Santa Fe River Stan,36999L

Dave, You are correct......There was a subtle but significant change in the 5-Second Penalty area of the rule books. Prior to 2017 the SHB did not list the details about misses.The RO1 listed different types of 5 second penalties....here is that section NOW the SHB list different types of MISSES and since misses, which includes unfired rounds, can be made up per the stage instructions the shooter would only earn 3 misses for the KD's left standing. Stan

I like the feel of the flat spring better..... Stan

I haven't found anything more reliable than the flat spring.....I tried the mouse trap type spring from PGW....it works but I ended up going back to the flat spring. It's probably set off close to 75,000+ Winchester small pistol magnum primers. A lot of the "upgrades" in this game are answers to questions that don't need to be asked. Stan

The real world has set in and it's REEEEEAAAALLLLL.......especially after having such a great time in North Alabama! The Regulators put on a wonderful match. The stages were clear and concise with a nice mix of size and distance. Big Ned has to be the largest target in SASS. I thought overall target placement and size tested one's ability to use the Throttle as there were stages that were in your face, some stages that you could push a little and some stages that needed just a little more attention to navigate. To me that's a great mix worthy of a championship match. The food at the banquet was pretty damn good (they did need another carving station but that wasn't their decision). The meals at the range were good and everyone up there was just as I expected.....Friendly as all get out!.....except for Buck LOL. Unfortunately we had to have the Range Masters come make a couple of calls for our posse. Branchwater Jack and Buck D. Law consulted the Shooters Handbook each time and showed us the correct call in writing each time.....Range Masters after my own heart there. No ambiguity and no hard feelings. All in All I would give this match two giant Ned sized thumbs up! Put it on your list of matches to attend. Congrats to Sidekick and Dodge City Dixie for taking the whole thing! Good shooting by good Cowboy and Cowgirl! Stan

Judging a match by the number of clean shooters is kinda silly. The last time I went to a big match that was set up to be difficult was 2006....it was an annual with 150 shooters. I can safely say that since that match I have not been to one that was NOT cleanable. That doesn't mean that all the matches I've shot had high percentages of clean shooters. It just means that if you paid attention to the stage instructions and your front sights you could very easily shoot clean. I've been to plenty of matches where shooters exceeded their abilities and received 5 second speeding tickets. As someone who had the privilege of helping put on some big matches 300+ shooters, I would say to set your match up and then walk it.....How does it feel? Are the targets hittable? Are the instructions clear? Are there any P traps or safety issues? If you feel good about the answers to those questions, then let it roll. I would tell shooters to go look at the stages BEFORE the match starts and see how it feels. Give the match a fair assessment and tell yourself where to push on the throttle and where to let up. I think most shooters will find that the match they call difficult AFTER they shot it would probably not have given that same assessment BEFORE they shot it. Match performance usually will influence match assessment. I went to 2 big matches this year that had all the pistol targets set between 5 and 6 yards, the rifle targets were maxed out at 12 and the shotgun targets were fine. Both had plenty of movement. One I crapped out on.....the other was probably my best shooting performance ever. My performance was not indicative of the caliber of either match. The were both good matches. Not perfect matches but good solid honest shooting competitions. I shot a match yesterday that had a polish plate rack with 6 plates on it....Yes it spins once you knock the first plate off.....It was a hoot.....We shot some flying clays. We even shot a couple of stationary clays with the rifle. You actually had to aim.....Wow. There were also some targets you could absolutely hammer. We had the ability to clean up the clays with the shotgun and between the rifle and pistols you had 14 shots to take off the 6 plates.....More than reasonable. It was ENTERTAINING as well as challenging......15% shot it clean. IMHO....Entertainment is not rooted in any one aspect of our shooting sport. All the targets don't have to be in your face for a match to be entertaining. The pistol string and the rifle string don't have to match on every stage to be entertaining. All the targets don't have to be at the same height to be entertaining. VARIETY is the key to entertainment. Try to give each "shooting camp" a little something to salivate over. Stan

I agree! Kate has done a wonderful job with the SASS Scholarship Fund. We were fortunate to have her leading that project for such a long time. She's left some mighty big shoes to fill. Thanks Kate! Stan

Actually Winchester did call them Featherlites.....even had an image of a feather printed on the shell. Stan

Lock time smock time......I don't believe anyone that says "they can outrun a properly tuned gun". Stan