Yesterday was the first Cowboy Action Shoot I've managed to make since my shoulder surgery last spring.I took the old camera, somehow it died, though. So, no new pictures. The hard part is going to be prying the "new" camera from her grip. Anyhow, these pics are a couple years old.
It wasn't that the temperature was so low, the low was 38 and the shoot didn't start until nearly ten AM. Trouble was, the wind. Directly from the north and it eased down to about 20 mph, gusting to thirty+. I don't quite know what I did to Army Wife, Toddler Mom to make her send that awful Newbrasky weather here.
My lack of practice really showed. So did the residual damage from that stroke. I kept blowing the target order. The sweeps were kind of complicated, too. Not that I care all that much, I don't move fast enough to win any matches anyhow. I don't even try, the winners run from point to point. Forty years ago, sure. Today I won't run with a loaded gun. Maybe if the steel outlaws were shooting back...
My handgun accuracy was somewhat off, not catastrophically but still down. My shotgun was okay, a bit slower but the shot went where I intended. My rifle stayed good. Once I put that Marble's Tang Sight on it the rife is like that fancy cannon on the M-1 Abrams tank, it just doesn't miss very often.
Of course it might just be that I love rifles. My only objection to Cowboy Action is that there isn't enough penalty for missing. Some shooters are blazing fast but might miss three or four targets and still post high up in the scores. I was told often that "you can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight".
Since nobody asked me about how to set up this sport I just use these shoots for practice since I got awful bored with just going out and shooting all alone. These complaints aren't important, really. To win a match one needs to be very fast, this includes very low recoiling loads. So the winners shoot light bullets at fairly low velocities, sometimes ridiculously low velocities. That's fine. I shoot heavy bullets at close to the original speeds, over black powder. All those things slow me down, but when I put a DA revolver in my hands it's really fast and easy.
At least at the few clubs I've seen there are very few people who look down their noses at anyone. So, while I'm never toward the top of the scores most folks love the smoke and "BOOM!" of the BP cartridges. So, the important thing is that my shoulder held up, I don't have quite the range of motion that I had but then I can't touch my toes anymore, either.
There were a lot of folks that I don't recall having seen before, this shoot had two kids who looked about twelve or so, one a very pretty girl. For kids they change the rules a bit and .22s are allowed, as well as smaller gauge shotguns. I was pleased to see the girl not worrying about speed much and making the targets ding. I didn't watch her every shot but I did see her using her sights and hitting the steel.
I met a pair of brothers shooting their first ever Cowboy Action Shoot. They shared guns and leather and were kind of fun to be around. So, the club is still growing. The only downside to that is that with so many new shooters it really slows the match down, they need a lot more explanation. Did I mention that it was cold? Actually when the temps get more Texas-like that will be an advantage, especially with the new shade around.
Anyway, even though I have an almost-earache from spending the day in a cold hurricane, it was a good day. Made better by going with a bunch of the folks for a Mexican dinner. I had tamales with refried beans and rice. What the heck, after shooting stinky black powder ammo I needed something to keep the stink up.
Update 3/7/09: I just noticed I spelled my title wrong. It's Jacob's Plain, the name of the shooting range my club holds our shoots. Ooops!
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