass boat or a $10,000 snowmobile
and see how much you get in a couple years.

                              BTB

[newdaddy55]

I just moved to North Texas and would love to go to a Ncows 22 LR shoot. better then nothing.