Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L

Goex Pinnacle, APP, etc are/were all made by APP. We have been using Pinnacle for over 10 years and it always clumped. I just whack the bottle a few times on the edge of the bench to break it up then run it through a tight funnel on it's way to the powder measure. The remaining clumps get caught in the funnel and are easy to breakup, and I think it makes for less dust than using a screen, but either method should be fine. After doing that, we have never had a problem with the powder metering through the measure after that, although we always empty it after use. Over the last 10+ years shooting BP, the only squib I ever had was at the Ides of November this month. Not sure if it was a very light load, or a load slipped by with no powder in it, but it is the first and only one in thousands and thousands of rounds.

We had to cancel the MD State shoot last year, but unless they are stacking bodies in the streets like cord wood, I plan to have it this year. We started our "Masked Marauder" monthly matches in September and held them through Oct, but had to cancel November. We found that most folks were OK with "you must wear a mask unless you are the shooter" and that kept us in compliance with the local regulations as well. Hopefully, by next June, things will be in better shape for everyone.

It was on our list for 2020, but the whole Covid thing put a stop to most of our travel this year. Although it's still a possibility, it's looking like we will have personal schedule conflicts for 2021, but it is already on our tentative list for 2022!

I always thought that SASS really missed the mark when the got rid of Modern and Traditional and created Cowboy and Wrangler. To me it seemed that Cowboy would have been the perfect vehicle for a skill set based, open age, open shooting style, category where the best of the best could truly run and gun. They could have even expanded it to include shooting on the move in that category, after someone qualified of course. I remember a time when there was a qualification process required before SASS allowed folks to shoot Gunfighter, so having to qualify before someone could shoot in an OPEN category would not be completely new to the sport. What I do know is that the LAST thing we need is to breakup the plethora of existing categories with additional skill divisions. SASS could still easily achieve that by creating one new category (or two if there had to be a Ladies version), and maybe the new SASS BOD will consider making that addition. There would not have to be skill level divisions within that OPEN category at first, if ever, and thus it would thus attract only the best of the best, or at least people that like to get consistently whooped by the best of the best. All that said, I think that there is also place for the category structure we have in place now. There could certainly be some compression within the age breaks, but SASS and the membership in general seems to be OK with how it is, and in fact there seems to be a continuing call for additional upper age breaks. But compression needs to be done carefully so we do not alienate and lose shooters. The 95%+ of shooters who come to a match who would never qualify to participate in the OPEN category, nor would they likely have the desire to do so, are the same 95%+ of the participants that pay for the vast majority of the match expenses. Folks might dream about the possibility of shooting in the OPEN category, but the reality is the majority would likely be unhappy there. I know as I watched some of the Man-On-Man challenge on Side Match Day at the Ides of November, I got to thinking about how much fun it would be to shoot against Delta Glenn, Bucky Buckskin, Santa Fe River Stan, or a host of others, and then I realized that you could pick any three of them and their combined time might still beat me! No doubt it would be fun to watch, and it would require a WHOLE LOT OF SHOTGUN TARGETS, but it illustrates my point. I don't go to a match to win an award, I just want to be able to shoot FC Gunfighter, against myself if no one else wants to play, and have a good time, with good people, and forget the worlds problems for a while. It was great to have three others in my category at the Ides and frankly I was surprise I placed, but even so Mudslide Mike crushed my time with an impressive run and deservedly took first place in FCGF. I figure that if I practice really, really, hard, for tens of thousands of rounds, for years on end, I can probably get to the point where he only beats me by 2 or 3 seconds per stage! I anticipate that there will likely be some changes ahead for SASS as the new BOD examines and realigns priorities in the years ahead. Covid and the multiple match cancellations have not helped the situation, but I have no doubt that there are changes coming. Maybe, if there is enough call for it, they will add the OPEN category to the list. That's my $0.02 and it won't even pay the tax on a cup of coffee these days.

TMI !! TMI !! Oh, you said periscope. Hopefully, you will be at the Darkness Fall/Dark Day matches. You should shoot black powder at least once per year to force you to clean your guns, don't you know.

Thanks, I will add them to the list.

Do you happen to have the dates for those? I guess I can try to look them up on the wire, but I have found that to be less than accurate.

Hearing the sad but all too familiar news that Winter Range for 2021 has been cancelled, I know that match directors everywhere are struggling trying to make the same decisions for their 2021 matches while dealing with the constantly changing restrictions associated with the Covid-19 situation. I commend Blackjack Zak and the Winter Range committee for making the call early enough so that folks have time to readjust their schedules. No doubt it was a tough call for everyone. With the ammo and component shortages that are likely to be with us for a while, the continuing virus situation and the various state travel restrictions that seem to come and go, and job uncertainty for many, I recognize that a lot of shooters are waiting until the last minute to make their Go/NoGo decisions these days. While that is certainly understandable, it makes it even harder for the Match Directors who need to decide whether to even hold their match or not when they have no idea of how many people are even thinking of coming to their match. For a State or above match, or even a large club annual match, decisions about awards, badges, banquets, etc have to be made long before the match date and when 75% of the shooters wait until the week before the deadline to enter, it makes a hard job virtually impossible. Consequently, I would encourage everyone to get their applications in as soon as possible for the matches they want to attend or they may not be there when you finally decide to go. While you should check with the Match Directors first, I suspect that the vast majority (if not all) of the matches will be offering a full refund if their match is cancelled or if you need to cancel due to health concerns, so get those applications in! So, (after climbing off my soapbox) with all that is going on I thought it would be appropriate to start a thread about folks shooting schedules. Another shooting forum I frequent has a built in Poll generator and I was going to start one here, but if the WIRE has one I can't find it. So, lets just start this by having folks list the matches they plan to attend (Not wishful thinking but actually plan to attend) and if there is enough interest, I will compile them and post a chart of the matches. In order to make the task manageable, let's limit it to State Matches, Regional Matches, and with Winter Range cancelled, End of Trail, and I will include Club Annual matches with attendance of over 100 at their last match. That will be 50 States, 7 Regional (assuming the MAP on the Wire is still accurate , and EOT, plus probably another 30+ annual matches, and we can't forget the BP Folks with Darkness Falls and Dark Day on the Santa Fe! Probably 100 matches in total. So I will start with Lil Feathers & my anticipated schedule...(Note I am only listing the start date for these multi-day matches) 01/28/2021 - Darkness Falls - 2021 SE Territorial BP Championship 01/29/2021 - Dark Day on the Santa Fe - 2021 International BP Championship (Still waiting for the InterGalactic BP Championship ) 03/18/2021 - Ides of March - 2021 Florida State Championship 04/30/2021 - Eas'dern Shore Roundup - 2021 Delaware State Championship 05/28/2021 - Shootout at North Mountain - 2021 Pennsylvania State Championship 06/11/2021 - Thunder Valley Days - 2021 Maryland State Championship 06/21/2021 - End Of Trail - 2021 World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting We are already registered for some of these matches, some of the applications are in the mail, some are waiting for applications to be posted, and only EOT is on hold at the moment while we make personal schedule adjustments and get our reservations set. We have also made hotel reservations for all but EOT as well. After that, we will have to wait and see if any other opportunities present themselves, (we do have other commitments unfortunately ), but these are the ones on our schedule at the moment. Dang, that's a lot of shooting! I better get busy making ammo! Now, where did I hide those primers...... So, post your plans, and I hope to see you at one of these matches!

Shrimpy, sounds like we may have a new plan. If he is still riding around in my little change purse when we get down for Dark Day, we can discuss his rendezvous with the fishes. Well, we made it home about 12:30am on Monday morning after a long, but thankfully uneventful, drive back from Florida. Finished unpacking the Stage Coach today and getting prepped for the work weeks ahead with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in the not too distant future. Then I will start getting ready for the return to Florida for Darkness Falls and Dark Day on the Santa Fe at the end of January. Can't Get Here Soon Enough! It was 47 degrees and windy today, and I like to froze to death. Dang Florida weather thins one's blood out in a hurry! Now that the dust is settled a little bit from our journey, I wanted to take a moment and do a final recap. First, and foremost, I want to say Thank You to all of the hard working folks of the Lake County Pistolleros for all of their hard work putting this match together during these most trying of times. It is a major undertaking under the best of circumstances, and all of this Covid excrement everywhere, it makes it all the more difficult. So, a Massive Thank-You to Greta Dee, Smart *, Arcadia Outlaw, Santa Fe River Stan, Delta Glenn, Moog, all the folks from Eustis Gun Club and a host of other folks that I have surely forgotten to mention. I know what it takes to do what you do, so Thank You! Second, my congratulations to all of the Category Winners, Overall Winners, and Florida State Champions. I don't know if it's the sunshine, the year round shooting, or something in the water, but there can be no doubt that some of the best shooters in the Country live if Florida. It was a pleasure to be there yet again and have the chance to enjoy this match and all of the wonderful folks in Florida and parts nearby. Moog at ActionShootingNetwork.com posted the scores for the match and I have provided links to those postings below. For some reason, I can't seem to get them to load on my phone, but this gets me there directly. At some point in the near future there will be event pictures posted as well, but according to Greta Dee, there are a lot of them it takes time to get them all organized. I will try to update my link later, but you can also check ActionShootingNetwork.Com as well. Main Match Overall Winners By Time Wild Bunch Overall Winners By Time Stage Winners and Scoring Details Link To Pictures Third, I would like to thank everyone on Posse 15 for being an outstanding Posse. Amaduelist and Deadwood Woody kept us all running smooth and everyone pitched in to make it a great couple of days of shooting. Everyone worked to keep the targets reset, spotters at the ready, brass retrieved, and moving along. Sadly, as soon as we seemed to have really gotten into the rhythm, it was all over. Wish we could have done it for a week straight! I also wanted to make a few comments about shooting during the continuing Covid situation. Everyone at the match, Match Directors, Shooters, and helpers were aware of the healthcare of everyone there and took reasonable precautions throughout. There were hand sanitation stations in multiple locations for use and folks in general were considerate of others choices and situations. There was a requirement to wear masks inside of the Main Building and the Bathrooms, but out on the range, it was left to personal discretion. Folks tended to do the Fist or Elbow Bumps instead of handshakes and hugs, but even that was not always the case and the camaraderie was still there. People tended to abide by the new social distancing practices that have become the norm in these times, but again it was personal choice and there were no "Mask Police" running around the range. Lil and I, being from way out of state, wore our masks when in large groups, but once we settled into our posse, we hung the masks on the cart and just maintained our distance as required. Some folks wore their masks the entire match, all day, everyday, and no one said anything one way or another. We wore ours to the banquet while we mingled, then dropped them when at our table. Re-donned them when we got in line to get our food, but took them off again back at our table. We sat with George Silver and his wife (whose name my old deaf ears failed to catch) who was on our posse, thus keeping the "Germs" in the family so to speak. All in all, it was not an issue, but I was glad to see that they took precautions. The banquet was good, the food was great, it was a little less crowded this year as many folks chose not to attend, but there were still a good number present. Greta Dee did a great job getting the awards out in as short a time as possible with help from her lovely assistant (Whitney if I heard that right) who handled getting the awards to the correct person expeditiously. Pictures were taken quickly (and will likely be posted soon) and things moved right along. Door prizes were drawn at intervals through out the night and yours truly had the Luck of the Irish smile on me as my name was drawn to win one of the two hand made knives by Page Custom Knives, http://pagecustomknives.com/. It is truly a thing of beauty (the picture doesn't do it justice) and is without a doubt, the nicest knife I own. I have stared longingly at his work over the years, and can now I have the pleasure of owning one! Not only that, but I had the pleasure of shooting with him at the match, and a Big Thank You from this unlikely winner! Sometimes, Karma smiles... Already looking forward to March 2021 and seeing everyone again.

I have never shot an aged based category, and never will if I can help it. I have been whooped by folks of all ages! I started SASS in 2002 in the Traditional category, when I turned 49 I shifted to Frontier Cartridge, then worked my way up to FC Duelist, then FC Double Duelist (not really a category but I needed to teach my stupid hand to not be so stupid), and then finally FC Gunfighter. Don't plan on shooting Senior FC Gunfighter or anything with an age break. My choice, but I understand the desire of some to have the breaks. Do we have too many, probably, but it is more likely that we will add more to the top of the age breaks than it is that we will remove any at this point. A while back, I made the following chart showing the Base Categories (There are 36 of them), which ages can shoot in which age based categories, which categories are allowed with match director approval, and which categories are not permitted. It was based on SASS Shooters Handbook Ver 24.1 Jan 2020, and is my interpretation of the category matrix and may not represent the SASS Official interpretation of the category matrix. If you see discrepancies in the above chart, I would like to hear from you about them so that I can improve the chart and keep it as accurate as possible.

Yes, I got lucky and managed to take home 2nd place FCGF, even with Squiby! To be honest, anybody shooting any of the FC categories was lucky to hit anything. Smoke was tough yesterday afternoon, but this morning, with the same sun lighting up the clouds of smoke, was seriously crazy. I guess I know where that saying "Yelling at Clouds" comes from, I sure was! Kudos and Congratulations to all the winners! It was a great match with a good mix of target size and placement that could be run fast (if you could see them) and hit clean. Enjoyed the banquet tonight and had looked forward to the shootoff tomorrow, bit we had our schedule scrambled while at the banquet. Southwest rescheduled Lil's flight and we didn't find out until she tried to check in online. The new flight time was not going to work, so when we left the banquet we scrambled back to the hotel, checked out, then scurried back to Dunedin to pack for a drive home Sunday. Finally done and crashing till sunrise for the 14-15 hour drive home. Chaos, it's not just a job, it's a way of life! Enjoy the shootoff, I hate missing it as it's one of my favorite parts of the big matches, and we will see everyone in March or, for those BP folks, maybe January at the Darkness Falls/Dark Day double header.

The only thing I know is it won't be me! . Had some good times turned in on our posse, and a few clean matches, so it won't surprise me to see a few category winners, but probably not the top gun. Great match, good stages, look forward to Ides of March in 4 months!

I ought to send Squiby to you to be reborn as a new and better bullet, but he will likely contaminate the whole batch. Better to sequester him in bullet purgatory forever. BTW, the dinner at the Elks was good as usual. Missed seeing you at the match, but Dark Day will be here before you know it.

Well, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment and let everyone know about Day 1 of the Ides of November. We didn't do much on Sidematch day other than get signed in, do a little shopping at the vendors, and visit with a few long time Cowboy Friends. Not all of them live in Florida, but it seems like that's the place we seem to meet up. Got settled into our hotel, had some take-out Thai food for dinner, read Friday Stages again (not that it helped any ) and went to bed early. We are on Posse 15 and started on Bay 5 of the Pocket Bays (the short bays behind the Skeet Range). As usual we have a great posse with Amadualist and Deadwood Woody keeping us all in check and things running smooth. Weather was great to start, we had a brief rain shower lasting maybe 15 minutes give or take, and then the sun was out again. Not atypical Florida weather in my limited experience and the high humidity made the BP cleanup a breeze. Stages were a lot of fun, with a new sweep I had not seen before, but will be sure to transplant to Maryland in the not to distant future. I also liked the idea of the paper target for the Johnny Ringo vs Doc Holiday quickdraw first round out of the picture. I was up-close, personal, and as the target was paper, there was no risk from splatter hitting anyone. I nailed old Johnny right between the eyes...of course he wasn't shooting back. Not all was peaches and cream though as I was introduced to the experience of the slooooowest bullet I have ever seen. This guy was sooooo slooooow, that it added 40 seconds to my time! He was so slow, he never even made it out the barrel of my rifle, in fact I don't think he even made it into the rifling. I think what little rifling you see is the result of the following round trying to push him into the barrel. What a disappointment to all of his brother and sister rounds who had been anticipating their ride to glory. I think I will name him Squiby and keep him around for a while as a keepsake... And that is how Day 1 ended. Great stages, lots of fun, and my new best friend, Squiby. Day 2 promises to be even better. Stages look great, we are on the AM flight so we have plenty of time to clean our guns and still clean us up for the banquet. We were on the PM flight today and just managed to get them clean before the sun when down. Normally, for the Ides of March, Daylight Savings Time is in effect so we get that extra hour of daylight, but we made it none the less. Personally, I like Day 2 the best because the posse has gotten a chance to know each other and everyone seems to relax and have a bit more fun. We happen to know one other couple on our Posse, and have shot with one or two more at other matches, but unless we are traveling with someone specifically, we don't ask for particular Posse members. Gives us a chance to meet new people from other parts of the country and it's just another way to add a new flavor to the game. Well, that's it for today's update. Not sure if I will get one done tomorrow or not, but will definitely give a final report on Sunday night when we land back in Dunedin. Weather again looks fantastic for tomorrow and, as long as I can squeeze a cup of coffee out of the hotel kitchen before we leave for the range, life will be good. Now it's off to bed. Squiby is tired after his long day of disappointing me and needs to be tucked in for the night.

Wish you were here as well. Hopefully, it will work out for the Darkness Falls, Dark Day double header in January. We will be back home before Thanksgiving, tasks are piling up as we speak. I figure I will have plenty to keep me busy during my quarantine!