Monthy matches= practice matches or do they?

[Straight Arrow Hombre]

I'm pretty sure Deuce is referring to our mindset about monthly matches compared to larger matches. Many of the responses refer to relaxed rules and quality of the monthly and that wasn't the point of his question. For me personally I like to be competitive at some monthlies and others I just goof off. I practiced missing with my pistols at the last match, but got serious with my rifle.

[Bullwhip Karl]

That 'gunfighter' you brought on was wicked and cool.

[Ugly, SASS #18106]

The monthly matches around here have gotten better as time goes on in that the stages are often copied from national, regional or state matches in order to show folks who, for whatever reason can't travel a lot to "larger" shoots. I try to shoot as many of the local matches as possible, each club has different ways of setting stages up but all follow SASS rules so, for me, they are a way to have fun yet interact with fellow shooters and still get my "practice" in; I might try different ways of loading my shotgun or grabbing more shot shells or any other little different ways to address a stage. I use them for my practice but, they are still competitions and I always try to do well and, the local matches are a way to aid less proficient shooters and pass on shooting hints if asked.

[ORNERY OAF]

I havent seen many issues with shooters making the monthly shooters feel like they are less important matches, matter of fact, our club makes it great for all on monthlies. I personally prefer the monthlies...lets face it, the big matches , even ours are geared toward the retired shooters...many of us just cant take off thursday,friday and saturday, let alone ro classes on wednesdays. It stinks getting called in friday night and working till darn near match time saturday...safely shooting saturday is pretty much out. Someday when i retire, heck ya, but until then, i try to make a big match sparenly, depending on work. Even monthlies are gettin hard to come by this year...who knows first weekend in May might be my huge yearly Match,lol.

[Bramble Mountain Buzzard]

Every match I shoot is practice for the next week's match. I frequently tell people that I practice every Saturday. That said, much more serious and focused at the "big" matches...

[backshootin beauford mcgee]

Hey Beauford, maybe you can try out our 2 day at Firelands this year. 3rd. weekend in June. Check it out on our website:

 

www.firelandspeacemakers.com

 

Rye

 

Rye, would love to---- however, I'm back March 21 to May 2nd, then back overseas. I'll see you at Tusco though and maybe try Firelands when I'm home.

[Korupt Karl]

I think that some people will go to a certain club prior to a big match to get ready for regional or state. If a particular clubs venue lends itself to similar target size and placement as the big match or is the actual location of the upcoming match and people just want to see the stages, etc. then shooters will attend for practice.

 

Even though for most of us the monthly matches are the only "practice" we get, then I guess it is a practice shoot, but we also are going to be competing regardless as that what's ingrained in most of us.

 

KK

[Go West]

In ten years time, look where we have come from. Better guns and equipment. More people doing shooting schools and dvds. Even videos are posted online where you can attempt to copy ideas to improve your game. Top times have been seriously shaved and scores in the teens are more common (sorrry, don't look to me for that). Monthies are practice matches for many and a large segment of our members I would suspect only shoot those. I have found that a little variety goes a long way. Shooting with more than one local club does help with the potential for more varied stages and distances.

This sport has a lot to offer everyone: costuming, shooting, reloading, tall tales, comraderie, history, tinkering, related businesses, etc. There is a saying from another hobby I used to engage in, "Gold is where you find it." I've found mine here.

[Dubious Don #56333]

This is the beauty of our sport; diversity. We have competitors, historically correct shooters, geezers just having fun with cool old time guns, beginning shooters, middle of the road shooters, shooters who will never shoot a big match for one reason or the other and the underlying bond of ALL of those is..........................................................wait for it............................................................................here it comes..................................................................................................................................................................is..................FUN!!!

 

I just shot my tenth Winter Range. Ten years in SASS has gone by in a blink of an eye. My only regret is I didn't discover it sooner!! I started out shooting duelist and now I'm just sort of stuck on gunfighter. Minor distraction for a while shooting long range, I'll go back to that eventually, and I haven't shot plainsman in a couple of years because this really weird and really cool Wild Bunch thing just...piqued my interest. ROII been a club officer, rangemaster...like Korupt Karl says, 'I have found that CAS is the most fun a guy can have standing up with his clothes on...life is good."

 

There ain't nothing wrong at the local level with a small bunch of folks doing the monthly thing and not following ALL of the SASS rules when approaching our thing from the "FUN" aspect. It's all about that and servicing the members, right? BUT, a MD does his shooters a dis-service by doing so. Nuff said on that.

 

There ain't nothing wrong with having they type of targets/distances/stages the MEMBERS think are fun, even when they don't match up with what's going to be at the next state/regional/national/insert-name-of-next-big-match-here as long as the members are having FUN. Do such matches prepare a shooter for those? It's all trigger time and any 'practice' is still that but yes, not all local matches can be good practice for 'big' ones.

 

Case in point; Bordertown has, arguably, the biggest and closest targets...ever. They are huge and they are really dang close. Shooting itty-bitty targets far out DOES NOT prepare one for this match! It';s a totally different style of shooting. On the other hand, even a 'regular' match with sorta big sorta close targets does not prepare one. I know this first hand!! Going the other way, if all you shoot is big/close targets with super easy scenarios, if you go to a match say, like Winter Range or EOT you will be WOEFULLY unprepared to deal with the types/size/scenarios you find there...BUT.

 

If you're just a shooter, you like cowboy guns, clothes and hanging with cowboy friends and aren't really all that interested in competitin' (But you do your level best to TRY) you are still going to have FUN at all of the above matches and then some!

 

If you're a competitor you're still going to get trigger time and yes, 'PRACTICE' at any of the above matches and here's the best part; I bet y'all have FUN too! Here's a tip......shoot yer own game.

 

What does Dubious mean by that? It simply means, who cares what them other shooters do or why they do it. We're all here to have fun, right? BUT, Deuce makes a good point. People shoot monthly matches for a variety of reasons. Match directors would be well ad-vised to remember that and design their matches accordingly. On a posse there's gonna be geezers just having fun, beginners, wannabes, top competitors and those trying to be. It can be a very diverse group and yes, there can be some...friction when at the loading table the goofy-happy-chatty dude next to you wants to chat and all when you just want to get your game face on and zen out for the stage. All that's required is remember one thing; that dour-faced shooter who shadow shoots from his cart to the loading table, talks to hisself and takes FOREVER fiddling with the way he's standing, knocking all the little rocks out of his way, visiting each shooting position evaluating same like a Navy admiral scoping out Normandy beach, fiddling with EVERY gun until its position is perfect and then shoots the stage in a tenth of the time it took'em to GIT ready...HE'S HAVING FUN!!!

 

Here's my advice; take what'cha git and go with it. If the local clubs are getting too 'gamey' for ya, go find another one or better yet, make do the best you can. So what you're possied up with a bunch of sour faced shadow shooters? Shoot yer own game and have fun! That goofy big dude who dances, yells when he shoots, laughs and generally acts the fool and definitely don't seem serious about his game, he's having fun too!!

 

Are local clubs getting more competitive, less, stranger? Not around here but things have changed in the ten years I've shot CAS. I know of clubs that are small, about 40-60 shooters a month and they're not too serious but the stages are excellent, very well crafted and a good mix of what you'd find elsewhere. In other words, good practice matches for something else. I know of another club that draws double that, is way more serious it seems like competition-wise and all the stages are kinda ho-hum 10-10-4 bangedy-bang-run-like-the-wind stages. Still good practice though.

 

Used to be, people would make a day of it. Start at 9, finish shooting 8 stages around two, have awards after the range is cleaned up and sit around and jaw, have a late lunch, whatknot, but today, most of the clubs I go to shoot six faster dirtier stages, done by one or two and rocket down the road. Are there still folks sitting around the range all day? Sure, but it seems a lot less. Is that wrong or something? No, just...different.

 

Are the stages I shot ten years ago the same as the ones I just shot last weekend? Kinda-sorta but they're different. SASS has changed. Does every monthly match HAVE to take on the importance of....EOT? Only if you let it. There are matches through the year I just go and shoot. Have fun with friends, lunch after, good people, good conversation, good company. There's others that fall closer to a big match I'm going to and I'll try to be a little more serious, work on things I know I'm weak on and so on but mostly, I just try to shoot the best I can and HAVE FUN.

 

Do folks seem to be getting more competitive? seems that they are. Depends on the club. One club give real special awards every month, another gives ones at the end of the year. others give poker chips that add up to savings on monthly match fees, another just gives out cool little pins when you place. Me, I go to be with friends, shoot my game and have fun. I do practice but not every monthly match can be like WR...that gets old!

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Yer just probably noticing it more, Deuce. Some folks take every match as serious as a heart attack, others use a monthly to tune up for bigger shoots, and then there are those who don't even look at the timer or the book. They just enjoy being in the company of friends, turning powder into noise. What YOU focus on is what yer gonna see. Go shoot YOUR WAY and don't sweat it.

 

I've shot whole seasons perfecting a rifle, or playing with new bullets. I've also shot whole matches working on one gun technique. I've shot some where just played, and had a lot of fun....

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

For me, monthlies are a little more relaxed matches. I do try different techniques that I wouldn't try on anything above monthlies because I spent big bucks in fees, lodging, food, and fuel. But monthlies are also were I can try things with competition alongside other shooters compared to just practicing myself alone. I'm still competitive, yet try to be competitive on my goals I've set for that match. At monthlies I see also many of the same stages, and try different approaches, techniques, that I may not do on above monthlies if I see similiar, also there will be more props to negotiate in an above, but similiar to a monthly.

CAS is suppose to be fun, and monthlies are fun, as are above, but do become a little more serious on above because of the bucks spent.

As to clubs that relax rules at monthlies, or not enforce SASS rules, are doing a diservice to their shooters, when they do shoot bigger matches. I remember a large match were shooter was not in a Cowboy port arms starting position, more like a rifle ready position, already looking down the sights, but hunched over and stock in crook of arms. Then told the TO that's how their club allows it. 4 or 5 times the TO had to correct the shooter before he would give the beep. He had patience luckily. MT

[Deuce Stevens SASS#55996]

Thanks for all of the replies folks.

[Nate Kiowa Jones #6765]

When I started shooting CAS 11 years ago monthy matches in my neck of the woods were very often referred to as "practice mathes". It was explained to me by more than 1 person that we used monthys to get ready for States,Regional,National and World matches. Over the years it seems that monthy matches have turned into something different. Much more serious and much more important to folks. Now this could very much be a regional local thing. But has anybody else noticed this?

 

For 20 or so years I have been working on the guns for CAS folks. In order to get them what they want or expect from their equipment I like to know a bit about there perspective of the game and get a feel for how competitive they are. what I have found is the overwhelming majority come to the game for the fun and historical aspect and other than do as wel as they can aren't that competitive.

Also, going to many of the local club's monthly shoots I talk to a large number of folks that never go to any other shoot other than their clubs annuals.

So, I'm convinced about 60 to 70 % never make a major shoot. Therefore, for those folks the monthly's are not really a trainer for majors.

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

Every February we run a 'practice' match designed for our area shooters going to WR. I have several years of WR scenarios, and we try to recreate those stages or similar stages. We are the only local club with a tombstone rack, so we always set that up. I write up stages with a lot of transitions, split pistols, lots of movement, shooting through doorways and windows, shooter's choice stages, the plate rack, and the tombstone rack. The shooters are appreciative and say it helps them, which is our goal. So you can say this is a 'practice' match that is taken very seriously.

[Griff]

A match is a match, regardless of level. They have no more importance than what the shooter assigns to it.

Ah... as usual, the wisest of words from the Doc.

 

"Practice" is something that's done afore or after any match... A "match" is where you see if your practice is helping or hurting. If your only "practice" is at a monthly match, IMO, you're not very well prepared for any State, Regional, National or World event; (unless you're lucky enough to be able to shoot several monthlies per month).

[Red Rider Rudy]

For 20 or so years I have been working on the guns for CAS folks. In order to get them what they want or expect from their equipment I like to know a bit about there perspective of the game and get a feel for how competitive they are. what I have found is the overwhelming majority come to the game for the fun and historical aspect and other than do as wel as they can aren't that competitive.

Also, going to many of the local club's monthly shoots I talk to a large number of folks that never go to any other shoot other than their clubs annuals.

So, I'm convinced about 60 to 70 % never make a major shoot. Therefore, for those folks the monthly's are not really a trainer for majors.

I think your right, i know a lot of folks at my Home Club don't shoot anywere else! As for myself i have only been to a few larger matches so for me they are all "practice"

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

The neck of the woods that I come from !

The monthley match is all about fun for most of us .

 

We have so meny good shooters right here in Michigan.

It feesl like Im at EOT every time I show up to a shoot.

 

This sport is a fun hobby for me .

Some Pards live and breath CAS.

 

I would love to Particapate more , But I have a bussy life with My buissness and CPL classes and now my New Grandson.

 

Speaking of my new Grandson I Bought him a Life membership in the NRA.

I bought him a Henry Youth Leaver gun .

 

I can Not Waite to git him out shooting .

I know Deuce will have his son out there slining lead.

I hope to have my Grandson right there with him .

[Kootenai Brown]

Our club has a couple tight competitions within category. It tends to up the game for those in that ring. We have a fair number of folks who come out for the social aspect of it, and some that are still seeking that elusive clean match. But for the most part, monthly matches are a friendly event, with folks concentrating on personal bests more than competition.

 

We have an indoor season and an outdoor season. During the winter, we shoot at an indoor range that has room for just one set of targets. So we set the targets once, and then vary the sequence and selection of targets for the 5 +/- stages that we shoot those days. I write a lot of the stages,
and during the indoor season I tend to write stages that emphasize practice – lots of aiming, few double or triple taps, sweeps that let people concentrate on going fast and accurate. During the summer season, the stages mix it up a lot more. We have a friendly rivalry with the neighboring club, but its 400 miles away, so we don’t see a lot of each other except at annual matches, and for those, everyone likes to be practiced up and performing their best.

[Buffalo Dick, SASS #12880]

I enjoy shooting and enjoy competing. I shot a monthly yesterday and I'm already looking forward to Saturday at Wilmington. This part of the country has a lot of VERY good shooters and I am competing against someone good at every monthly match. I may even change categories to find some stronger competition.

 

If someone just wants to practice, they can get a lot more trigger time by themselves than at a monthly match.

 

Something to remember, those of us who like to compete are having as much or more fun as anyone!