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Your 3 Tips


Gray Drifter

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1) Pay attention to what shooters are not doing, avoid those things until you make a clear conscious choice to do it different.

2) Listen to those who have already chimed in, there are world champs giving advice.

3) Only one person has listed the MOST important item, Get yourselves good hats.

 

Imis

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10 hours ago, Bullett Sass 19707 said:

You can leave the loading table after you load your guns.  Your rifle is loaded on the loading table,  your shotgun in on the table not loaded,  just unholster your pistols and lay them on the table and you can walk to your cart or get something you forgot.  Just make sure your pistols are pointed in a safe direction.   Bullett 19707

Thanks Bullett SASS 19707! Good to know. 

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I have a "buy once, cry once" mentality with many things and CAS was no different.  

That said, I had done a ton of research previously here. 

PTO-TIP before asking a common gear/gun/ammo question, search here and then Google it as well, I save these fine guys & gals alot of carpal tunnel by using the search function here, and the Google machine.

 

These two You Tubers helped me a lot (one of the members are here on Wire):

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/JediGunfighter/videos

 

"Longhunter" helped me immensely:

 

 

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Cowboy Action Shooting is not a good spectator sport.   Standing back 50' is hard to see what's going on and to ask questions. 

 

The best seat in the house is at the loading table.  If you can stand with the loading table safety officer (some clubs run without one) you can get a good look at every gun coming through and watch them being loaded.  Some shooters won't want to engage in conversation. But most will at least answer questions.   I've "invited come to watchers" over to the loading table when I'm doing the watching and explained the loading procedure and safety rules.  Depending on how observant they are,  I'll even ask them to take over when it's my turn to shoot. 

 

Next best spot is a spotter.  Start out asking to stand beside one and get a feel for how it's done. We'll let someone that's just come to watch spot - maybe outher clubs won't.  In any case,  it's a great place to see how different shooters stage their guns and make their transitions. 

 

The most welcome new prospect is a youngster that can pick up brass!   One willing to do that job is worth their weight in lead!  Obviously,   safety is a concern.   I've seen Sawmill Mary hold a younger by his shoulders and wait for the proper time to go forward and pick up brass.  Like tuning loose a bird dowg.   

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8 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

What age and shooting experience are the members of your family?  Kids are welcome and even encouraged but small ones can pose a problem getting adequate ear and eye protection.  If they are not ready to participate,  they become bored and become a distraction.   They need to have some familiarity with gun handling, shooting and safety before trying to shoot in a match.  

 

 

Here is one of our smallest shooting his first stage.   His dad is wearing the derby.  He and his brother had been coming to matches for a couple of years. He had been shooting for a while and was familiar with how to handle the guns safely.  The Marlin 39 had a shortened buttstock and he was shooting 38 open top pistols.   He didn't shoot the shotgun.  

 

My kids are 12, 10 and 8. The oldest, my son, has Heritage Roughriders and is proficient with them. Today he fired my Smoke Wagon for the first time and had better shot groups then me. Youngins!

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I couldn't limit myself to three tips if I tried so I'll hit the highlights

 

 

 

Quality shooting glasses that wrap around and good quality hearing protection that fits!

 

Sunscreen-

 

Wet wipes-you'll be handling lead and drinking water-need to try and keep your hands clean

 

Buy a good quality hat.  It will feel better, last longer and look better than several inexpensive ones.

 

Guns are a personal choice.  Once you are ready to make that choice, consider where you are spending your money.  You'll see lots of tricked out rifles, a fair number of revolvers with action jobs and some highly modded shotguns.  But often you see folks buying cheap shotguns-this is a mistake.  The place where a shooter can separate themselves from the pack is in transitions.  I'd rather shoot a stock rifle and pistols and have all my spare spending money tied up in a slicked up quality shotgun.

 

Better leather is a good idea.  Used quality leather is about the same price as cheap new leather.  Nothing wrong with buying used.

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16 minutes ago, Gray Drifter said:

 

My kids are 12, 10 and 8. The oldest, my son, has Heritage Roughriders and is proficient with them. Today he fired my Smoke Wagon for the first time and had better shot groups then me. Youngins!

 

Good ages.   I'd only suggest that you start shooting matches and get one or more under your belt and then let one start shooting and get that one comfortable. Then another and so on.  You'd about have to shoot on the same posse and likely share guns and equipment.  Four first time shooters on one posse would be a real burden. 

 

We had a dad and two sons show up and all they had was a want to shoot - nothing else.   We scrambled to fix them up with guns, leather and ammo.  They all knew how to shoot but not "cowboy" guns.  They hadn't even watched a match before to my knowledge.  We had a couple of great TOs to help them work through the stages.  It was a big investment from several people donating 360 rounds of handgun and rifle ammo and 3 boxes of shotgun shells.  Struggling to find leather.  Logistics of shooting order so guns were available.  If they expressed any gratitude,  I didn't hear it.  They never came to shoot again.

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On 4/11/2019 at 11:10 AM, Tyrel Cody said:

1. Rush out and buy:

  • the first .357/.38 rifle you can lay your hands on. (Even better if that happens to be a Henry Big Boy).
  • the first pair of .357/.38 revolvers you can lay your hands on(If you can find a pair of the new Uberti Cattleman II revolvers w/ retractable safeties they're awesome).
  • the first 12 ga shotgun you can lay your hands on(I'd highly recommend a single trigger Stoeger)

2. Browse one of the online retailers(River Junction, Wild West Mercantile, etc...) and make sure you get a complete period correct outfit.

3. Go to the nearest match, show up as close to the end of the safety brief as you can and then leave as soon as the last shot is fired by your posse; do your best not to make eye contact with anyone.

 

Skip the handbook( it's too long and will bore you). 

 

 

That totally got me.  I had the "what the" look on my face while reading it lol.  Well played sir...

 

All great tips.  +1 on those video links David Balthazar mentioned.  Very helpful. 

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4 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

Good ages.   I'd only suggest that you start shooting matches and get one or more under your belt and then let one start shooting and get that one comfortable. Then another and so on.  You'd about have to shoot on the same posse and likely share guns and equipment.  Four first time shooters on one posse would be a real burden. 

 

We had a dad and two sons show up and all they had was a want to shoot - nothing else.   We scrambled to fix them up with guns, leather and ammo.  They all knew how to shoot but not "cowboy" guns.  They hadn't even watched a match before to my knowledge.  We had a couple of great TOs to help them work through the stages.  It was a big investment from several people donating 360 rounds of handgun and rifle ammo and 3 boxes of shotgun shells.  Struggling to find leather.  Logistics of shooting order so guns were available.  If they expressed any gratitude,  I didn't hear it.  They never came to shoot again.

 

Ugh. Talk about taking advantage of generosity. Sorry to hear that story, but a hat tip to everyone who helped. To bad it was never reciprocated. 

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2 hours ago, Half Deaf Hoss Deveraux said:

 

That totally got me.  I had the "what the" look on my face while reading it lol.  Well played sir...

 

All great tips.  +1 on those video links David Balthazar mentioned.  Very helpful. 

 

That was good stuff! That said, my wife is really eyeballing a pair of Vaqueros. I don't think that will be a bad early investment.

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4 hours ago, Gray Drifter said:

 

That was good stuff! That said, my wife is really eyeballing a pair of Vaqueros. I don't think that will be a bad early investment.

 

After reading and trying things with my local clubs, that’s what I went with.  Reliable, lots of parts and a lot of folks use them.  I like them a lot.

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11 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

 

 

We had a dad and two sons show up and all they had was a want to shoot - nothing else.   We scrambled to fix them up with guns, leather and ammo.  They all knew how to shoot but not "cowboy" guns.  They hadn't even watched a match before to my knowledge.  We had a couple of great TOs to help them work through the stages.  It was a big investment from several people donating 360 rounds of handgun and rifle ammo and 3 boxes of shotgun shells.  Struggling to find leather.  Logistics of shooting order so guns were available.  If they expressed any gratitude,  I didn't hear it.  They never came to shoot again.

You tried - that's all you can do. It's disappointing but your group did their part. Write it off & carry on.

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Read/study- rules, loading manuals, SASS posts. Categories can/do affect weapon choices.

Buy quality/ don't settle just because you're eager.

Reload to save cost per round and to tailor your loads.

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