Lou Graham, # 26112

This is a very cool idea! Thank you Dungannon. Not sure but I think you intend for this to be ACSA. (see below) You did good figuring out we shoot at the same place Winter Range is but these guys have nothing to do with cowboy shooting. Ben Avery is a huge range, like the size of Rhode Island huge. Multiple clubs, multiple shooting disciplines, etc. I think if you use "Ben Avery" in Google and not the official address it might come out correctly but you still won't have our link as we use a P.O. Box. The Arizona Cowboy Action Shooters website is acsainc.com. Cowtown - just down the road from us looks great in the map. Yur Pard, Lou

I like making mountains of plump, shiny bullets. I have molds for smokeless and BP but my main efforts go to BP, the smokeless molds are now mostly for "just in case" purposes. One of the advantages to casting is that you don't have to settle for unacceptable when it comes to long distance. Only the most perfect of 405 grain hollow base bullets make it into the reloading room to be fed to my trapdoor. I generally keep a third to half of what I cast. The rest go back in the pot. If you check and weigh store-bought before making your distance ammo, you will acquire a collection of rejects over time. How do I know? People give them to me because I cast! Main match ammo is about volume, not total perfection. For main match ammo, I'm not so finicky. "Close enough for Cowboy" is just fine. There are so many options for smokeless bullets in pistol calibers, it may not be worth your time if you have a reliable supplier with reasonable quality control. Find a pard that is set up and can give you some tips and let you try it out before you invest in your own equipment. Kind of like what we tell new shooters before buying guns. If you find you like casting, go for it.

Widder - thank you for the explanations. You gave me some advice you didn't mean to! I'm going to play with ammo length and see what that does for me. Snozzberries - thank you for the pictures. The mock up of how everything in the receiver goes together combined with the color-coded close ups is so helpful, I've saved all the pictures.

I've been writing stages since the time there were always themes, stories and lines. The line might even require a back and forth posse participation way back when! I still "think" in theme when it comes to writing stages, so every match has one. As all the different prior posts indicate, the stage writer has to appeal to two different camps. The theme is there for those want to "get into it" for the day, it can be ignored by those that aren't interested. I don't do stories anymore, not even a one or two sentence set-up. There are start lines related to the theme for those that want use them. "Shooter ready!" works too, if you aren't into remembering lines. No hard feelings. I found that once I was writing stages, practically every dang thing I watched on TV or read was sparking ideas. I keep a file of TV, movie, historical places and events, etc with potential themes, lines and target order ideas (listen to El Paso, it writes itself) to draw on when I needed new material. Even non-cowboy things can work. "Nice shooting, Tex!" and "Aim for the flat top!" are from the original Ghostbusters movie which most people are familiar with. It makes a fun October/Halloween match, especially if you throw in a decorative prop or two related to the movie. It's a challenging balancing act to get enough in the match for those that want the ambiance while still being unobtrusive enough to not disturb those that view it as a distraction. This consideration has to go on top of all the meat and potatoes of stage writing like preventing unintended outcomes because you didn't say I can't, not setting up a "P" trap, safety concerns, etc. I'm glad I was able to sort of grow into stage writing over the years. I think it is much more difficult now and my hat is off to any newly-minted stage writer with the guts to take on the task.

Capt. Morgan Rum was a driving force in promoting fun times and SASS in general in New England. The "Intergalactic" BP Championship, the 5 - gun shoots, the Halloween shoots with everyone in crazy costumes, and all the work he did when the Regional system split to get New England Regional off the ground and then running smoothly. His BP matches were one of the very few that Wonnerful Hubby could be persuaded to shoot and we always had such a great time! Miss Delaney is one of the earliest Soot Sisters. My condolences to her and Raven.

Nice job Soot Buddy! More Powder! Love, Posse Mom

SASS was not the first, but the only one I came back a second time. Bowling pins, IDPA, Silhouette, trap - one time each. It was obvious I was invading "manspace" and very unwanted. God bless the cowboys that welcomed me to my first match as if they had started that club just so I would show up. My other hobby was my show car and the club activities that went along with it. I was much more accepted by the car guys than the gun guys. I almost always went solo as I knew everybody would think the car belonged to Wonnerful Hubby and I was just along for the ride. I was fortunate that my late Wonnerful Hubby thought any slight expression of interest in any firearm or shooting sport necessitated a trip to a gun show if he didn't already have what was called for. The car seemed boring compared to shooting cowboy plus there was competition for my time - needing to reload and needing to work on the car, do I go to the club event or the cowboy match, there was always a conflict. I sold the car. I would say the cost between them was about the same at the start but once Wonnerful Hubby joined, we went to a lot more matches and took a lot of out of state trips so ended up spending much more of our time and money on SASS.

If you have repeating rifle, you can add single shot. I think minimizing use of shotgun would be a good exchange. A long time ago, I used to go to a club that added single shot into the regular cowboy stages. One stage would be all single shot, a couple others might have 3-5 rounds. It depends a lot on what you have to work with for a range as you need deeper bays for the rifles. I wouldn't trade repeating rifle for Trapdoor, we know that trick doesn't work, thanks to General Custer.

To do the event and not include an iconic firearm like the Trapdoor just doesn't seem right. Please include it. Doing something a little different as a side match isn't the end of the world and it just may be a hit.

I've been wearing Ariat lace up boots since I started this game. The original pair has had new soles and heels several times, the next pair once, the next is still fine, the next have only been worn a few times. Upper leather is finally cracking some on the original pair after all these years. I assume they are as well made for men as they are for ladies.

Phantom Yes, ordinary people (like me) can send a box of explosives, A/K/A black powder ammo - must be packed correctly, have the labels, etc. You don't need to be a business or get a note from BATF or anything like that. Just an ordinary BP Girl sending her ammo out ahead so she can fly to a big match. Real BP can't fly, has to go ground. I bet you are right about there being more to it if a business deals with HAZMAT items, but if a private party needs to ship something that falls under HAZMAT regulation, it can be done. UPS will give you a lesson on how to do it. Before I lived 7 minutes from Ben Avery, I had to send my ammo out ahead every year.

The regulations for HAZMAT have nothing to do with charging or not charging extra. It's about how it's packaged, labeled and shipped. I got some stuff a few months ago (I think it was from Midway) and they were running a deal on orders over a certain amount with HAZMAT fee of a penny. The proper box, label and shipping method were still used.

You will be in my prayers for a good outcome and a speedy recovery Creeker. Oh, and a special request for a jolt of lightning if you try something stupid.

It was always entertaining to shoot with the Mountain Clan. Great memories and U.B. was always a lot of fun. My condolences to the family.

Heddy (that's HEDLEY!) converted to PDF and you can save them for forever. The Open Range existed for a long time after it was not longer an active forum but it was taken down just a few months ago.