H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Okay, I know in warmer climates that Cowboy shooting is a year round sport, but up here in New England, it will soon be drawing to a close. Traditionally, there are some matches in November, but then that's it until the following Spring. I was really planning on doing more shooting this year than last, but things just didn't work out that way. In spite of the Covid problem, which did cause a few matches to get cancelled, most noticeably the MA/CT/RI Tri-state, many of the smaller local matches did manage to go off as scheduled. But, I didn't get to many of them. In fact, I only got to two matches this year. The first was an early season match put on by the Mansfield Marauders. I had a lot of fun there, and I was able to use two new pistols. Well, one new pistol and one heavily customized one. See below.... Believe it or not, I shot the match clean with these things. The Lightning is my trusty AWA in .45 Colt. The Chiappa shotgun and the Lightning Bolt pistol, also a .45 are not allowed by the rules of the game, but I checked with the match director before hand was was given the okay to try 'em. They got a lot of attention and everybody thought they were cool. The revolver is my recreation of the Big Iron that inspired the Marty Robbins song, but it's not an exact replica. The original was a .44 Magnum Great Western revolver with Colt 1860 grips and a round barrel cut down from a Marlin rifle. Mine is an Armi San Marco .45, the grips are Pietta 1860's and the octagon barrel is from a Rossi 92. It was probably rather silly of me to create this "frankengun" but it's a heck of a lot of fun to shoot. The next shoot I got to, down in, erm... Was it Connecticut or Rhode Island? The memory us fuzzy... Anyway, at that shoot I used more conventional firearms. Well, conventional for me. My rifle was a 92 with a John Wayne style loop, a original Great Western, and an Uberti clone, all in .44 Magnum. My shotgun was my "standard" main match 97, the one with the 30" full choke barrel. I didn't shoot that match clean, but I had a blast. After it was over, I was allowed to test fire my recently acquired Chiappa Mare's Leg 92 in that caliber. I look forward to trying it in a match someday if I am allowed to do so. Like the Lightning Bolt, it is not allowed under the standard rules. That was my last match of the year. A week or so after shooting that match, I had brain surgery. A non malignant tumor was removed from my pituitary gland, and I was laid up for about six weeks of recovery. The surgery was in early June. By August, I was back to work, such as it is in a Covid world, but I have not been able to get to another match. Cancellations and personal scheduling conflicts have kept me away from the range. But, even though I only got to two shoots, I really did have a lot of fun. If you are reading this and saw me at one of those shoots, it was great interacting with you all again. There are a few more shoots this year east of the Hudson, and I hope to get to a few of them. At the very least I plan to celebrate my 54th birthday on October 17th at a shoot in Middleton, MA put on by the Danvers Desperados. They always put on nice shoots. If it's not cancelled. It has been said that our game is a "come for the shooting, stay for the people" one. And I have to agree. Over the years I have met a lot of great folks at the range and enjoyed talking about our mutual love for old timey guns with them. There are a lot of SASS clubs scattered throughout New England, and while I can't say I've been to all of them, I have been to a fair few. Some of the pards I've had the chance to shoot with and get to know in a limited way are well know here on the Wire and in our game in general, but I will refrain from naming names as I don't want to leave anyone out or give the impression that I am best buddies with people I know only casually. But we do have fun. Anyway, I'm not sure what drove me to make this post. Maybe I just wanted to say hi to everyone without really discussing a specific topic. In any event, the season up here is rapidly drawing to a close. I hope to make it to a couple of shoots before the snow flies, but you never know. I saw something on the news the other day that said our summer was exactly average and normal overall temperature wise, and that, so far, we've had the coldest September ever. Who knows what that will mean for the winter? We always hope up here that the white stuff holds off until at least after Thanksgiving, but snow before then is always a possibility. Heck, sometimes it even happens in October. But that is mercifully rare. All that being said, if I don't make it out to a shoot before everything ends in November, I'll absolutely be back out come next spring. And of course, I'll be here on the Wire saying silly things, serious things, and things in between. Hopefully there will be some enjoyment in all of that. Happy Fall everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 We just have two matches on our list for this year - one at our club and another at our frequented club monthly. In our case, deer season shuts us down in November and December. The range is taken over by deer hunters. Then it's dead of winter when everyone hibernates until green up in spring. We got in far more than two matches but the total was down considerably. Two got shut down completely for this pandemic madness. One of our matches was canceled do to rain. Our club had a slow year with numbers of shooters down. I'm sure some of it was due to the virus concern. Then again, we picked up a number of shooters who's local clubs were shut down far past the state mandate. But now so many large matches are being shot that that were rescheduled from earlier and now drawing away numbers from our local matches. I have a delinda. I want to shoot a match Josey Wales and I want to shoot one with my 51 Confederate Navy 44s. But I just can't seem to be in the mood to put either combo together. Just too easy to grab a pair of pistols, a handy rifle and my trusty CZ-USA and go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Uriah, Come on up to Vermont this weekend for our Josey Wales shoot in St. Johnsbury. Also the Buzzard Boil in Coventry, CT. The following weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804 Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 There is a match Sunday 10-25 in Berwick ( that is in southern Maine, not very far from KTP.) I won't be there as I will be in Church. It is a rare Sunday match for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 4 hours ago, Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804 said: There is a match Sunday 10-25 in Berwick ( that is in southern Maine, not very far from KTP.) I won't be there as I will be in Church. It is a rare Sunday match for us. I won't be there for the same reason, Jimmy. I just became the pastor of Martin's Pond Union Baptist Church in North Reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804 Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Congrat's - from 7 year deacon, 4 as chair. don't mean to hijack thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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