Where did you hear about CAS?

[Chickamauga Slim]

I went to a horse show in Tunica. Saw a hugh banner for mounted shooting. All the way home I wondered how the spectators survived. Googled for an answer, found out the Wartrace Regulators were in my backyard and I didn't have to feed a horse to join. Been a Regulator ever since! (Blanks & Balloons, who knew)

[Possum Skinner, SASS#60697]

I neglected to tell my own story. I first heard of CAS when I saw a bit on it on Shooting USA. A little later I was at a gun shop and in talking with the man behind the counter I mentioned CAS. He happened to be a CAS shooter and told me there was a match in Lake Charles the very next day. So the Cookie and I went down to see it in person the next morning. Once they put a pistol in my hand I was assimilated.

 

Thanks Stonewall Willie and Preacher Jerry!

 

Oh yeah. That was in 2004 and I was 39 at the time. Traded my BPS (turkey gun) for our first Vaquero.

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Brings back pleasant memories to think about that. Of course being from NETX 15 years ago CAS was not known to many. I had been sucessfully shooting IHMSA for over twenty years and even that was not a wide spread event in the area. However, a couple from NV often visited my neigbor and from them I was told a little about CAS......then one year while at Raton the week after a Shootist Holiday my wife and I went over to visit some other friends, also from NV. This couple, Cactus Concha & English Andy, we knew thru the entertainment business. Anyway CC was a vendor at the OWSA shoot so while visiting, Andy ask me to come along with him so to show me what this new game was all about. He loaded up his revolver at a stage and pointed to the targets. I began shooting at target not far away then he announced, No, no, thats the rifle targets. Wow..... I was hooked thinking how easy this would be versus silhouettes. I soon learned that time was also a big factor, not just hitting targets. Once hooked on the sport Concha fixed us both up with lots of clothes. When Andy came down to NETX with band we would get together going to my practice range and shoot and such then when we went to Vegas for events we visited them. Sure miss them all....Chuck, Caliente Belle, Andy, and Concha.......the good l days.

Hey!

 

I've met Concha and Andy. Concha was a vendor at many shoots I'd attended until she got cancer. I hope she is okay. Has anyone heard? Great folks!

 

Regards,

 

Allie

[Rafe Conager SASS #56958]

14 years ago I was shooting at Rio Salado shooting range on a Saturday, saw a bunch of folks dressed like cowboys at the bay next to ours went to look and wound up with guns in my hands and shooting a stage. Next week I was buying guns the rest is history

Rafe

[KingSnake]

I was working at a booth at a gun show signing up folks for the Arizona Citizens Defense League. Two other members working there (Salle Chisum & A. Baddun) were telling me about Cowboy Action shooting. Gave me info about the local club, Yavapai Rangers, and I went to watch a match. The same month was Winter Range so I went down and watched it and signed up for a 3 year SASS membership. The rest, as they say, is history.

I'm now 61.

[Steel-eye Steve SASS #40674]

Article on EoT in Shooting Times magazine.

Mike "Iron Duke" Venturino's writings in Shooting Times had a lot of influence on me. I was 35 at the time and mainly shooting Service Rifle and IPSC. Nasty politics at the IPSC club I was involved with at the time caused a bunch of us to join a local Cowboy Club. That was back when there was a lot more movement in CAS shooting (at least in Wisconsin) so it was pretty natural direction to move in.

[Doc Neeley]

I first saw it on the TV program Cowboys and it looked like fun! Went to a shoot at Poulsbo and I was hooked.

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

The last I heard, which was not to terribly long ago, she was doing Ok. Andy, has not been with Red Streaks for some time but has a good job at a Vegas club. He is more into the old military fifle thing now. It was somewhat ironic that CC got cancer after my late wife, Miss Ann, passed away of the terrible disease, Joyce often helped CC in her booth in CA and at WR. CC rarely made it to EOT at Founders, maybe just once, but just happened to fortunately be there for MAs last in 2006. Great couple.

 

BTW, when I made my post I could not yhink of Chucks alias. Thanks to Hipshot, it was Trinity. We shot together a number of times.

 

Allie, I will try to get contact with CC and check on her.

 

bb

[COLORADO JACKSON]

Possum you will get a kick out of this, I was shooting a skeet league with a guy I just met who invited me to a match, was just going to watch, ended up shooting the match...slowly I might add...and I was dressed in flip flops and shorts and tshirt and that's no lie...told my buddy I might need a year to gather guns, which only took about three months, that was less than two years ago, and im now a VP at my local club, and highly addicted. I have shot a lot of different disciplines, this one is definitely the most fun.

[Gold Canyon Kid #43974]

Kind of an informal poll. The title pretty much says it all. I'd like to hear how you came to hear about CAS? Please post your age also.

 

Thanks,

Possum

Over dozen years ago, was sighting in a rifle in Wa to shoot a moose in Alberta. Saw a bunch of folks dressed funny and seemed to be having a good time. A month later was sighting in another rifle in Az for same hunt in Alberta and saw the same thing. Following week was playing golf and telling a friend about it. He said it was CAS and he does it every weekend. He told me what was needed in way of guns and leather and I started the process of buying my gear. Took almost 6 months to get it all together. Did a bunch of practice with new guns. Went to my first CAS match and shot it clean. Took two years to shoot another clean match. Leather I purchased was junk. Replaced it a few months later with good leather. Within a year, replaced all the guns and over the time purchased enough guns for 7 or 8 shooters. Gave many of them to my two sons. Along the way wife started shooting CAS and later my son started shooting CAS. Still have my original guns, wife uses original rifle and shotgun as backups with lots of mods to fit her build.

My son shoots the origianl Vaqueros. My age, almost time to shoot Elder Statesman.

[Waimea]

I saw a Cowboys episode about mounted shooting and I thought "Wow, I sure wish you didn't have to have a horse to shoot"

Next week I looked for the show and it was about gathering together an outfit for Cowboy Action Shooting.

I RAN TO THE COMPUTER and googled "Cowboy Action Shooting".

 

Found the SASS website and the local clubs.

This was in December 2008.

I started emailing Weewahootee, the Match Director in Orlando about the next match which just happened to be the Florida State Championship.

I asked if spectators were welcome, he said "yes".

I asked if there was an admission, he said "Only if you're gonna shoot"

 

When I got out of the car at the Last Stand in Orlando I said to myself:

 

I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!!

 

 

Waimea (I am 56)

 

[Dewey Cheatem, SASS #75620]

The Outdoor channel. You know back when they actually showed it regularly.

 

DC

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

I'm 30 .... and I'm sticking to it. Fall 2005 my 3 boys were watching TV one day when they should have been doing chores. I came in to bust their butts and they yelled, "DAD! You gotta see this."

 

It was the Cowboys on the Outdoor Channel as I recall showing China Camp shooting. I had given up sporting clays due to an accident which has left my neck unable to deal with constant shotgun recoil.

 

My youngest said, "Heck, you wouldn't even have to buy any clothes." I convinced a friend to go out to the old Northern Colorado Gun CLub where Pawnee Vindicators used to be and they mobbed us on a dang cold day to shoot 2-3 different guns etc. We attended our first shoot with our own guns the next month!

[Shooting Bull]

I'm 30 .... and I'm sticking to it.

 

 

Gaaaaaak!!!

 

Choke!!!

 

Cough!!!

 

Sputter!!!

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

 

Maybe in DOG years.

 

 

 

(Epiosode of Shooting USA )

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

Gaaaaaak!!!

 

Choke!!!

 

Cough!!!

 

Sputter!!!

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

 

Maybe in DOG years.

 

 

 

(Epiosode of Shooting USA )

Listen here, Fat Philly..... my old man retired E-8 after 29 1/2. Did PT daily and one day saw that the President Physical Fitness test said that at age 30 you should be able to do at least 30 pushups. The old man decided that if he could always do his age in pushups then he was 29.

 

"$20 to you for every one I can't do up to my age and $10 to me for every one over my age.... then you get to see my driver's license."

 

He died at 90.....and was still 29 no matter how many times you asked him.

 

Whenever you're ready.

[Colorado Big Al #3195]

Myself and K-tuck got invited to a 4th of July "cowboy" shoot in 1992 and we thought only to bring our 30-30's cause we did'nt know any better. Well just like some you others above, somebody put a rifle, pistol and shotgun in our hands with a can full of ammo and I ain't looked back since. Unfortunately my friend Bill( K-tuck) can no longer shoot but he's with us in SPIRIT!!!

 

Ya'll take care....

 

 

CBA

#3195

[Dutch Wheeler]

Back when it was on the Outdoor Channel, I would watch "Cowboys" during Midway's Wednesday Night at the Range.

 

At the conclusion of every episode, I would say "WOW! that really looks like fun!"

 

It didn't take long, and my daughter and son-in-law gave me a Stoeger 12 gauge Coach Gun for Father's Day, and that started my path down the rabbit hole!

[Shanghai McCoy]

My son and I are new shooters. We were shooting some rifles at the local range and saw a flyer for the local club. Went home and looked them up on the internet.

 

They had a "new shooter class" and I can't express how valuable those instructors were. They are the first impression new shooters have and dedicate their time and patience to promote the sport. We pretty much followed one instructor around like wet puppies and took a few classes until we felt comfortable enough to shoot some stages. Even then, this Pard helped us out with leather, guns and even ammo until we finally had all of our gear together.

[Calico Mary]

Hubby used to have to go to a hardware store near where he worked every once in a while...got started talking to one of the clerks, who was into CAS...got invited to go check it out and had to drag me with him so he wouldn't get lost out on the open prairie...he had so much fun he wanted to keep doing it...I wasn't interested, had never even touched a gun before...got dragged into it kickin' and screamin....7 years ago! Now it takes up a good portion of our free time...not to mention what little disposable income we got...and I wouldn't trade the friends I've made in CAS for nothing!!

 

And if Brother King is 30, that makes me about 19.....

[Bones Z]

A navy chaplain that I was friends with. He took me to a match in '94 or so. A year later I had all the gear and had joined the Damascus Wildlife Rangers. Chuckaroo, Cody, the Twins, and many more taught me the ropes (mostly by observation) and showed me what the culture was all about. Still shooting when I can.

[Cheatin' Chamberlin]

I saw a Cowboys episode about mounted shooting and I thought "Wow, I sure wish you didn't have to have a horse to shoot"

Next week I looked for the show and it was about gathering together an outfit for Cowboy Action Shooting.

I RAN TO THE COMPUTER and googled "Cowboy Action Shooting".

 

Found the SASS website and the local clubs.

This was in December 2008.

I started emailing Weewahootee, the Match Director in Orlando about the next match which just happened to be the Florida State Championship.

I asked if spectators were welcome, he said "yes".

I asked if there was an admission, he said "Only if you're gonna shoot"

 

When I got out of the car at the Last Stand in Orlando I said to myself:

 

I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!!

 

 

Waimea (I am 56)

 

 

 

 

I think I just found a scenario for my next match. And your line is I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!! This has been one of the more enjoyable threads I have read. I have laughed my ^$$ off!!!

 

 

Cheatin'

[Marshal Chance Morgun]

One Friday a co-worker said he was going cowboy shooting on the week-end. He explained what it was. It was the last shoot of the season. I went, watched, and got all the stuff I needed over the Winter and shot at the first shoot the next year. Seven years later, the wife decided she wanted to do it to.

[Cypress Sun]

My dad, Cypress Sam pestered the hell out of me until I finally went to a match. Nagged me he did. I didn't have any SASS type firearms except for a .30 carbine blackhawk. He loaded me up some (way) downloaded .30 carbine lead rounds, his .30 carbine, a SxS and a '92 rifle.

 

On the very 1st stage, it was a shoot 2 pistol from one window/move to the next window and shoot 3. Shot 2, cocked and moved. TO sez "DON'T MOVE".......so I moved back to the 1st window. Stage DQ.

 

I started on July 6, 1997 at the Cigar City Shooters in Brooksville, Florida....still have the 3rd place award for Modern on my wall. There were three in the Modern category that day.

I remember thinking, these people are idiots for dressing like this, down in a limestone pit, in July, in Florida. When I went to the next match.............I was hooked............been doing it ever since.

 

I'm now 54. It is my pleasure to have met some of the very best people one could ever meet, including (what I consider) many that are now lifelong friends.

 

It isn't the shooting that kept me interested, it's the people.

 

CS

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

The last I heard, which was not to terribly long ago, she was doing Ok. Andy, has not been with Red Streaks for some time but has a good job at a Vegas club. He is more into the old military fifle thing now. It was somewhat ironic that CC got cancer after my late wife, Miss Ann, passed away of the terrible disease, Joyce often helped CC in her booth in CA and at WR. CC rarely made it to EOT at Founders, maybe just once, but just happened to fortunately be there for MAs last in 2006. Great couple.

 

BTW, when I made my post I could not yhink of Chucks alias. Thanks to Hipshot, it was Trinity. We shot together a number of times.

 

Allie, I will try to get contact with CC and check on her.

 

bb

Hi Billy,

 

I remember Trinity. He was a mild-mannered gentleman among the ...(myself included) at the TG Summits. I hope he and CC are well.

 

Regards,

 

Allie Mo

[Waimea]

I think I just found a scenario for my next match. And your line is I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!! This has been one of the more enjoyable threads I have read. I have laughed my ^$$ off!!!

 

 

Cheatin'

 

Cheatin'

 

And I feel that way every time I go to a Cowboy Match.

 

My only regret is that I didn't find it sooner.

 

 

Waimea

 

[Diamond S Doug]

In the Fall of 2009 I was laid up for 4 months following a motorcycle wreck. While channel surfing I found the Cowboys TV show. I started looking online to see what I could and found a couple local clubs. A couple months later when I could get around a bit we visited those clubs.

 

This year at Winter Range I met Tupelo Flash and let him know it was his fault I spent all this money....he rather enjoyed that.

[Gawd Awful]

I caught it on Michael Banes show "Cowboys" before Larry Poterfield got it taken off

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I have always been a cowboy at hart.

I am a Western Movie fanatic.

I even pay extra to my cable company to have the western channel.

I watch the first 10 min of the news ,

and then I watch westerns every day.

 

One day in 2009 I walked in to a gun shop and bought a Winchester 9422 Rifle.

The clerk that was helping Me was DEUCE STEVENS

 

I was chatting with him about the rifle and how I love single action guns.

Deuce asked me if I ever heard of SASS or Cowboy action shooting

Nope never

 

Deuce pulled up some stuff online on his work computer .

WOW I was amazed I never heard of this

 

He said to play the game you need.

A Pair of Single action hand guns .

You need a SS shotgun or a 97 .

And you need a Leaver action rifle in a pistol caliber .

and a gun cart.

And a Ammo loader LOL

 

 

Deuce told me that they had a shoot that Saturday in the Town of Liberty ( Rockford MI )

and to come on down and check it out.

 

I was there that Saturday Morning with a open mind .

WOW I want to do this

 

I said I have every thing I need to play this game .

Except a gun cart .

 

I told Deuce I will be at the next shoot.

 

I went home and built a gun cart with help from a friend ( He did most of it ) LOL

 

And I was at the next shoot .

 

The rest is history .

 

To this day Deuce is a big help to me .

And any one in this sport who ask him for help.

 

Thank you Deuce for a life time of friends and fun.

 

[M.T Chambers, SASS#76185]

I was 43

Joined the Thurmont Conservation and Sportsmans Club for the rifle ranges. Like Rafe Conagher, I saw some guys dressed like cowboys on the action bays and stopped to watch.

After a short conversation the next thing I know I have a set of leather on and timer going off in my ear.

I joined SASS and started gathering gear the following week, and haven't stopped yet...

[Wyandot Jim]

Well,

Around 1998 I was talking to the Manager of Collators Firearms in Houston. He was a CAS that went by the name of The Durango Kid and shot at THSS in Columbus. He knew that I was into Old Single Action Rugers and told me to come check out the range, which I did. Well it took me until 2000 to get my act together and start shooting.

I'm now 70 and wish I would have started doing this crazy game at 35-40. That way I would have a lot longer to do it.

Take care Possum,

WJ

[Jerkline Jesse, SASS #64073]

Completely accidentally. I had just bought a 7.5" .44 Mag at a gunshow, and on the way out the door, someone asked, "What are you going to do with that, cowboy shooting?"

 

I hadn't heard of it, but it stuck in my head. A few weeks later, when my dad and I were at a gun shop for several hours for our CCWs, I happened to see a book, "Action Shooting Cowboy Style," by John Taffin. I showed it to dad, and we both thought it looked very cool. We studied that book, and bought the guns Taffin recommend, and showed up to a match the following spring. We've since gone through several sets of gear, to find what really works. Lol

 

That was winter of '04, I'd have been 22 at the time.

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

Back when Tombstone was playing in theatres, we were going to see a movie(don't remember what). A bunch of Cowboy shooters had come to the theater in costume. They were giving out information on their sport and club. Sounded interesting, so I took it home and then promptly lost it. A while later I was attending a big gun show at the Astrohall. Pistoleros had a table and was giving out info. took it home and this time DIDN'T lose it. Went out to watch the next match. Bought some guns and have been doing it ever since. At least til June.

[colbutch]

in 2006 i bought a Henry Big Boy in .44 Mag. my cousin who was with me told me I should sell him a .357 revolver I had at the time and buy a .44 Mag to match the rifle. So I start looking around online for revolvers and one thing lead to another and I stumble across SASS and Captain Baylor's web site which had everything you needed to know about CAS. The next day I called my cousin and told him what I had stumbled across. he was going to lunch that day with a guy in a business group he was a member of who had been telling him all about it too. To make a long story short, I went to lunch with him and Jubal Sackett, and after a long lunch discussing everything I could think of went out and started buying guns. I was ready to shoot when the next monthly rolled around, along with my cousin who also came. I was told to try different guns out before buying, but I was too excited so I bought everything to match my rifle in .44. Still shoot .44's but now it's a 73 not the Big Boy, and I always seem to get my brass back

 

Butch (who just turned 50 and got to shoot at the Huntsman Senior Games in St. George this year)

[Nellie Blue #54399]

NRA Magazine

 

I'm over 50 but I wasn't when I found CAS 9-1/2 years ago.

[StirrupTrouble]

Well, I am 46 and just started SASS this summer, but I wish that I would have found this 20 years ago. You people really are my people. I may never be fast, but every match is fun.

 

About 8 years ago, I was in a small Old West reenactment group that did various shows around the state, and one of the guys in the group was a SASS shooter. Every time he talked about it, it sounded fun, but at the time I didn't reload and only had one cowboy pistol, so the cost was daunting and kept me away. Since then, I found a "reloading mentor" that made reloading less scary so I started reloading for the 9mm. I still loved shooting my cowboy pistol, so I started reloading for it too.

 

In the meantime, the group kind of broke up, and cowboy shooting drifted out of mind, and I started shooting other sports. Whenever I was working other matches at the park, when the cowboys were there they always looked like they were having a blast. Well, this year, some health issues have forced me to back down some of the other sports with tons of movement and stuff due to some physical limitations. I still wanted to shoot, but knew that I needed to find another way to enjoy shooting. Having always been a western fan, both movies and books, I started thinking about SASS again. I started watching some videos online, and came across Grizz's Intro to Cowboy Action Shooting videos and I was hooked and looking for guns. Before I logged off that night, I had signed up for a SASS membership and was on the hunt for gear.

 

The next weekend, after working a rimfire match, the cowboys were still shooting, so I wandered down just to watch, and even though I wasn't dressed for it, before I knew it, they strapped guns on me and had me run a couple of stages. My shooting was just this side of a train wreck. but I knew then there was no turning back. They were great with helping me get started, and they are still loaning me gear while I save my pennies for the rest of what I need, and I shot the last two matches for the club this year, and if I have my own gear next year, I hope to shoot in a lot more matches next year, including hopefully a travel match or two

 

I don't ever expect to be a top shooter, but so far each time has been a little better, so that makes me happy. I am amazed at how fast the top shooters are

 

Sorry I rambled so much