Flyin Shootest

Happy New Year Clay, What you have is an excellent design. I know where you participate primarily most of the stages are some from of stand and deliver or at most lateral movement stages as that is all the range design will allow, but in the cases where forward/down range moment is possible what you have has enough material that one can easily add a fence on two sides of the table to help guide the shooter to put their long gun barrel pointed in a direction where forward movement can be done without moving in front of the barrel. The other comment I have, consider making the table considerably shorter, like somewhere around 28 inches, and here is the reasoning. In the group of friends that we travel around the region participating as much as possible, most are couples, so ½ of our group are women and many of them are of short stature, and I also have the honor of participating with several buckaroo’s / junior shooters as well. So many times I see situations where the staging is such where they stand behind a table similar to the one you have here while shooting, the height impleads their shooting. In the case where they happen to shoot a double so many times after they shuck their first hulls, and try to reload the muzzle ends up resting on the table and their by closing the breach slightly making it hard for them to insert the fresh shells.. This kind of thing puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Conversely where you or I when presented with a lower table we do have to bend slightly when picking up the long gun but not to the point where it impleads our progress. BTW, have you made any progress getting your wife interested in participating more than keeping score? See you down the trail.

Oh, My.. This one should be good for several hundred posts!! IMHO, taking a refresher course documents to SASS that you SHOULD know the rules and are a qualified CRO/TO. Not all CRO/TO’s are created, some good, some bad, most in the middle, regardless of recent attendance to a RO Class. If you are the type that can READ the manual and keep up with the clarifications/changes, and have good mentors, you really don’t need to take a refresher course other than for documentation reasons. Attendance is a good idea, and a good way to review and discuss recent changes, but if you don’t it doesn’t immediately disqualify you from being a CRO/TO especially at the monthly shoot level. When making any call that isn't a run of the mill ruling, always keep, and consult a copy of the miss flowchart and pocket RO card found in the manual even when you "Think" you know the call.. F.S.

I like the codification if the unofficial category so there are some basic guidelines for those who enjoy this style. It helps reduce the chance of unnecessary disputes. This specific case it isn't really my thing, and who am I to impose guidelines where I am not and active participant. With this in mind, I would respectfully recommend some additional consideration on shooting style / limitations, Cross Draw or not, Gunfighter or not.. I am certain SOMEONE will want to try shooting Gunfighter, and presuming they had a rig that was conducive to that shooting style, what would be the harm? Conversely, if not shooting gunfighter a common limitation is to only allow one loaded revolver in hand at a time. I presume the idea is to have a open class to maximize the participation and enjoyment of the category. For the clothing aspect you have a good start. Good Luck, Just My $.02 F.S.