February 2, 2002

MISSED THE JANUARY MATCH WITH THE Old Hickory Regulators in Rocky Mount due to the small matter of sixteen inches of snow, though I found out that a half-dozen intrepid cowboys actually showed up to shoot. That's dedication for you! Well, it was a little on the breezy side this time (which made it a little on the chilly side if you happened to be in the shade), but the sun was shining and it was theoretically in the mid- to upper-forties.

Unfortunately, my buddy Carolina Leadfoot, couldn't make the match; he's missing out on all sorts of Cowboy fun with his new job, but it was good to have Tatonka (SASS #33747) there since I hadn't seen him in a while. Deputy Gene (SASS #22954) made the long trek up, too, and I told him that I would sign up for Iron Gun after Pixelwiz convinced me to do so. I was concerned about eating up all the weekends in the entire month of March to go running all over the place shooting Cowboy matches, but 'Wiz said I ought to do it now while I had the opportunity. Might not be the case next year...

We began shooting Stage One and Cayuga Kid (SASS #32876) asked 'Wiz if she would mind keeping score for us, which she was glad to do. I pulled her "lounge chair" up towards the front of all the guncarts so she had a clear view of the action, and she settled back, pen and scoresheets in hand. It was time to shoot.

Stage One
A good one to begin with, this stage wasn't too complicated and had five falling-plate rifle targets (which I always love). I had to shoot both pistols through a window, sweeping a set of three targets from right to left with the first revolver then reversing the sweep with the second gun. Grab the rifle and after putting two rounds in a stationary (and sorta small) target, sweep through the five falling-plates. Since those were kind of balky, it was only necessary to actually hit the steel plate but not knock it down. I finished with four shotgun targets. This was an especially fun stage since I shot it with no misses!

Side Issue: My double-barrel has been "biting" me lately, and today it continued. When I don't have the perfect grip on the gun, the recoil slaps the back of the trigger guard into the middle finger of my right hand. I think I could put a small strip of black foam behind the trigger guard to at least keep me from bleeding, but I'm not sure if that would violate the "no external modifications" rule... And if I avoid being such a clod and actually grasp the shotgun properly it's not a problem. I'll figure something out, or else just learn to live with the scar(s) on my middle finger.

Stage Two
This stage was another straightforward situation, simply a Nevada Sweep through three pistol targets, holster and move to the right and put all five rounds from the second revolver into a clover-shaped target. I lost my "clean shoot" here, missing a shot with my (of course) right hand sixgun. After finishing off the pistols, I grabbed my rifle and put two rounds into the spade-shaped rifle target, then sweep the five knock-down targets and then put three more shots into the spade. Secure the rifle, move to the shotgun and blast the four scattergun targets.

Stage Three
This stage seemed simple to me, but after the scenario was read out there were a bunch of "what-if" questions raised. We discussed them a bit, decided that "if" such-and-such happened we could deal with it then. I had ten rounds for the two revolvers, eight rounds in the rifle and six for the shotgun. The shooting order was: Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun; each target had to be hit at least once; the five rifle and two shotgun knockdowns must fall; each of the four shotgun targets had to be hit at least once.

Simple enough? Well, with the balky rifle targets, my strategy was to put the first shot on the stationary spade to get that out of the way, so I would have some "extra" to put on any of the knockdown targets that might be reluctant to fall. They all went down with one shot each, so I returned to the spade to dump the remaining two rounds — and missed one of 'em. Oh well.

The four pistol targets each got one shot with the first gun, except for the last clover-shaped one, which got an extra round to get my total of five. I dumped all five rounds of my second gun into the center cowboy target. I took out the two shotgun knockdowns first, then took the other four shots on the last two targets.

After a short break for lunch we switched to the other bay to run through the last three stages.

Stage Four
I began the stage holding my Winchester at port arms then shot through the five rifle targets in a Nevada Sweep beginning on the left, putting the 10th shot into a buffalo-shaped target farther downrange on the right. After securing the rifle, I swept the five pistol targets with the first revolver, then had to engage the two outside targets with two rounds each and the center target with one shot. Then move to the shotgun and take out four falling targets. I had a good start to the second half of the day, since I shot the stage cleanly. Yay!

Stage Five
This stage was similar to the one before it, but included a two-round rifle reload. As in Stage Four, I started with the rifle in hand, loaded with 10 rounds. The first shot went into the buffalo, then a right-to-left Nevada Sweep of the five rifle targets. Grab two cartridges and reload the rifle and hit the buffalo again twice. I managed to miss one of the rifle targets by shooting underneath it — I knew it as soon as I squeezed the trigger.

After the rifle, I pulled my first pistol and swept the five targets from left-to-right, holstered it, drew the right-hand revolver and put all its rounds into the right-most target. I missed one of those, too. Finished up with two shells in the shotgun, with which I'm getting much quicker on the trigger, emptying both barrels in a hurry. My loading technique still needs some refining, as I'm often fumbling the shells more than I should, but even Deputy Gene noted that I was faster with the scattergun. I just wish it would stop eating my middle finger; Price to Pay, I guess.

Stage Six
On this stage, the target shooting order was "shooter's choice." I began with my hands high in the air, a la "Gabby Hayes." At the buzzer, I drew the my left-side pistol and swept the five targets left-to-right. Holstered and grabbed the Winchester and double-tapped the five rifle targets. Pulled the right-side revolver and swept the targets right-to-left this time. Holstered that sixgun, moved to my shotgun and blasted the four knockdown targets. There was some discussion amongst the spotters that I may have hit a pole instead of a target with one of my rifle shots, but in the end they weren't really sure and so gave me the benefit of the doubt, which meant I got another clean stage for the day. A good way to end.

This was my best match so far with the Regulators. Though I didn't win my class (and didn't expect to, with J.M. Brown around), I got second place and I also managed to break into the top third of the shooters overall — into the top ten, even! Here are the numbers:

J.M. Brown (SASS #27309) won the Duelist class (no surprise there) with a time of 275.34 seconds and an overall ranking of 6. In a contest that came down to the very last stage of the match, Cape Fear Kid (SASS #31238) squeaked past Deputy Gene by just over 2 seconds to win 1st place overall and also the Traditional class with a time of 206.31 seconds.