Captain Bill Burt

I’m sorry for your loss TW.

Where are you located?

Who put the political structure that oversees law enforcement in place?

I see footwear like that fairly often. It doesn’t look cowboy to me, but I go to matches to have fun, not police other’s footwear choices. If they’re determined to wear sneakers and the MD isn’t concerned about it I figure it’s none of my business.

It was definitely a fun match!!

The current yield on 30 year US treasury bonds is 4.66%, which means it would take approximately 15.5 years to double your money. So $400 dollars invested in a 30 year 4.66% US T bond in 1994 would be worth about $1,600 today. Does this mean treasury bonds are not a good investment? No, because of one very important consideration that hasn't been addressed in this thread, risk. Investing in equity is much riskier than buying a non depreciating asset. Go back 3-4 years and that $400 invested in the S&P in 1994 is only about $5,000. Flash forward 3-4 years and it might be $14,000, or it might be a whole lot less. Meanwhile firearms will slowly appreciate with very few dips in value.

I keep an inventory of my guns in a spreadsheet. It includes serial numbers, what I paid for it and I periodically update values based on Gunbroker sales prices. I’ve never purchased a gun as an investment, I buy them to shoot them, but nevertheless my ROI on my gun collection is pretty good. If I sold every gun I’ve purchased in the last 15 years I’m confident I would double my money at a minimum. Whether your gun collection is a good investment or not is determined pretty much the same as purchasing stock, timing and selection matter. If you purchase during a peak in valuation, or choose poorly (Sig P320 for example) you’re not going to get a great ROI. If you choose wisely then watch the market, get a feel for values then wait for deals you’ll do much better.

I bring major match ammo. I define major match ammo as ammo that was inspected carefully for splits or other defects, loaded with careful attention to how the primer seated and then chamber checked. If four of us are shooting I bring enough ammo for five people. I check the screws and fasteners on all our leather. I do a thorough cleaning of all the guns one to two monthly matches prior to the major match (if possible). If I can't shoot it in a monthly match prior to the major match then I don't clean it. If the stages are available prior to the match I read them carefully and go over them with the rest of the Burt Bunch. I have a mental check list, pretty straightforward, guns, ammo, leather, cart, range bag, hats, clothes, boots. I don't bring back up guns, we can always use each other's guns if needed, though if a gun breaks during a stage that pretty much precludes winning anything. I don't bring spare parts.

Cart umbrella, WD40 and an Outback slicker. A spare towel of two is also helpful.

We’re getting close! Two more monthlies then it’s time to rock. It looks like we are going to have two flights…

The Burt's all have Fast Eddie SKBs as well!

I agree with Gateway. The likelihood of having a gun break during a stage, but still having an opportunity to place well with a backup is pretty low. I guess it could happen if it broke on the last round out of that particular gun, but otherwise competitively you're done at that point. Since we usually have three shooters in the game, and often four we don't really need backups. The Iron Cowboy's rifle is identical to mine, so we back each other up there. Shootin Sharyn's pistols are almost identical to mine in terms of the action (both Jimmy Spurs .32 H&R) so there's our backups if needed. All four of us shoot SKB 100s done by Fast Eddie, so we can back each other up there as well. That's long winded, but no, we don't carry backups.

Yeah, that was Mackenzie River Drifter. RIP

So young! I'm sorry for your loss FJT.

Locally 22 seems to be the magic number that leads to two posses. It works. With four Burts on one 11 person posse we inevitably have to spot for each other though.

My concern with ending it at NC State is that I don't typically shoot that match and I need to be at the final AND, it's a long wait from the last state match prior (TN State). I think we probably need to end at either the Regional or TN State. I think this is a good idea. I'll start including categories when I list who is competing. I'm happy to split BP out into different categories if there's demand for that. This past year we had Frontier Cartridge and Frontiersman, but not enough demand for a third BP category. Given the nature of the competition I don't think there will ever be a 'perfect' solution in terms of how it's scored, so I'm going with what seems not only fair, but relatively easy to calculate and communicate. Keep in mind that the average stage times of the different matches are radically different, so if we go with total time people will get an even bigger advantage from attending certain matches than they currently get. The last time I looked, the average stage time difference between the fastest and slowest matches in the Magnificent 7 was about 6-7 seconds a stage. So a shooter could gain as much as a 60-70 second advantage just by choosing match A over match B. Rank points takes that advantage away. On the down side it introduces the advantage of competing in matches that have fewer Magnificent 7 competitors. Given the objective is to increase match attendance that's both a bug AND a feature.

I know. It’s a puzzle wrapped in an Enigma…I’ll listen to people smarter than me and eventually figure it out.

You bring up some good points. We may end up with the Awesome Eight and run from FL state through the regional.

Correct. I was thinking they would kick off the competition then we would have a long break (unfortunately) until the bulk of the matches occur in the spring. We would have another break between TN State in June and the SER in September. None of this is for sure. I'm trying to figure out a way to bring NC State in (if they're interested) and bring in the Regional, which I think would mean more people could get in the minimum 3 matches.

That was my thought as well!

I think that's worth consideration. My original thought was that I wanted to give as many people a chance to compete as possible and felt bad that NC wasn't in the mix. Ending the competition at the Regional seemed like a good possibility because it draws so many shooters, but TN State draws just as many or more, so I will have to think about it and see what other people have to say.

I need input for a change I'm considering for 2027. If I was able to get the South Eastern Regional and North Carolina State to participate how would everyone feel about "The Notorious 9", which would run just like the Magnificent 7.

No need to check your calendars, it's still 2025, but amazingly we already have 15 people signed up for 2026! With that in mind I'm going to start sign up earlier this year. I don't have a 2026 form yet, so it's perfectly fine to register using the 2025 form. It's available on our website and I've linked it below. https://southeastopenmagnificentseven.com/ The 2025 Magnificent 7 saw our highest participation in the three years it's been running with 77 people signing up. We gave out more buckles than ever before and gave away some great door prizes generously donated by our sponsors: Bullets by Scarlett, Page Custom Knives, Outlaw Bullets, and Buffalo's Wild West. We're extremely grateful to SASS, and all seven state clubs who sponsored us and look forward to their sponsorship in 2026. The rules will be the same, the same 7 matches are sponsoring us again, though the South Carolina Championship will be hosted by the Geechee Gunfighters this year. Thank you Doc Kemm for continuing with us. My goal for this year is to hit 100 participants. If you participated in the past and want to join us again we're grateful. If you haven't done the Magnificent 7 we hope you'll consider it this year. The price is still $20 and it's still non-profit. All entrance fees go towards Molly buckles and/or door prizes. The deadline to sign up will be the opening of The Last Stand, our kick off match. Some categories are pretty much locked in because we know we'll get the minimum needed (5). Other categories will be honored based on whether we get the minimum number of participants. Last year quite a few people were interested in Classic Cowboy and Frontiersman, so they recruited enough competitors and we added those categories. I encourage anyone who is interested to recruit a few more people and we'll honor whatever category you're interested in. Here's our current list of participants and their requested categories: Happy Shootzmore. Gunfighter Tam Bam. L./49r/Cwgirl Harry Trigger Elder Statesman Coyote James Cowboy Tin Can Sailor Silver Senior Scarlett Darling ? Tyrell Cody Frontiersman LaSombra Frontier Cartridge T-Square Frontiersman/Pale Sedalia Dave Frontiersman Diamond Jake Frontier Cartridge Captain Bill Burt. Senior Shootin Sharyn Cowgirl Iron Cowboy Cowboy Kid Flash Junior Midwest Hale Cowgirl Arcadia Outlaw. Cowboy Crawdaddy. Elder Statesman Categories need 4 each to fill. Magnificent Seven 2025.pdf

Looking forward to it. This will be our last big match of 2025. Will there be two flights?

With some reservations I agree. We need a tent that’s big enough for Dave and Gator while retaining the Cowboy vibe.