Right-handed 1897 guys: do you wish they had left-handed models?

[Begle1]

I'm right-handed and shoot off my right shoulder, and I hate doing the reach-around when I port load shells into an 1897 with my left hand. This is the main reason I don't have a 97.

If there was such a thing as a left-handed 1897, with the ejection port on the left of the gun, would it be easier and quicker for right-handed shooters to port load? Would you want one?

I would want one. (I know they don't exist and wouldn't be SASS legal even if you made one. This is a theoretical question.)

[Abilene]

Well I'm a righty so my vote doesn't count but most lefties I know load from the right. Loading the way you describe sounds super-awkward!

[Begle1]

Well I'm a righty so my vote doesn't count but most lefties I know load from the right. Loading the way you describe sounds super-awkward!

I think you have inspired me to refine my ramble into a more succicnt question:

Do left-handed shooters have an inherent advantage in running an 1897? Or if not... Does that mean they have an inherent disadvantage? (It's gotta go be better one way or the other, no?)

[Coffinmaker]

   Oh.   Give.   Me.   A.   Break. 

You run what you brung.  If you can't shoot a '97 well, it's simple, shoot a double or shoot an '87.  Whining about a 19th century design is just . . . .  DUMB!!  There are only just so many lefties wandering around.  Manufacturing specifically for such a small percentage is just . . . silly.

[Begle1]

  Oh.   Give.   Me.   A.   Break. 

You run what you brung.  If you can't shoot a '97 well, it's simple, shoot a double or shoot an '87.  Whining about a 19th century design is just . . . .  DUMB!!  There are only just so many lefties wandering around.  Manufacturing specifically for such a small percentage is just . . . silly.

You're correct on all points.

But would you say a lefty had an advantage on running an 1897? Or a disadvantage?

[St. George]

The advantage/disadvantage is only in your mind...

Pick a style and practice, practice, practice - just like everyone else does.

Scouts Out!

[Coffinmaker]

   Uh Oh 

Aummmmm, what is this "Practice" of which you speak??  Familiar I'm not.  Curiouser I are.

[Kent Shootwell]

The point of cowboy action used to be "playing cowboy" this redesigned 97 pipe dream is missing the whole point of the game!

[Coffinmaker]

  HY YA Kent

Yep.  In my sordid past, celebrating the earliest days of CAS, the GAME was 98% getting out and "Playing Cowboy" and 2% speed.  The "Hot" rifle was a Winchester 1892 and nobody played the game with trix 1897 shotguns.

Then the GAME started to really evolve.  Went went from simple acton and spring work, to Short Stroke rifles, Super light loaded ammunition, to Short Stroke hand guns, addfiniteum. 

In the process, the GAME has gone the other way around.  AS I see it, we're now at about 20% Play Cowboy and 80% speed.  So much so, the few shooters just starting out, want to know which trix parts, Which trix action modifications, which are best short Stroke kits and who does the best short stroke Ruger mods. 

I must confess, I, among others, managed to make some pretty good money putting together "Race Guns" for the GAME.  To some extent I do regret the way the game evolved. Oh Well.

[St. George]

It didn't take it long to turn into less 'Cowboy and Western Action Shooting' and into 'IPSC With Hats', with shooters looking for mechanical advantage...

Scouts Out!

[Abilene]

One positive though with SASS is that the individual participant can still dress the part, and shoot non-short-stroked guns.  A few clubs in these parts offer a sharp-shooter category with further rifle targets, and the shooter shoots the regular rifle targets with his pistol (which makes the targets about how they "used to be" but those clubs are limited.  For close targets, such a shooter just has to take the attitude that this is the way many gunfights actually were in olden days. 

There is an attitude in SASS, often seen on another board, that says "clubs and match directors are in the entertainment business" and adding difficulty drives away many shooters.  Unfortunately, nowadays that is true.  I started in '99 which was the middle of the huge boom for CAS.   Did those further targets and more difficult scenarios drive away shooters?  Hell no.  They flocked to the matches. The fact that my 1st clean match was my 84th and 83 or so more for my second clean match didn't matter (I average about 33% clean matches now). Of course as we all age, getting down to shoot prone and many other physical activities are just too hard.  But that is not the problem.  The problem is that as the targets kept getting bigger amd closer (so that the short stroke guys can "machine-gun" it) IT SPOILED THE SHOOTERS!  Once they got used to the ease of hitting those targets, they dislike having to slow down and aim more. That goes for both faster and slower shooters (not everyone, of course, but the majority).

Scenarios have also been dumbed down.  It is quite rare in these parts to have a rifle sequence that is different from the pistol sequence.  The only time it happens is if one or the other is a swinger or a knock-down rack.  As my brain ages, I do actually appreciate that 

"In the beginning" the founders of SASS said something to the effect that this was not to be a game for race-guns.  When the very first short-stroked rifles came into being, I knew that went out the window.  Their rationale was that original toggle-guns and Marlins and '92's were shorter than the repro toggle guns.  Then they kept getting shorter until a line was drawn.  Later when short-stroke pistols were approved, I just groaned.

After resisting for many years, I did finally short-stroke my small caliber '73's and enjoy shooting them.  My 44-40 carbine shall remain unmodified and will be my NCOWS rifle when I get to that.  All-in-all yeah it is a LOT different than it used to be but I have to say I still enjoy the game, shooting a variety of guns with both BP and smokeless, and am blessed to be able to do it every weekend.  As I've said before, it is still fun for me, just a somewhat different kind of fun.  Shooting anything is fun!

Just the view from my saddle (E-Z-Boy  )

Hey Begle1, if you haven't run into it before this is known as "Thread Drift"