June 8, 2002

'D BEEN TEMPTED BY THE "DARKSIDE" AND SUCCUMBED TO IT, but this would be the very first match I'd ever shot with black powder. I was excited about it, and it was a glorious June day to finally get back to Creedmoor and the home of the Carolina Cattlemen's Shooting and Social Society. This match also happened to be one of the Target Shooting events in the North Carolina State Games, with medals awarded too! Mostly, though, Pixelwiz and I were just happy to be there, since we'd had many "baby-related" events over the past few months that precluded our attendance at this monthly match. It had been a long time since we'd been here with this group of our friends, and we were all happy to see each other again. There were, of course, plenty of comments and questions about the size of Wiz's belly, as she was only 10 days away from the Official Due Date.

This was going to be an 8-stage match, complete with two new false-front building props — a cabin and a jail — built by J.M. Brown with help from Wicked Wanda. The stages looked great and were all based on a different TV Western: Rawhide, Paladin, Gunsmoke and Maverick. The weather was beautiful, a nice sunny day with an intermittent breeze (which would prove helpful at times in blowing away the clouds of gunsmoke from me...). The temperature eventually reached the low-80s by the mid-afternoon, giving us a break from the record-breaking heat of the past week. There was a fine lunch served after the first four stages, Hamburgers and/or BBQ Beef cooked up by J.M. Brown — very tasty stuff!

Decked out in my new mule-eared Frontier boots, a set of spurs and a vest, I felt mighty "cowboy." I need some wrist cuffs, a pocket watch and chain and some chaps and I'll be nearly set on my costume.

I had 200 rounds of .44-40 ammo loaded up with CleanShot and 50 12-gauge shells filled with Pyrodex. I'd put 5 shells through my double-barrel and maybe 50 rounds through one pistol and the Winchester when Wiz and I visited the range a few weeks back, just to make sure these things would work. They did, but I'd never shot the Smokey Stuff at a match, so it would be a new (and I hoped a fun) experience.

Well, after my first stage I was not just tempted by the Darkside any more, I was hooked. A true convert to the clouds of smoke. Cowboy Action Shooting was even more fun this way! There were only three of us shooting in the Frontier Cartridge class today, which requires all ammo to be loaded with blackpowder (or one of the BP substitutes, like CleanShot or Pyrodex) and a double-barreled or lever-action shotgun. Even though I'm allowed to use both hands to shoot the pistols in this class, I still chose to shoot "Double Duelist," in which I use my right hand only to shoot the revolver on my right hip and my left hand only to shoot the gun on my left. It's more difficult (and slower), but I think it's more fun. Carolina Leadfoot and I would be responsible for smoking up Posse 2, and we started up the hill to shoot Stages 7 & 8.

Stage Seven
These two scenarios were based on the Rawhide TV western. Our first shot of the day would be fired while wearing an apron! Yes, it was dinner time, and we'd just returned to the cabin to cook a (very funny sounding rubber) chicken. The shotgun shells required for the stage were stashed in the front pocket of the apron. I was the third shooter in line, so I had to catch on to the stage quickly; usually I'm near the end of the rotation so I have plenty of time to watch and see how a given stage plays out. Not this time! I began with the apron on, rubber chicken in both hands and yelled "Who's in my cabin?" At the beep, I tossed the chicken at a washtub about three yards away and landed it inside for a 5-second bonus! I ran to the doorway of the cabin, picked up the Winchester and swept four targets twice. I grabbed my revolver from the table and shot three pistol targets, 2-1-2 and repeated that sequence with the other handgun. I then engaged the four knockdown targets with the shotgun. I missed once with my left hand and had to make up a missed shotgun target, too. I think I need to load my 12-gauge shells with a bit more powder, since they don't seem to have quite the "oomph" I'm looking for. They'll take down the targets, but I have to hit them squarely to do it. No "scaring" the targets down with a near-miss! But boy, it was fun!

Stage Eight
Continuing with the Rawhide theme, we'd just gotten ready for a fine (rubber) chicken dinner when those pesky Indians attack. At the beep, I said "No Indians are going to ruin my dinner!" and drew my left revolver and promptly missed my first shot! I alternated between pistol targets 1 and 2 for five shots, holstered the handgun and picked up my rifle to doubletap each of the four rifle targets. I moved to the other window and used my right pistol to alternate between targets 2 and 3, finishing off with four shotgun targets (which I managed to hit squarely this time).

Stage One
We moved back down the hill (and I'm not sure which was the more difficult — going up or coming back) to a pair of scenarios based on the TV western Paladin. There were no shotgun targets on these stages, which was fine with me. Shooting the shotgun is okay, but I don't miss it on the rare stage when it's not called for. Anyway, the scenario placed me in a saloon with a bottle in my left hand and Paladin's card ("Wire Paladin") in my right. At the beep I set both down on the table and swept the five targets with my left pistol. I holstered that gun and picked up my Winchester for a 9-round Nevada Sweep across those five targets. I drew my other sixgun to sweep the targets again and thought I had my first clean stage of the day until I missed the very last target. Argh!

Stage Two
For this particular scenario, I mounted my Trusty Steed (which, to the untrained eye, might be mistaken for a wooden rocking horse) with two pistols in holsters on the horse in front of me and the rifle in a scabbard. With my hands in the air I said "Have gun, will travel," then after the buzzer drew the left revolver for a five-round sweep. I returned the gun to the holster, hopped off the horse and extracted the rifle from the scabbard to sweep the five targets twice. I put the rifle back into the scabbard, action open, and got back in the saddle again to sweep the targets with the remaining pistol. This one, I cleaned — my first of the day. We broke for lunch at this point.

Stage Three
The new false-front jail building took up the center of this berm and the scenarios were based on Gunsmoke. There was a guy with a camera from WRAL setting up and I had a feeling that my black powder smoke would make for some good TV for him. I was right, as we turned away from the Hurricanes-Red Wings game a little after 11 p.m. and there I was, getting my 15 seconds of fame during their report about the Cowboy Action match at the NC State Games. Luckily, they edited out my missed shots.

Anyway, I began the stage with my rifle at port arms, loaded up with 10 rounds. At the beep, I yelled "Duck big brother, we're comin' in shootin'!" and proceeded to engage the three rifle targets in a double-tap Nevada Sweep through the barred window of the jail. I secured the rifle and moved to the left window where I fired both pistols in turn through a Nevada Sweep on the three pistol targets, missing once with my right hand. I finished by moving to the doorway of the jail to take down the four shotgun targets. I missed one of those, too, and had to make it up.

Stage Four
This time, I got to play "Chester" and at the beep hollered "I'll save you, Miss Kitty!" and had to limp to the window of the jail where I shot both pistols in a strange Nevada Sweep. I shot the center of the three targets (number 2), then went left to number 3, then back to 2, then 1, then back to 2. So the order was 2-3-2-1-2. Odd, but interesting. I missed once with my left hand this time. I moved to the other window, picked up my rifle and triple-tapped each of the three rifle targets. Taking my Winchester with me to the door, I set it down on the table there and grabbed the scattergun to drop the four shotgun targets.

Stage Five
The last two stages we shot were based on the TV series "Maverick" and took place around the false-front of a saloon. I started off seated at a table with a hand full of playing cards. I said "Hard work never hurt anyone who didn't do it" and at the beep put the cards down and stood up to shoot the two pistol targets, alternating between them with my left gun. I holstered the revolver and moved out through the saloon door to pick up my rifle and stand at the window. I triple-tapped the three rifle targets (including a hard-to-hit coyote-shaped one), secured the rifle and moved to the right window where I used my other pistol to alternate between the two targets. I finished the stage by taking down the two shotgun targets. It was my second (and last) clean stage of the day.

Stage Six
I was feeling the effects of the heat and the long day, having been at it for about eight hours by this time. Saying "Pappy always says," I stood at the left-side window and drew my sixgun to alternate between the two pistol targets, missing twice. After that dismal performance, I moved to the doorway and grabbed the rifle. I shot three sweeps at the three targets and had to adjust my position to see past one of the pistol targets and get a clean shot at the middle clover-shaped steel. I replaced the rifle and stepped over to the right window to shoot the two pistol targets again. I blasted the two shotgun targets and was done for the day.

Unfortunately, when the scoring was done, I was put in the Duelist class instead of in Frontier Cartridge like I registered for. I can understand why, since every time I've shot with the Cattlemen before I've shot as a Duelist and am sure that's how I'm listed on their computer. I didn't care (much), since I had such a great time seeing all my friends again and trying out my "new" smokey loads. Here are the numbers:

Deputy Gene won the overall match and the "Traditional" class, with a Total Time of 220.23 seconds and 24 Rank Points. Carolina Jack shot through the smoke to win the Gold in the Frontier Cartridge class, taking 339.01 seconds and 141 Rank Points to do it. My buddy Carolina Leadfoot was awarded the Silver Medal — his Total Time was 475.44 seconds, with 259 Rank Points. Obviously, if I'd been scored in the class I registered for, he'd have had to live with a Bronze. ;-) My other pal, Tatonka was shooting in the Duelist class and he beat me by a hair, with a Time of 391.82 seconds and 205 Rank Points. One second and one rank point... of course, he was shooting that Fancy New-Fangled Smokeless Powder and didn't have to try and see his targets through a cloud of smoke! J.M. Brown won the Duelist class, as usual, in 259.80 seconds and 54 Rank Points.