When does one know when to stop?

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

I've been in the game since 2005. The rules were simple and was issued each year and carried in ones shirt or back pocket. I looked forward to every match and made reservation months ahead at Motels and reloaded for these matches with special attention. I travelled far and wide and met many great shooters as well as made many new lifelong friends. Along the way, I also seen many shooters and friends who let the "old man in".

Somehow either myself or the game has changed  and the fun except for the friends I still see and look forward to seeing, its not the same.

I have already sold over half my gun collection which I thought I would never do. I have sat down and calculated how many primers, bullets, and powder I have left and when gone have decided to hang it up as well as attending less and less matches. 

Is it age? Health? or the game has changed and the excitement is no longer there?

Has anyone here been through these decisions?

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

If it ain't fun no more, then stop.

Pretty simple.....

[Rye Miles #13621]

23 minutes ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

I've been in the game since 2005. The rules were simple and was issued each year and carried in ones shirt or back pocket. I looked forward to every match and made reservation months ahead at Motels and reloaded for these matches with special attention. I travelled far and wide and met many great shooters as well as made many new lifelong friends. Along the way, I also seen many shooters and friends who let the "old man in".

Somehow either myself or the game has changed  and the fun except for the friends I still see and look forward to seeing, its not the same.

I have already sold over half my gun collection which I thought I would never do. I have sat down and calculated how many primers, bullets, and powder I have left and when gone have decided to hang it up as well as attending less and less matches. 

Is it age? Health? or the game has changed and the excitement is no longer there?

Has anyone here been through these decisions?

I somewhat agree, for me it’s a little of all the things you mentioned. I still enjoy shooting but not nearly as much as I used to. I’ve been doing this for 27 years!

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

4 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

If it ain't fun no more, then stop.

Pretty simple.....

Read again, didn't say it wasn't fun, said its not the same. Key words "not the same", ay least for me.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

2 minutes ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Read again, didn't say it wasn't fun, said its not the same. Key words "not the same", ay least for me.

Life changes.....

I stand by my statement. 

[MizPete]

No, it's def not the same, and we all have these reservations, for the reasons you cite and more.  To add to that, for various reasons Petey's coming off the absolute WORST shooting season he's EVER had (and we've been around a bit longer than you have).  Not fun for him.  BUT that's where are our friends are.  I've said it often and mean it sincerely: the women (and men) on my posse literally keep me sane.  If I didn't get to spend time with them regularly (if not often) you'd probably read my name in the newspaper.

[Rev Willy Dunkum, SASS # 61027]

Its been 20 years for me as well.  I have certainly changed healthwise the last few years as well as more responsibilities. I find myself going to fewer matches not by choice but out of necessity.  

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

I've been in the game since 2005. The rules were simple and was issued each year and carried in ones shirt or back pocket. I looked forward to every match and made reservation months ahead at Motels and reloaded for these matches with special attention. I travelled far and wide and met many great shooters as well as made many new lifelong friends. Along the way, I also seen many shooters and friends who let the "old man in".

Somehow either myself or the game has changed  and the fun except for the friends I still see and look forward to seeing, its not the same.

I have already sold over half my gun collection which I thought I would never do. I have sat down and calculated how many primers, bullets, and powder I have left and when gone have decided to hang it up as well as attending less and less matches. 

Is it age? Health? or the game has changed and the excitement is no longer there?

Has anyone here been through these decisions?

I have. 
It’s not age or health in my case. 
I started in ‘98 (joined in ‘97) and I quit in ‘05. I left California in December ‘04 a few months after EOT ‘04 and SASS moved to NM. 
I went to some matches in the Carolinas to see which club I would like but my heart was not in it so I just quit. 
In 2016 I came back to SASS and CAS, but it was a new and changed SASS. I stayed with it until mid ‘19. When I crashed my bike in July that took me out of service for a couple of months and when I was healed I shot a couple of matches then Covid hit. When things started settling down decided I wasn’t shooting Cowboy Action any longer. My heart just wasn’t in it. I found no joy in it. 
Once I moved to West Virginia some nice folks invited me to matches but I politely declined. 
I still have 2 revolvers, my Vaquero and New Vaquero, my trusty Stoeger Coachgun and my Winchester 94 Trails End, which I will never part with, but they are for fun and perhaps teaching some of my younger relatives how to enjoy shooting something besides tactical guns. 
Now I belong to a shooting range I really like. I shoot .22 benchrest and soon some groundhog and turkey shoots. I do a little hunting and I  thoroughly enjoy shooting and competing with myself. 
I love my new shooting life.
I have some great memories of my days in Cowboy Action Shooting. I just no longer wish to do it. 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Have been in various shooting sports my whole life.  I started SASS in 95 but did not join until 2000.  Was a fanatic for years and was on the Winter Range board for a good many of those years.  Now if it is too hot, too cold, it starts to rain, I don't like some Ahole on my posse, etc., I just go home.  With increasing age and aches and pains going to matches is no longer a joy it is work.

[Calamity Kris]

We were pretty active until my cancer battle in 2012.  I think I shot one match after my recovery and that was it.  Then we moved, twice and haven't found a club near our current location.  Uno actually asked me to stop our membership last year but I wanted to try one more time to find a club.  Doesn't look like that is going to happen so we probably won't re-up next year.  I attribute it to life getting in the way.  We have also been dealing with health issues and neither one of us are as tolerant of the heat and humidity as we used to be.  We'll hang on to the hardware but they won't get used as much as they had previously. 

[MizPete]

3 hours ago, Rev Willy Dunkum, SASS # 61027 said:

I find myself going to fewer matches not by choice but out of necessity.  

For us, it's not an age thing.  It's just that there are matches we MUST attend, so we've developed a route.  Sometimes I think there are other matches I'd like to try, but we can't miss these ones.

[MizPete]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:

I have some great memories of my days in Cowboy Action Shooting. I just no longer wish to do it. 

But you're in WV & there's Appalachian Showdown.

[Cypress Sun]

 

I haven't shot a match in well over a year. My Dad got me into it in 1997, joined in Jan 1998 and we shot CAS at least once a month, twice a month most of the time, for the next 25 years including 20 Florida State matches and a few regionals. 

 

When health reasons forced my Dad to stop shooting CAS, it took a lot of the reason for going out of going. Still went for a while, but it just wasn't the same.

 

It wasn't that I didn't like the people in CAS, I like most of the people and a few of them are lifetime friends now. Along with the "Dad" factor, I just wasn't having fun anymore, it was more like work. Between the ridiculously close targets (ok every once in a while but not every damn match), repetitive/boring scenarios, heat/humidity, my own health problems and limited funds...it is time to cut back substantially. 

 

I gotta say that I don't miss getting up at 5:00 am, getting ready and leaving at 6:00 am so I can spend the entire day and a tank of gas to shoot for 120 seconds at all...not at all.

 

I still have all of the equipment...for now. I can see a day when I need the cash more than I need the equipment in the not too far distant future. I'm still debating whether being able to sell in the Classifieds is worth the yearly membership fee but I'm leaning toward dropping the membership also.

 

Marshal, you'll know when the time comes.

[Gracos Kid]

As much as I enjoy cowboy shooting, when primers and powder became impossible to find, and I couldn't continue to reload, I stopped as I didn't want to burn up my stash of components.  Now that components are available again, it's gotten too expensive to play cowboy any more for me......Plus cancer surgery didn't help either.....

[Subdeacon Joe]

With any labor intensive hobby (labor should include longhoursof driving),  when you get to the point of asking yourself,  "Why am I doing this?" while getting your gear ready,  or loading up for the trip, or half way to an event,  two events  in a row, it's time to stop.  

 

I was in the SCA for over 15 years,  and for the most part enjoyed it.  Got home filthy,  dog tired,  and knew that I had about 20 hours of cleaning,  repairing,  and repacking ahead of me,  but even that was sort of fun.   Chipped away at it after work for a week.   Then the last 2 years I found myself letting the after event chores wait longer and longer,  until a lot of the repairs and repacking didn't get done until the week before the next event.   The joy was gone and it was just another chore.

 

Same for Civil War reenactment, especially because I did the care and feeding of the cannon for the unit.  Didn't help that many of the people in the unit had the mechanical and camping skills of someone with a degree in Comparative LGBTQMOUSE Dance, and corresponding social skills.  Burned out in about 8 years (some of that was because for some reason I always ended up having to change at least one tire on the trailer during the drive. ).

 

Basically,  when it becomes a chore rather than a pleasure,  it's time to quit.

[watab kid]

i have been at it this long as well , and yes some of the changes have made me consider some of what your discussing , but im still enjoying shooting my guns so not quite ready to sell them off , still enjoy the reloading and i still have a fair amount of components to use up , im not yet ready to quit , im thinking its coming tho , just not right now , another health incident ? maybe , 

[J-BAR #18287]

On the first stage of the day, December 26, 2020, I reached for my shotgun which was staged on the table in front of me, and I couldn't get my hand on the stock.   My right shoulder was locked up tight. I withdrew from the match, helped the posse for the remaining stages.  X-rays a few days later showed extensive arthritis in my right shoulder.

 

It was not bad enough to justify surgery, but I could never again be competitive at the local or state level.
 

Over the next few weeks I sold all my competition guns.  Those who participate in SASS for social reasons may shake their heads.  But when I realized that I couldn't compete, I lost interest.  No regrets.  Social shooters won't care, their goals are different, if indeed they exist at all.

 

Don't be afraid of your evolution as a shooter.  SASS is not the only way to enjoy shooting firearms.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1 by J-BAR #18287

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

Historically, this is when you go off and start a new shooting sport 

 

Like these old dudes did

 

 

Edited September 1 by Dilli GaHoot Galoot

[J-BAR #18287]

28 minutes ago, Dilli GaHoot Galoot said:

Historically, this is when you go off and start an new shooting sport 

 

Like these old dudes did

 

 

 

There is history in this photo.

 

They are the Magnificent Five!

 

Ray Chapman, Eldon Carl, Thell Reed,  Jeff Cooper, Jack Weaver.   American Handgunner magazine, 1986.  The gurus of modern pistol shooting.

 

if you can find the original photo, you can look down their barrels and see the firing pin hole in their breech faces.

 

https://www.eldencarl.com/post/the-picture-the-men-the-story

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1 by J-BAR #18287

[Rye Miles #13621]

I still enjoy the shooting and the folks. It’s just the long rides and the weather. I only go now when it’s not too hot or cold or rainy. I still love shooting my guns. I have two 3 day shoots coming up in September. I only go two days for the main match, no more side matches. 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I haven't shot for years, but I still hope to get back into it if ammo prices come down to a reasonable level. Even though I haven't been shooting, I still keep getting guns to do so with.   

[watab kid]

i have yet to shoot a match when winning was my goal , i could cafe less how i place or if i get any awards , i like shooting my guns and i like the people im shooting with , i enjoy ,my camping and the folks i camp with , when that ends my shooting will end , i like fishing too - i can do that alone happily 

[El Chapo]

I quit USPSA after 18 years of shooting and 15 years a member to do this.  The people in Cowboy are the best.  I share many of the sentiments in this thread, though, and at times I've wondered the same things.  I am hopeful that there will be changes that draw more younger people, but if not, I don't think there will be this game when I retire.  I hope I'm wrong though.

[Rye Miles #13621]

5 hours ago, El Chapo said:

I quit USPSA after 18 years of shooting and 15 years a member to do this.  The people in Cowboy are the best.  I share many of the sentiments in this thread, though, and at times I've wondered the same things.  I am hopeful that there will be changes that draw more younger people, but if not, I don't think there will be this game when I retire.  I hope I'm wrong though.

I don’t think this sport will get many young people. I think it continues to draw a little older crowd maybe 40 and above. This is the crowd of people (shooters) that have the money and were still exposed to westerns somewhat. The only real young ones will be drawn in by their parents and grandparents otherwise they’ll just keep playing video games!🙄

Edited September 1 by Rye Miles #13621

[Redleg Reilly, SASS #46372]

I'll quit when I can't hold the rifle up any more.  I'm not the same man I was physically when I started over 20 years ago, but I still enjoy all aspects of Cowboy Shooting.  Just have to pace myself a bit different.  Besides, I am still chasing the club founder, who is still shooting at 87.  I can see me doing that if still on the planet.

[Rye Miles #13621]

On 9/1/2024 at 12:42 AM, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I haven't shot for years, but I still hope to get back into it if ammo prices come down to a reasonable level. Even though I haven't been shooting, I still keep getting guns to do so with.   

Prices are up and I doubt they’ll ever come down. Primers $70-$100 for 1000, powder $50 and up, loaded ammunition is out of control. I bought two boxes of Hornady cowboy.45 Colt for $25 for 20 rounds. I’ve seen cowboy .45’s for $70 for 50!!! Unbelievable!!

Edited September 2 by Rye Miles #13621

[Rye Miles #13621]

Just now, Redleg Reilly, SASS #46372 said:

I'll quit when I can't hold the rifle up any more.  I'm not the same man I was physically when I started over 20 years ago, but I still enjoy all aspects of Cowboy Shooting.  Just have to pace myself a bit different.  Besides, I am still chasing the club founder, who is still shooting at 87.  I can see me doing that if still on the planet.

Can you shoot Josey Wales with just pistols? We have a few guys with shoulder problems that do that.

[Redleg Reilly, SASS #46372]

Just now, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Can you shoot Josey Wales with just pistols? We have a few guys with shoulder problems that do that.

Sure but not to that point yet.

[Rye Miles #13621]

29 minutes ago, Redleg Reilly, SASS #46372 said:

I'll quit when I can't hold the rifle up any more.  I'm not the same man I was physically when I started over 20 years ago, but I still enjoy all aspects of Cowboy Shooting.  Just have to pace myself a bit different.  Besides, I am still chasing the club founder, who is still shooting at 87.  I can see me doing that if still on the planet.

Sorry I read that wrong! It’s early not enough coffee yet🙄

[Kid Rich]

I started too late in CAS to be competitive with the younger, faster crowd. I learned early in life to be competitive with myself. Every time I shoot I challenge myself. August West once told Shirttail "He can't help it, he was born that way".

kR

PS the only thing that discourages me is when someone writing stages wants to control every facet of what the Cowboy has to do. Thank goodness they have "p"s to give us some latitude.

[Pat Riot]

12 hours ago, Pat Riot said:

In 2016 I came back to SASS and CAS, but it was a new and changed SASS.

 

11 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

Between the ridiculously close targets (ok every once in a while but not every damn match), repetitive/boring scenarios,

I quoted myself above for reference. 
 

@Cypress Sun 

Your comment reflects my statement about a “new and changed SASS”.

 

 

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

as long as you are having fun , and NOT endangering , other folks chance to have fun , go for it 

 

due to a bunch of injuries , I felt that I was close to causing others , not to have as much fun 

 

 therefore , I stood down , 

 

  CB 

[Chantry]

I started in 1997 and joined SASS in 2000.  Played the go fast version of SASS for a while, changed things around when I started taking the game too seriously.  I haven't gone to a monthly match in 2 years.  After working all week getting up on a Saturday, packing all the crap I need to shoot and making it the match by the safety briefing became a chore.  Factor in weather and I find myself not missing the monthly matches that much.  There two annual matches coming up that I look forward to, but other than that, I'd rather shoot skeet on a Sunday using vintage or antique shotguns.  It's less work and more fun.

 

 

[El Chapo]

2 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I don’t think this sport will get many young people. I think it continues to draw a little older crowd maybe 40 and above. This is the crowd of people (shooters) that have the money and were still exposed to westerns somewhat. The only real young ones will be drawn in by their parents and grandparents otherwise they’ll just keep playing video games!🙄

 

Maybe there should be a western themed video game?  That said even drawing more 40-60 year old shooters could dramatically expand our numbers.  As to westerns, I need to see a few myself.  I have books about the actual events of the old west but I have not seen too many westerns.  My character is probably more Blazing Saddles than High Plains Drifter.

[Texas Jack Black]

 YUP☹️