There are many disparaging remarks being posted about Cowboy Action Shooting under the SASS umbrella being posted. Here is my reply to some of the remarks.
RE: Costuming. Sass requires that you dress in your interpretation of the "old west". Minimum being leather footgear without large visible lug soles, a long sleeve shirt (without advertising), and jeans. No hat requirements other than no feathered cowboy hats and no baseball caps. The shirt requirement becomes obvious when hot cases start hitting you. Some of our shooters dress minimum and some go to the wall with full "cowboy" regalia. Both are welcome. We find that shooters that start with the minimum, as did I, soon begin to blossom in more cowboy clothes. Just adds to the fun.
RE: Mouse fart loads. SASS has initiated a minimum power factor that eliminates the very low level powered load some competitors were using. Most of the high level shooters learned that they need a "feed back" in the form of recoil to really shoot fast. The majority of the extremely low level shooters have been therefore eliminated, both by experience and by the power factor.
Yes, you can occasionally see the bullets in flight. 3/8" to 1/2" flat shiney lead bullet bases tend to capture the sun and make them quite visible. The majority of these bullets are traveling in the range of normally loaded 38 specials and 45 acps, that is 600 to 900 fps.
High pressure loads are neither desired nor tolerated. We shoot all steel and in many cases very close targets. A full powered load could cause some damage among participants as well as damage to the targets themselves which in turn causes more splash back etc.
Most of the black powder shooters shoot either full loads or very nearly that.
Knock down targets become an unbearable hassle. They must be precisely regulated to fit all of the range of legal guns from 32 caliber to 45 caliber. They must be reset for each shooter and they are 2 to 3 times as expensive as regular targets.
Most of the criticism of CAS/SASS shooting comes from those that have never tried it. If you have an interest in that era of history(roughly 1860 to 1899) and single action revolvers, lever action/pump rifles, double barrel/lever shotguns of the era, find a local match and go watch. You'll never find a better quality of people than will be there.
Our biggest value comes from the fact that, from it's inception, there have never been prizes awarded for shooting other than bragging tokens, simple trophies or buckles etc. This removes the intense competition and makes it a social event with guns with no possibility of financial gain. The world champion gets a belt buckle.
Those that laugh at the big targets set closely should watch the really fast shooters shoot said targets. When you can draw from holster, put 5 pistol shots on 5 targets, reholster, draw second pistol from holster, put 5 pistol shots on 5 targets, reholster, pick up rifle from stand/table, fire 10 rifle shots on 5 targets, restage rifle, pick up shotgun from stand or table and fire 4 shotgun shots on 4 knock down targets in consistent sub 20 second runs with any load level you desire above minimum then you can laugh at the skill required.
We have many former, bulls eye, IDPA and all of the other alphabetic pistol competitions, trap shooters and skeet shooters that have burned out and gravitated to us because of the position that there is no Cadillac to be won and all pressure is self generated. We have shooters that consistently shoot in the high teens and shooters that consistently shoot in the high 60s and from 8 years old to 90 years old. All on the same range, following each other, and all having fun!
Many of our shoots have lengthened into 2 day to 4 day matches, with banquets, costume contests, side matches, dances, cooking contests and parties, all with your friends that you have met or those that you will meet. If you feel intimidated by the parties then you do not have to attend.
Come play. You'll enjoy it and us.
RE: Costuming. Sass requires that you dress in your interpretation of the "old west". Minimum being leather footgear without large visible lug soles, a long sleeve shirt (without advertising), and jeans. No hat requirements other than no feathered cowboy hats and no baseball caps. The shirt requirement becomes obvious when hot cases start hitting you. Some of our shooters dress minimum and some go to the wall with full "cowboy" regalia. Both are welcome. We find that shooters that start with the minimum, as did I, soon begin to blossom in more cowboy clothes. Just adds to the fun.
RE: Mouse fart loads. SASS has initiated a minimum power factor that eliminates the very low level powered load some competitors were using. Most of the high level shooters learned that they need a "feed back" in the form of recoil to really shoot fast. The majority of the extremely low level shooters have been therefore eliminated, both by experience and by the power factor.
Yes, you can occasionally see the bullets in flight. 3/8" to 1/2" flat shiney lead bullet bases tend to capture the sun and make them quite visible. The majority of these bullets are traveling in the range of normally loaded 38 specials and 45 acps, that is 600 to 900 fps.
High pressure loads are neither desired nor tolerated. We shoot all steel and in many cases very close targets. A full powered load could cause some damage among participants as well as damage to the targets themselves which in turn causes more splash back etc.
Most of the black powder shooters shoot either full loads or very nearly that.
Knock down targets become an unbearable hassle. They must be precisely regulated to fit all of the range of legal guns from 32 caliber to 45 caliber. They must be reset for each shooter and they are 2 to 3 times as expensive as regular targets.
Most of the criticism of CAS/SASS shooting comes from those that have never tried it. If you have an interest in that era of history(roughly 1860 to 1899) and single action revolvers, lever action/pump rifles, double barrel/lever shotguns of the era, find a local match and go watch. You'll never find a better quality of people than will be there.
Our biggest value comes from the fact that, from it's inception, there have never been prizes awarded for shooting other than bragging tokens, simple trophies or buckles etc. This removes the intense competition and makes it a social event with guns with no possibility of financial gain. The world champion gets a belt buckle.
Those that laugh at the big targets set closely should watch the really fast shooters shoot said targets. When you can draw from holster, put 5 pistol shots on 5 targets, reholster, draw second pistol from holster, put 5 pistol shots on 5 targets, reholster, pick up rifle from stand/table, fire 10 rifle shots on 5 targets, restage rifle, pick up shotgun from stand or table and fire 4 shotgun shots on 4 knock down targets in consistent sub 20 second runs with any load level you desire above minimum then you can laugh at the skill required.
We have many former, bulls eye, IDPA and all of the other alphabetic pistol competitions, trap shooters and skeet shooters that have burned out and gravitated to us because of the position that there is no Cadillac to be won and all pressure is self generated. We have shooters that consistently shoot in the high teens and shooters that consistently shoot in the high 60s and from 8 years old to 90 years old. All on the same range, following each other, and all having fun!
Many of our shoots have lengthened into 2 day to 4 day matches, with banquets, costume contests, side matches, dances, cooking contests and parties, all with your friends that you have met or those that you will meet. If you feel intimidated by the parties then you do not have to attend.
Come play. You'll enjoy it and us.
