Dusty Devil Dale

Fort Miller Match registrations are coming in daily now and we expect the 100 shooter cap to fill up by mid March. So if you want to shoot our historic 28th Annual match (and particularly if you have 'shoot-with" requests), don't hesitate. Posses will be assigned soon. Download registration forms at kingsriverregulators.com. It will be eleven stages of cowboy fun this year, preceeded by a full day of speed matches, long range, and other side events, including practicing your skills shooting from a fast moving ore cart. So saddle up with friends and come shoot with us, dry camp with us (free), help us chase off claim jumpers, and maybe win yourself a new Dillon 750XL, complete with case loader, in our banquet/raffle. (Only 200 tickets will be sold !) Fort Miller is truly a very different event with an authentic 'Western Cowboy' flavor, located at our Kings River Regulators range -- a classic western gold rush town setting. Three days of pure fun, April 15-17.

For us old guys, getting back up can be a problem with holsters. One club I shot at had spotter staffs (broom handles) instead of flags --great help in bending down and getting back upright.

Flintlock Shooters --- Here is an aside: If you attend the Western Regional Championships, look down at the hard road surfaces there in the Chorro Valley Regulators range and camping area. They are littered with a reddish brown form of Franciscan Chert, which when broken up makes excellent flint chips. Just FYI.

One person still died, and another was injured and there was negligence involved. That spells NEGLIGENT MANSLAUGHTER (NM). They can paint it any way they want, but the spelling is the same. If you accidentally run a red light and somebody dies, it is "NM" and in that case, the evident intent is much less than pointing a gun at somebody's head and having it accidently fire. But with that said, I do think that the negligence likely involved more than just Baldwin. I really wouldn't want to be on this jury.

If you come to shoot the Ft. Miller Shoot-out, you'll be able to view this engineering marvel! The roof span on one of our shooting bays was too long and at risk of sagging. We didn't want to put a post under it. Instead we used a DIY Sky-hook.

Is there a risk of bending a lever when using them?

I can sure understand a break or two for people doing that awful job! I usually do my own plumbing and I hate every second of it. As soon as I get the wife's water turned off, that's when every gremlin in the universe seems to find me.

That has pretty much been our experience. We only have a few months when either an earlier start or a later finish will work, due to temperatures. But we still occasionally set up an extra event. Even if only a couple die hard shooters stay around to enjoy it, it is worth the small extra set-up effort to get them more bang (literally) for their gas, match fee, and time expenditures. A lot of us are pretty hungry after shooting a match, so that plays into it too. Having a BBQ or other food available and handy, while they watch the side event might help to get more folks to stay later and partake. Otherwise, they're usually off to a local restaurant right after scores are posted or read. Bringing very much extra ammo is also an issue with some shooters, right now. Ammo isn't cheap any more, especially for families with multiple shooters.

Wow Yul! I guess never gave any thought to having limitations like that. I'm spoiled to have our own Kings River Regulators permanent, cowboy town facility, where we can do pretty much what we want, when we want, with the exception that the host range's County permits prohibit any evening or night shooting. Our Club puts a lot of work into our 9-Bay cowboy town, and we work hard to foster good relationships with our host range. When I need to grade a parking lot, I can use their Bobcat. When they want to do a promo photo shoot or hold a Friends of the NRA event, they use our ghost town. When they need lumber, I can get logs, mill them and provide/donate the material. A great situation.

Do any of the clubs that you shoot ever do extra ( just for fun) side match contests at their monthly matches -- things like team shoots, shoot-offs, speed P, R or SG matches, .22 plink-offs, or whatever? Just curious. This month, we've set up a shoot-off challenge stage as an after-match side event, just to enjoy a bit of extra shooting and fun together. I'm just wondering if others ever do that kind of thing at monthlies, and what kind of participation and feedback you get.

Thanks for posting this, Roger. I looked on the website, but I couldn't see a 'Who Is Comming' list. Did I miss it, or is it still too early for a list? I realize the sign-up only just opened, but it's always fun to look over the list and see who will be there besides you and me.

Anybody know if SS can be anodized?

I have no idea. I've never followed bowling.

Personally, I'm intending to win the Dillon XL750 in the big raffle -- or the Treager BBQ, or the primers -- maybe even win the match, if I practice 8 hrs a day every day until mid April. (Dream on!)

It's challenging allright; especially shooting clay birds from the fast moving cart. It is a hugely popular stage every year. This year, you will be able ride and shoot it as many times as you like, as a warm-up side match. Great fun!

We're in. Just sent in registrations for Misty Q and me. Looking forward to it.

I just uploaded a map to our range on our kingsriverregulators.com website homepage.

Be sure to get yourself registered for this hard-to-beat match and venue. The Main Match stages are always well designed and fun/fast to shoot. Shooting four stages a day is great! It leaves plenty of time and energy for visiting with friends, checking out a slough of vendors, touring Morro Bay and the coast and many other innovative, fun things like bingo or picking tunes with friends around a campfire. Honestly, I have never heard an ill word spoken about this annual event, or the great club that produces it. Pure fun, any way you look at it.

Kings River Regulators' range is located about a dozen mi north of Clovis/Fresno, Ca. in the rural foothills of the Sierra-Nevadas. I believe there is a map posted on our website. If not I will upload one there soon. Our website is kingsriverregulators.com. You are right, it will be a fun match. Our range is near the site of the historic Gold Rush town of Millerton and its attached Army outpost, Ft. Miller (both are now beneath Millerton Reservoir). During the mid to late 1800s, Major John Savage policed the San Joaquin Valley and its foothills with 40 Fort Miller mounted troops. In a colorful history, they apprehended claim jumpers, stage robbers, tribal horse thieves and outlaws between Stockton and Ft. Tejon, located 80 miles to the south. On two occasions, they defended the Fort itself from attacks: One by the outlaw gang of Joaquin Murietta, and the other by a renegade group of Monache-Ute horse thieves over from Owens Valley. Our club is respectful of that colorful history. Accordingly, many of our KRR cowboy matches have a distinct western flavor and story lines. Shooting stages have a variety of close to medium range targets in easy but interesting arrays and scenarios. Ft. Miller is a fun event for its size. It is one of the very earliest of CAS venues. This year, most of the stage scenarios will have you outgunned up to 20:1, so you'll have to shoot fast--- or have your affairs in order. The photo shows Sinful giving his excellent "Transitions" class to a group at last year's FM event.

The Creek Fire burned predictably for several days and people objected to the hard evacuation order, but still complied. On the 4th night, the wind changed and increased to 60+ mph. 417 homes scattered over 22 miles were burned to the ground in less than a 2-hour span. There were no deaths or injuries. Our whole area remained evacuated and sealed off for 3-1/2 more weeks, due to fire logistics needs, electrical repair hazards, and home looting risks. Our home was still standing, but the rest of our ranch was burned black. Have you ever smelled a refrigerator after the power is shut off for 3+ weeks? Quite an experience. But not nearly as bad as all of our neighbors who lost everything -- except their lives, pets, and faith.

Ordered evacuations are usually for resident safety, but not always. Sometimes they need to clear roads or other areas needed for fire or other emergency response logistics. At others, they know residents are unable to anticipate the magnitude of expected events like floods or storms. Driving and navigating a fire engine at night through thick smoke is difficult enough without having congested traffic to deal with-- other panicking drivers in unexpected places and doing obtuse things. Laws do exist in most states that enable an arrest if a person takes action that threaten life and safety. But I don't think most jurisdictions will arrest you or force you to leave. But they also arent going to interrupt their overall emergency logistics to save you if you choose to stay against direction. Don't bother calling 911 to rescue your family if you end up in a pickle. I was once evacuated for an Anhydrous Ammonia tank fracture at a nearby freezer plant. Being downwind, we were ordered to leave within ten minutes by a prescribed route. All of our livestock animals were dead when we returned hours later. Escaped gasses pose a very real risk. As individuals, we don't have as much information to make evac decisions as emergency responders have. Follow their guidance.

If you like the "Cowboy" part of CAS shooting, then you will want to get signed up for the 28th Annual Shootout at Ft Miller. The 3-day event will feature a 2-day, 11-stage Main Match serving a tall order. You'll save the town from Joaquin Murietta's outlaw gang, clear out a bunch of Pinkerton security agents from Etta's Place for Butch and Sundance, high-grade a gold mine, spring one of the Dalton brothers out of the pokey, ride an ore cart down into a mine pit to run off claim jumpers, hunt up some (flying) camp meat, save a wagon load of gold from highwaymen and defend Fort Miller against an attack by a renegade band of Monaches. If the Main Match doesn't keep you busy enough, there'll be a full prior day of side matches, including long range, speed events, and warm up stages. There'll also be an ice cream social, a catered awards banquet, and a big raffle featuring a new Dillon XL750 loader, a Treager portable BBQ and more. So get signed up and hitch your team for the springtime ride to Fort Miller. This will be a fun three days of western shooting. Dry camping is free. Details and sign-up at kingsriverregulators.com. Don't delay -- the event is limited to the first 100 entrants and it is filling up real fast! Quote

That about sums it up. It's never an easy stage to shoot. Some shooters have it figured out and practiced. They do OK. Surprisingly, I've looked back at scores and there were not very many Procedurals. I've seen quite a few shooters shoot it below 16 ( both R and P targets using the Hangman). It isn't really as bad as it looks at first glance.

It isn't particularly new - been around a while. You have to think in threes. 123--- 234 ---345---3. It isn't what anybody would call GF-friendly, or even two-handed shooter-friendly (pistol split can be a challenge under the clock). Rifle is a lot simpler. I've run into it in matches fairly often.

Agree. A no-shoot hostage target or two can be fun, but otherwise extra targets often turn out to be "P" traps. It helps if they are painted differently, but like you said --WHY have them at all?