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For those of you interested on a update on SASS Kicker: she got the results from her MCAT test and scored a 511 which is in the 83 percentile of all medical students taking the test. This will allow her to apply for the medical schools she is interested in. SASS Kicker is engaged and will be married in June 2020. And yes she is still interested in Cowboy Action Shooting and has a very supportive fiance. I got to shoot with her several months ago at a local match and she still has it. Unfortunately we got rained out after 2 stages. Cody just graduated from the Fire Academy and is pursing his degree in fire science. He graduates from high school in the next three weeks. Thank you for helping me raise two kids. SASS is an incredible family experience.

And you get another P for the illegible font.

I saw a meme on Facebook a few days ago that said to answer unknown callers on your phone with “It’s done, but there’s blood everywhere” and see if you get a response. So a couple of days ago my cell phone howled (howling coyote ringtone) and the number wasn’t in my contacts list. Normally I just ignore those calls and they go away without leaving a message. This time I answered it, and in a loud whisper said, “Okay, it’s done but there’s blood everywhere!” Silence on the line for about five seconds or so, then “beep”, whoever it was hung up. I personally found it immensely entertaining...

Something moved me to post this tonight. I was thinking of Judge'm All Duncan. As I said in the post about his death I didn't know him as well as some of you. I met him a few years ago and right away hit it off with him and since have stayed in touch and have been to a handful of matches together. Looking at Facebook tonight it really hit me on how much that man touched the numerous lives of others. Facebook has been a sea of photos and stories about "The Judge". What I have been thinking about is this, The Best and Worst of Cowboy Action Shooting is the same thing. The People. This sport provides such a great avenue to meet some of the best people on this planet. But with that avenue of meeting so many folks and obtaining so many friends and "family", also comes the inevitable realization that some of those friends will leave us... sooner than we would like. For me it's a blessing and a curse that I am one of the "young" ones in the sport (age 40). I have been involved in Cowboy Action for 14 years and met so many great friends over that time, some of them twice my age. On one hand I found this sport when I was young and have more time to enjoy it but on the other it gives me chills to think about what the next 20 years will look like. I guess why I am posting this is because days like this you realize how fragile life is. Enjoy it, tell all your friends in this sport how much you appreciate them and love them. You are not guaranteed tomorrow. Seeing that wave of posts on Facebook about Judge really makes you think about how you can influence others. I sure hope I could have a fraction of the influence on people that Judge did. - Bubba

I went to Las Vegas on Sunday to attend my grandson's graduation from high school yesterday. After getting in some time with the family he said "Grandpa, would you come with me for a bit? I need your advice." Well, hell yes. We went to a gun shop in North Vegas and he asked me to help him buy his first gun. After trying out several and rejecting them as "Overburdened with macho crap", (his words, not mine) we narrowed it down to three 12 gauge pump guns and he settled on a Maverick made overseas and assembled here by Mossberg. A right good starter gun and he saved enough money to buy a couple of boxes of shells, a cleaning kit, and a pretty nice cover for it...and had enough left to take his girlfriend and his best buddy of fourteen years out for a pizza. His final comment as they walked out the door was "I'll learn all I can with this one and maybe someday I'll find something really great to replace it with, but I'll always keep this one for sentimental reasons." Next stop is college. My wife would have been very proud of him I know I am.

All this in 5 minutes... I had some kids outside a Starbucks making fun of me (amongst themselves) as I walked through the parking lot and into the store. When I walked inside everyone stopped and stared for a couple of seconds. A guy says “Hey Tex, what’s up?” I smiled - I freakin’ hate that. He was just being friendly though. The girl at the counter said “What are you all dressed up for?” with a little smirk. I said “Movie shoot. I play the lead bad guy. The movie comes out next Winter but I can’t talk about it. It’s a big budget film with lots of big names.” All of a sudden I was “somebody” and all the folks within earshot appeared envious. (Superficial dimwits). When I walked out the kids were still there and they all faced me and one said “Sir, why are you dressed like that?” I liked that they had some manners. I responded that I was going to a Cowboy Action Shooting match and to shoot “Cowboy” you gotta dress the part. I had their full and undivided attention. I told them CAS was like tactical shooting only with cowboy guns. I told them to look up Cowboy Action Shooting on YouTube. They had completely different attitudes when I departed as compared to when I arrived. They thought CAS sounded “really cool”.

By the time Quigley took this photo he had wiggled out of his guns and one leg was out of his costume. Still, he looked pretty good.

So a few years back we purchased a used .22 Lever Action Henry Rifle, just to have for plinking, side matches, etc. Shot it a few times and then it sat in the safe. Remembered it having some feeding issues but wrote it off as cheap ammo. Recently, my nephew wanted to start shooting Cowboy Action. So we brought out the .22 Rifle for him to use and sure enough it had feeding issues. My buddy Six Gun Seamus suggested I send it back to Henry. So after contacting Henry, they said send it here. They even sent a free shipping label. Couple days in shipping, they received it and gave me a call saying that the feeding mechanisms were old models and they wouldn't be able to fix the rifle sooooo.. They would send me a brand new rifle, FREE of Charge! I received it a few days after that call. Was pretty blown away by the Service at Henry!! Just wanted to share my experience! Now my nephew will be turned loose with a brand new .22 to use at the matches. THANK YOU Henry!!

Awesome shoot at Butterfield Gulch. T-Bone Dooley was the top Classic Cowboy and also the overall match winner. Major Art Tillery was the Henry Challenge winner.

got a lot of things wrong with me, mostly physical, but they are going to check me out for PTSD. I'm 77 years old and have some issues with getting around, various miseries, and other stuff......... BUT.......... there are a whole passel of folks who are a lot younger than I am who could pass for late 80s - early 90s broken down, worn out, sick, paralyzed, mentally bad off, friendless, without families or any support, really in a bad way. I just wanted to express my thanks to all my friends, and my little family, and to a huge number of strangers and passing acquaintances for the help and caring I've been blessed with, and to God for good genes, good parents, good luck, and good sense (well, three out of four ain't bad) and for allowing me to make mistakes and good choices, have losses, and wins and making it possible that I am where I am as a result of EVERY experienceI have ever had. I wouldn't change a thing, not even a hangnail or broken shoe lace.

Most everyone who cares probably knows I have my day job and a part time job behind the firearms counter at our local Gander Outdoors. That has been keeping me fairly busy, but life is likely to get busier for awhile. As far as hobbies go, after my guitar instructor passed away unexpectedly, I decided to go a different direction. I earned my 1st Degree brown belt in Kenpo in 1998. At the time, I was working to establish myself as an attorney, raising two daughters under the age of five and trying to become the best medic and NCO I could be in the National Guard, so something had to give. Kenpo was one of the things that gave. I've decided to go back and attempt to earn my black belt. At 53 I am sparring, practicing and trying to get back some of what I used to have. For reasons I can't explain, I also agreed to adopt an eight week old border collie-german shepherd mix from a shelter. Meet Rosie, the newest member of our clan. Named such for any number of female figures, real, fictional and archetypal. She is a happy, confident and very busy puppy, and is keeping me busy!

Almost forgot. Once I went into a 7-11 and the two smart***es behind the counter were openly making fun of me and giggling like little girls. I think they were high. I went back to the cooler, grabbed a couple Pepsi’s, slid my wild rag up to cover my face (like a bad guy) and then quickly walked up to the counter, sat my sodas down and and said, very loudly “What are you ladies laughing about?” The color drained from their faces. ”Don’t just stand there. Ring me up and get the register open..............I need change...” They both stood there trying to figure out what was happening and I loudly said “C’mon, I ain’t got all day.” And tossed a twenty on the counter. The one kid rang me up, shaking wildly and gave me my change. I tipped my hat and walked out. As I was getting into my truck a guy came out of the store laughing like crazy and he yelled over to that I made his day. Made mine too.

I JUST discovered my age group! I am a Seenager (Senior teenager). I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only 55-60 years later. I don't have to go to school or work. I get an allowance every month. I have my own pad. I don't have a curfew. I have a driver's license and my own car. I have ID that gets me into bars and the wine store. I like the wine store best. The people I hang around with are not scared of getting pregnant, they aren't scared of anything, they have been blessed to live this long, why be scared? And I don't have acne. Life is Good! Also, you will feel much more intelligent after reading this, if you are a Seenager. Brains of older people are slow because they know so much. People do not decline mentally with age; it just takes them longer to recall facts because they have more information in their brains. Scientists believe this also makes you hard of hearing as it puts pressure on your inner ear. Older people often go to another room to get something and when they get there, they stand there wondering what they came for. It is NOT a memory problem; it is nature's way of making older people do more exercise. SO THERE!! I have more friends I should send this to, but right now I can't remember their names. So please forward this to your friends; they may be my friends, too.

For me anyway.

Well... I'll make this short: The owner told the guys he would need all his insurance settlement funds to cover his own losses and buy new equipment; "sorry, fellas." A few days ago he was overheard telling one of his vendors that he "had never told his employees to bring their own tools, so it's on them!" [He did not provide proper tools.] Sassparilla Kid is a loyal sort with a strong work ethic. He has worked for the man for two years, usually six days a week (sometimes seven), and during harvest season as much as 20 hours a day, using his own tools and his own truck for off-site assignments. And no "benefits." He's giving the boss one week notice this morning, and starts his new job next Monday - at 38% higher pay, weekends off, plus benefits, and a company vehicle.

Bob Larson and Tom McIntyre are longtime news anchors, now retired, in the Peoria/Bloomington area. They run a monthly feature called, "Bob and Tom's Excellent Adventures," on WMBD and WYZZ TV. We sent them an email about Cowboy Action Shooting. They never heard of it. So we exchanged some emails and text messages, and they decided to do it. They wanted to interview us at home, but we decided having the inside of our house shown onTV probably was not good for home security. So we met at a western clothing store, and then filmed a match at the McLean County Peacemakers range at Darnall's Gun Works in Bloomington, IL. In this crazy time. hopefully people will see that you can have fun with guns and be safe. And maybe get a new cowboy shooter or two. You will have to let me know who looks better, me or Shortcake! https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/bob-tom-s-excellent-adventures-wild-west-right-here-in-central-illinois/2019024270

Why am I dressed up like that? I just tell them "I'm in town for the hangin'." Some laugh, some look totally befuddled, and some look downright panic stricken. Whatever. It's fun.

How’s this?

Now that we've insulted the guy and showed how smart we all are, maybe he will actually still join SASS. Aren't we TRYING to get new members? Yes, we want to see pictures. No, it's probably NOT rare as a hen's tooth. Who cares, the guy's proud of his new acquisition. Let's celebrate the love of Marlins (unless you're a hater of them and a Winchester purist) and welcome the guy in. Or... we can keep up the insults, history lessons, snarky comments and scare off another one. Welcome Stopsign, hope ya join.

I just give them to my wife and she washes them with the rest of my clothes.

What's important.... don't shoot yourself don't shoot me have fun

I’ve read the whole thread more than once. Not one single time do I see anyone accusing you of doing anything unsafe. That’s why we’re not discussing major or minor safety penalties. We’re discussing a procedural penalty. You earned one. How you earned it has been explained more than enough times. You obviously don’t like the explanations so have decided to start throwing insults. There’s an unwritten rule you’re in the process of breaking, it’s called The Cowboy Way. You should consider doing some serious self reflection. This game is supposed to be fun. And this Wire is where we come to try to help others have fun. We darn sure don’t expect to be insulted when we try to help someone.

I have a next door neighbor who's 93 yrs old and every morning he knocks on my door and asks me if I've seen his wife! I have to tell him every morning that his wife passed away over 10 yrs ago! I've thought about not answering the door or even thought about moving............. But to be truthful I love to see the big smile on his face when I tell him about his wife!

Druther use a claymore on each door.

I mentioned a while back about some skunk trying to burn our American Flag has it hung from our garage, and that I wanted to get a flagpole to get it out of reach. Well, the flagpole is up and the flag is flying. We bought a 30 LED solar powered light so it can stay up at night, and I got a telescoping pole so there is no lanyard they could cut to bring it down. I put a lock on the bottom section so a key is needed to lower the flag. We bought our flagpole from Old Glory Flags, A Veteran owned company. I was impressed with the quality of the pole, and a test out of the box showed the light would last through the night. The most amazing thing about getting the pole up was how easy it was to dig the hole. Because of a very ambiguous marking by one of the utility companies in response to my 811 call, the only place near where I wanted the flag to go was about 2 feet from where a 50+ foot cedar stood about 16 years ago. The amazing part? I was able to dig a 24" deep, 10" diameter hole without hitting sa single root or rock!! Using an old manual post hole digger I got down about 8" or so, then dug out our old Black and Decker power washer and used that to do some old fashioned hydraulic mining!

Three elk 50 yards from my house, with several others visible just right of the tree branch another quarter mile down the field.

This is all very interesting, but it is a very one sided discussion. The starring and ogling goes both ways. I finally got tired of it and started wearing pants under my Chaps. Snakebite

Remember we all have the right to remain silent, but many lack the ability!

It’s just aging in my driveway and I don’t want some scoundrel to eventually scrap it out for parts so.... i contacted a nearby friend, my tool pusher, Patrick and said I wanted to sell some things. Www.supertool.com is him. Pat came with his son, high school senior going to WPI. Son was a good worker, never a complainer, just did what was asked of him. SO.... Pat mentions to me that Aigan (a Gaelic name) was interested. I told him about all the things wrong with it, Aigan was still interested, they looked at it today, I said take it away. Pat said Aigan will be my slave for a month, anything I need done, Aigan agreed. Oh, maybe you want to know what the car is? 1992 Dodge Stealth, Twin Turbo, white, pearl coat, it did go 180, but I usually kept it to 125, max.

KID, Let me put this 'No P' stage in prospective of rules/guidelines. Lets say you have a stage where there are "NO MISSES". But, somewhere during your shooting string you have a gun problem and fail to fire a few rounds. You will earn a 'Miss' for every round not fired. To qualify for having No Misses, you are required to at least Fire your guns at the targets. In our game/sport, the same works for having a 'No P' stage. Unless its written otherwise in the stage instructions, the qualifying factor for the 'No P' deals with the shooting aspect and you are not exempt from 'convention guidelines'. Anyhow, thats how I see it. ..........Widder

I had a rough childhood. Mom would read recipes for us at suppertime, since we had no food. My little brother nearly starved to death before they figured out he was hard of hearing.

On the Fifth of May, 1990, I started on a wonderful journey. On that day Lisa and I were married. As with all couples we have had our troubles and trials. But I would not change a one. Everything we have done, everything that has happened, has strengthened both our faith in and love for God, and our love for each other.

Got me a 10" T Post plate. Because paper targets ain't noisy enough. Also got a 12" gong for 100 yards.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.” The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.” The older lady said that she was right — our generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then. We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day. Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day. Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a r azor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the”green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then? We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to pizz us off… Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart alec who can’t make change without the cash register telling them how much. I left the font big so us old folks could read it...hehehe

After a match yesterday, a plastic bumper cover came loose. Needed a bit of duct tape for the hour or so ride home. No worries, a Flying J was coming up. I was in full cowboy mode; hat, scarf, sleeve garters, suspenders, period shirt, vaquero pants, SASS badge and boots. The nice lady who rang up my purchase had black hair with corn row weaves that were dyed blonde. A multi-colored tattoo that went from her left arm up her neck to her jaw. Neon green and orange nail polish. Ear, eyebrow, nostril multiple piercings with neon colored pins. And she stared at me with that, "What's up with these clothes" look on her face. Thought that was kinda funny. Told her about SASS. She said she didn't like guns. I wished her a good day and left. Chuckling all the way back to the van. I love the reactions to the cowboy wardrobe. Another fun part of the game.

Call and email the station and network and let them know. Express your displeasure at the ignorance of the talking heads. ADDED: Let them know that the ignorance of their employees does a disservice to those serving.

She is just some two bit actress looking for attention.

Shortly after starting CAS, I realized that "personalizing" my long guns was probably a good idea!

We all have one. So what is the best prank you pulled (not heard of, you actually planned and pulled off) on a deserving target that caused no harm, except a bit of embarrassment? Mine was in high school. True story. I worked at a chain grocery store in the late 70's as a clean-up boy in the meat department. Wanting more hours (at around $3.25/hour) I sacked groceries on other nights. There was a particular obnoxious sacker I worked with. "Joe" has seen it all, done it all, and had it all figured out before he graduated high school. You could hear the cashiers and other sackers eye's rolling when Joe went off on a story that made him the greatest. It was December 1978. Meat Department hours were pretty much set, but I could pickup a lot of hours up front sacking groceries. So I put in for all available hours, and got quite a bit. One was on a very busy, snowy Saturday. Joe came in full of p#$$ and vinegar of how he was gonna cleanup playing Santa Clause for $30 per half half hour. He went on for hours of what he was going to earn, how much per day, ad nauseam. You could practically hear the other sackers and cashiers groaning. Finally, he went to lunch. Back then, the store had a pay phone up front along side a little cork board. Joe put a 3x5 card on there advertising his Santa services. So I got my own 3x5 card out, advertising MY Santa service for only $20-cutting Joe by $10. And the contact number on the card to call was the number of the pay phone right next to it. Everybody was dying for Joe to get back. Joe came back and freaked out seeing his competition. He wanted to rip up the card. Nope, store policy was only ads in poor taste would be taken down. He was fuming. Joe then thought he had the perfect plan. He would call the other "Santa" and send him to fake addresses. So he got a pocket full of dimes and dialed the number. He would always get a busy signal (since he was dialing the number of the phone he was using) and slam down the receiver. He probably did this a dozen times, getting the busy signal. He was losing it. Convinced the new "Santa" was costing him a fortune. Everyone around him (including store managers) were dying with suppressed laughter. After about an hour of this he discovered the number he was calling was the pay phone he was using. Everyone busted out laughing. Joe didn't talk to any of us for a week, and his silence was welcomed by all. Ok, whadaya got?

In the car with my wife, Posey N Towe when the question of when I said something came up. I told her, "Woman, if I remembered what I said I wouldn't keep making an ass out of myself."

This past weekend I was blessed to be on a posse with Ole #4. Not only is he a hoot to shoot with and an all around nice person, he’s also a fantastic Cowboy Action shooter. He was kind enough to share some things he noticed I could improve. One of the things he noticed was on a stage with movement. When I finished shooting my rifle I put it down and started grabbing for the next gun while standing still. I knew better. If you’d asked me I would have sworn I was moving. Nope, standing there flat footed wasting time. If you truly want to improve, this illustrates the importance of having someone watch or video tape you. What you think you’re doing might not actually be what you’re doing. So, what are some of the transition improvements you concentrate on? And what are some of the common transition mistakes you see people make?

Sometimes people are so busy in the Saloon they miss important news bulletins.. For instance, today is Mothers Day. You’re welcome.

That is a SASS convention, you must re-holster the revolvers before moving to the next firearm. Procedural! Its OK to leave one on the prop while you are shooting the other, but at the end of the string (string is both revolvers) they must be returned to leather unless the stage instructions calls for them to be re-staged on the prop. TB