McCandless

Top Ladies, EoT 1989 were: Kid Sticks (1st), Snake Bait Kate (2nd), Cholla (3rd), Cottontail (4th), and Diamond Lil (5th). The Top Juniors 1989 EoT were: Calico (1st), Nomad (2nd), Waco Kid (3rd), Pecos (4th) and Kid Strut (5th). These Junior shooters from the 1989 EoT are probably parents or grandparents now... The international competition was dominated again that year by the "Fritzes" from Germany: Red Fritz (4th), Small Glassed Fritz (3rd), Six-Gun Fritz (2nd), Big Fritz (Günter Schoeneberger, 1st) and Fireman Fritz (7th) The Michael Shelton Memorial Award each year went to the shooter who finished in 69th position. 1989's lucky winner was Bucolic Buffalo. The award was presented by "Half Fast", Lynn Shelton.

The Top Traditional Shooters at EoT '89 were (r. to l.), 1st - The Durango Kid, 2nd - Doc Holliday, 3rd - China Camp, 4th - Lucky Smucky, and 5th - Tex Top Modern Shooters, EoT '89 were: 1st - Paydirt, 2nd - Greybeard, 3rd - Hanfire Hank, 4th - Brazos, and 5th - Billy the Kid The Top Black Powder shooters were: Avenger (3rd), Shotgun Red (2nd) and winner was Big Jim (aka The Butcher)

Colonel Sir Harry Paget Flashman, EoT 1989. "The two young ladies came prepared to shoot, and shoot they did! They had loads for all their guns that would make even the biggest men flinch!" Jake the Snake and Snake Bait Kate tied the knot at EoT 1989. Jake had been the regional SASS director for Arizona and Kate was a past Top Lady at EoT. "SASS sent Jake and Kate back East to help establish SASS as more than just a Southern California/Arizona shooting sport. They took up residence in Virginia shortly after." Red Ryder and Judge Roy Bean, manned the SASS Information Booth at EoT, and stood guard over the John Dwayne figure painted by Kate Elder.

Flint Westwood, SASS #94, an early EoT Winner, shooting through one of the stages at EoT 1989 (interesting side note: Flint won the first ever SASS match, shooting a .30 carbine Blackhawk) Lucky Smucky, McCloud (Top Senior) and Alias on the site of the "Bustin' Loose" stage at EoT, 1989 Hash Knife, (Gene Henry), was one of the behind the scene contributors and responsible for most of the steel targets used in the 1989 EoT

Calamity Joan and The Kid

Tex, Hangfire Hank, Montana Dan (winner of the Sept. '88 match at Straight Shooter) and Yosemite The Preacher (Ron Brault), 1988

"In August 1988, a new twist to the Cowboy Action Shooting game was introduced in Orange, California; indoor action shooting! The Straight Shooter in Orange has two sets of ranges, one for the public and a second set for special events. The range was unique in that it had a dozen shooting bays with computer controlled target racks. The targets could be made to move forward or away, edge on, or toward a firing position. The computer guaranteed that the stages were repeatable for each shooter. In addition to the moving targets, there was the ability to stage a "Hogan's Alley" where the shooter walks between a set of store fronts where both good and bad guys pop into doorways and windows for short periods of time. A good sized group turned out for the competition." China Camp, attempting to be the fastest shooter to put all five bullets inside the spade. Aug. '88 The winner of the first indoor cowboy action shooting competition was Tex. Here he is pictured receiving and 10-1/2" Bull Barrel, Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 Mag from Ted Arai, the manager of Straight Shooter. Looking on are Dr. Willard B Slipsnake and Bible Thumper.

Griff, I had no idea!... Thank you and I'll make the correction. Good to see a picture of you!

The Showdown '88. The top two Black Powder shooters were Shotgun Red and Griff. The top lady shooters were Calamity Joan and Kid Sticks The Top Gun again this year was Lucky Smucky. The runners up were (l to r) Great Dane, Brazos, William Bruce and Doc Holiday.

Avenger in the barber chair on stage 7 getting a haircut and a shave, resting under a hot wash cloth. The shooter has to get completely untangled from all of the coverings to get his pistol and shotgun, to take care of the situation. At the beep...disentangle! Calico and One Shot Squirrel Killer, the winners on the Juniors Category at The Showdown '88 30 years ago... probably with kids of their own now, maybe even grandkids. Red Fritz and Fast Fritz from Germany were the top international shooters at Showdown '88

"As always, there are lots of ways to shoot a stage. If you look closely, you will also see there are lots of ways to carry ammunition as well." Grey Beard is pictured on Stage 5, at The Showdown '88. It "was a classic buffalo shoot, from a wagon seat. A herd of ten buffalo is located some seventy yards down range. Whoever shoots the most buffalo the fastest wins!" Saturday night, The Showdown sponsored a barbecue dinner and square dancing. Pecos Pop and Pecos Pullet were the lead dancers.

Slowly, the evolution of SASS shooting began... At Showdown '88 at the West End Gun Club, "there was movement on some of the stages. All featured generous sized targets at modest distances. These were undoubtedly the "easiest" stages yet, and represented the "new" image, which was built up in practice matches over the previous year. All stages were designed to be handled by less experienced shooters, but offered enough challenge to the top competitors to keep things interesting for everyone." Yosemite, welcoming one and all to Showdown '88 at the West End Gun Club. West End was wall to wall campers. The adjacent area looked like an RV facility on a Labor Day weekend! Stage 1 was a two gun scenario set in an 1880's Chinese laundry. The shooter realizes a holdup is in progress, drops his bundle of laundry and chases the bad guys through the lines of drying clothes. Stumpy is pictured blazing away with pistol and shotgun. At this point, SASS stages were still run with two guns. In this one, a pistol and a shotgun.

I had a Taurus Lightning. Bought it when they were 365.00 new. I never tried it in a match. Over on a practice berm, I tried 250gr factory 45colt ammo. Tried my best to make it run. Ran it hard, but no matter what I tried, always got a round under jammed down in there. Tried 200gr ammo, same thing. Posted it in the SASS Classified, described the problems, and sold it to someone who wanted to practice working on them. Maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right, but I find a lever gun with an action job much easier to run.

Alias, pictured at Stage 1 of Rail Head, 1988 The Top Gun at Rail Head 1988 was Grey Beard (r) followed by Lucky Smucky, Big Jim (aka The Butcher), The Durango Kid and Tex The Top Lady was Snake Bait Kate (r.) followed by Fanny Saddlebriar, Sierra and Sassy Kassy

SASS Alias: Silver Creek Jack SASS #:105383 From: Kansas 2 years

William Bruce and Jake the Snake, at the first annual Rail Head match, July 1988 In Williams, Arizona. Sponsored by the Los Vaqueros Cowboy Club from Tucson. "The range at Buckskinner Park consists of piney woods surrounding a small lake at 7,000 feet elevation. There was plenty of camping area in the park, although the downtown hotels were only a five minute drive away." The Judge and R.J. Poteet, up early to check out the range. Rail Head, 1988 The lake and some long range targets are behind them.

Four of the five international shooters at EoT 1988 came from Germany and were all named "Fritz"! Big Fritz, Fast Fritz, Small Glassed Fritz and Red Fritz.

Bitsy Gryder makes short work of a handful of card cheats on Stage 1 of 1988 EoT. Bucolic Buffalo getting ready to use his shotgun and Stage 3 at EoT 1988, using a beautiful stage coach as a prop. "All the stages were TWO gun affairs. On Friday all stages required use of pistol and shotgun. On Saturday, each stage used pistol and rifle."

Crazy Pat setting targets at Coto De Caza, 1988 Paydirt, Thumper and Medium John at a team event, Camp Pendleton 1988 Sassy Kassy and Hangfire Hank, Top Lady and Top Men's shooters, Arizona State Championship, 1988

Grey Fox (Canada), shooting Stage 4 at EoT 1988. "This stage made use of special reactive targets, where once you shot the first target, the second target was automatically set in motion. The second target was available to be hit for only a very short time" Appaloosa, coming out of the 'Territorial Prison'. EoT, 1988 "Sunday was reserved for team events, the story line started with a "jail break". EoT, 1988 team events. Lucky Smucky and Doc Holiday are pictured, fighting off the posse that has come to take them back to territorial prison.

Yep, that's the same Hipshot, SASS #7

January match at Coto De Caza. Pistols were given away at this match... a .44 cal pistol to the 44th place and a .36 cal, to the 36th place finisher. R.J. Poteet, Heavy Duty (aka Big Jake, SASS #1001) and AKA are pictured with the new hardware.

West End Gun Club match, Feb, 1988. Rear: Brazos, Paydirt and Greybeard. Front: Great Dane and Lucky Smucky Match Winners at the West End Gun Club March 1988 match were: Rear: 2nd - Great Dane, 1st - Greybeard (and winner of the pistol), 3rd - Paydirt. 4th - Deaf John (kneeling) Top Lady Shooters at the Feb. West End Gun Club match, Irish Clementine, Kid Sticks and Miss Fire Top lady Shooters at the March and April West End Gun Club matches. Irish Clementine, Miss Fire and Calamity Joan

The Top 5 Traditional shooters at EoT 1988. Alias, Doc Holiday, Hipshot, Durango Kid and Lucky Smucky. The Top Five Black Powder shooters at EoT, 1988. Los Altos Red, Shotgun Red, Dead Eye Dick, Dr. Willard T. Slipsnake and Hang Fire Hank The Top Five Modern shooters, EoT 1988. Tex, Brazos, Appaloosa, Bufford and Deadly Redly

February match at Coto De Caza, 2nd - Dr. Willard T. Slipsnake, Top Gun - Lucky Smucky, 3rd - Brazos and 5th - Greybeard Calamity Jo - Top Lady Shooter at Feb. Coto De Caza match, 1988 Special Awards: .32 caliber derringer to Steel Shot (L.) for 32nd place. .22 caliber derringer to Tombstone Tex for 22nd place. The "Harper" cowboy target was won by Diamond Lil Davis, Coto De Caza, Feb. 1988