Getting Started with Cowboy Action Shooting - Cowboy Action Shooting

maybe you've seen Cowboy Action Shooting on TV or maybe one of the gun rags and found some interest in it one of the things this segment is going to cover is about the costuming and what you can expect at a cowboy action match one of the discussed first is a costume I want everyone to understand what a legal costume is all required for sass shooting is a pair of Levi's a long-sleeve button shirt and lace-up work boots you just can't have the lugs on the side like hiking boots but any lace-up work boot that's all you need to get started in Cowboy Action Shooting once you shoot awhile you can go ahead and develop a costume of your liking some people are very much into the costuming some of the more into the shooting this is a big umbrella in this organization and everyone is welcome so you pick what you want to do and get out here start shooting with us let's talk a little bit about what you might need for Cowboy Action Shooting the things you're going to need are two single action revolvers some way to hold them some type of holster rig something to hold your shotgun shells a lever-action rifle and a shotgun in the shotgun can either be a double barrel or a winchester 1897 pump with an exposed hammer and there's some aftermarket guns as [ __ ] your net which is also good another thing that you're going to probably end up needing is a gun carton the gun card is for hauling your junk around this is what we like to say so you'll need a gun cart now what to expect when you go to that first match the first thing you ought to do is introduce yourself to the match director or whoever you see it's kind of Ram runner or just walk up to somebody you'll be shocked how nice the people are and how they'll take you in and mentor your all the way through the match now what you're going to see when you get there is no loading table a loading table you're going to see a man timing you will see three spotters and then someone's going to be reading the stage and telling you what order you need to shoot that stage in most the stages in Cowboy Action Shooting have Pacific orders and they're all different so just go through listen to what they have to say some we'll walk you through it and then at that point you gather your guns you go to what we call the loading table you take the amount of rounds you need to load your guns you load them under supervision they'll say you're good to go then you'll as you work your way up to the loading table it will become your turn at that point they'll call you up the tio or the timer operator will be right there with you and he will assist you through the stage just let him know you're new it's not a problem we've all been new we all had our first stage so just don't worry about it so look there and shoot relax and enjoy it after you get through shooting you'll take your guns you'll go to the unloading table at that point someone will be there to assist you to unload to make sure all your guns are clear at that point you take them back to your cart you're done it's a very simple process and it's something that I think you really enjoy because the people are just absolutely fabulous in this end of sport another thing that you can do is go to SAS Netcom our very strongly advise that you join the SAS organization that single Action Shooting Society you'll get a rule book it gives you the basic rules you'll have a lot of fellowship there and they also have a member only section on their website with tips video tips and just different things that you can use so come on out join the crowd have some fun let's talk a little bit about the most commonly used equipment in Cowboy Action Shooting and we'll start with the guns the one thing you need to know about the guns most of all of them from the factory is a little bit stiff and they probably need some sort of action work done to them so they're easier to shoot to have a better trigger pull and they're just a more competitive gun let's start with this rifle to begin with those commonly used rifle that you'll probably see in Cowboy Action Shooting is a 73 and there's also a 66 model that's a brass frame but it operates the same way this is my personal gun I've modified it it's got a short stroke kit in it which makes the short stroke a lot shorter where you don't have to come down as far as your levering so it's a faster again the 66th same thing it's had spring changed in it and just been slicked up to work it's a lot faster and very smooth the second most commonly used gun will be the moment 1894 cowboy this is also a gun a shot for years and it's it's very slick but if you'll notice it's got a lot longer stroked and what that 73 had on it there are a couple of people around the country that are short stroking needs to where you can get them up and make them a little faster again they are cartridge lengths specific but this guns a 357 slash 38 and you can shoot either one out of it and this girl has to be shot in what a category called be Western so this is another common gun you'll see let's move to the shotgun one of the shotguns that was real popular several years ago maybe not quite as popular today because the way we're staging our guns at most matches but this is a 1897 Winchester clone this particular model is a norinco that's been reworked the third units very smooth the original 1897 s are really nice guns but they they take a lot of work and they're normally a more expensive gun than this for Cowboy Action Shooting their tools to me and I do work the guns hard so this gun serves my purpose and this is what I personally shoot is 97 let's move on to the double-barrel this is one that you'll see a lot out there and they call them a little coach guns that's what the short bones like this you're able to move away out of maneuvering through windows and doors real quick and these guns also take a little bit of polishing one thing that you'll notice is right in here everybody's beveling the barrels and what that does is allow you to take those shells and put them in smoothly as normally squared up right here and they're harder to load so that's one of the things that you need that you need done on the double barrels plus they need to be where they'll open very easy sometimes in the factory there again they're stiff and you have to break them open so smooth again it makes it easier to operate the other going.that you're seeing the special and the classic cowboy category is a hammer double it's the same thing was a double except of course it has exposed hammers on it and you can start the stage with the Hammers cocked so the first two rounds are going to be exactly like a regular double burrow with any shots after that after you fire that gun now you open it you're going you can load it you're going to have to [ __ ] the Hammers so that's the difference in against between the double barrels the most commonly used pistols in this game will be either the colt style gun or there's a note numbers clones out there or the Vaqueros rig of carroll's these going throughout here or my personal USFA rodeos and their coach style gun and the difference between a cobra Luger with a cone style gun you have to put the gun on half [ __ ] in order or the cylinder to spoon to where you can get to it when a Ruger these are the older larger frame because I've had these for a number of years in this particular gun you just have to open the loading gate and it spins now this particular gun also has what they call a free spin pole which you can add to it the nuva curls actually have an option to where you can remove a screw and make them a free spin and it just allows go both ways on a one shot reload that's a lot quicker okay just talk about some of the things you might need to go along with those guns one thing I highly recommend is for long guns while you're carrying around your cart because most places we shoot very dusty so what we need is gun covers what this does you just put them over your games in the gun cart and that keeps the dust out of your chambers and out of your actions and it's just a bunch of guns operate a lot better with a lot less cleaning problems with the bringing clean in this game shooting again still you want some kind of hearing protection any kind of hearing protection will work I personally wear these little orange safety plugs I can you can just roll them up and stick them in your ear they work really well there's a lot of people out there you can get the molded ear plugs actually fits your ears which is another good way to go there's a lot of different kinds of ear plugs you can get you just find a set but you do need some sort of hearing protection just to protect yourself for the long haul one thing we like to talk about personally I wear glasses and I have to have them if I want to see what I'm doing with anything but there's a difference between a regular glass and a shooting eyeglasses on the shooting eyeglasses this is my personal pair side shields are a very good idea because you do get a little bit of spotter back in this game you don't want to be be or something coming in the side of the glass and lodging in your eye if you you can wear the wraparound safety glasses that's okay too but if you were a prescription eyeglasses like I do what you want in a shooting glass is the right eye focused at like 40 inches in working 36 to 40 I personally like 40 and the left eye I'm right I'd dominant what you want here is that's left eye for infinity what this does is give me a good sight picture I can see my sights with my dominant eye if you shoot both eyes open what that does with this one is allow you to get the field of view and it takes a little bit to get use of these any time you once you get a shooting glass you want to put them on 30 minutes before you shoot so your brainwaves will connect and because it does give you a little bit of death perception problem when you first put them on but that's a very good item if you wear glasses the last thing we want to talk about is leather you got to have some way of holding the guns and you nee also need a way of holding the shotgun shells and extra ammunition in case you haven't reloaded on the stage or you kick one on your rifle when you need to reload to make up for a miss my personal rig is a too strong side which is what this is and what that does is loudly to draw right gun put it away and go to left gun now the end on the stage I've made you all my left gun first somebody draw them a right gun first I personally prefer this because it gives me I feel like more options on which way I want to move or what hand I want to go to pick something up with another real common holster configuration is one with what we call a cost role as you can see if this was on the on the boat it has sets at an angle there's a reel in size that you can only have at a maximum of a 30-degree angle most holster makers and kilpatrick in particular they they build on that a 22 degree angle that's in case so if you end up your belt comes down at an angle with this on there it's where you wear the holster you buy a 30 degree holster and you have a slight bend in your belt like this also now it's going to be over 30 degrees so it needs to stay 30 degrees and under but this is a real common rig next thing you need to have is somewhere to hold your shotgun shells because you're going to be shooting a shotgun at every stage this is a compact Rick shotgun belted up helped design and I'll shoot too strong off the right side so they sure you don't have doubles you can get them in singles there's a lot of holster makers out there and there's quite a few quality holster makers out there so just pick what you like there's no thing you can wear slide down here the way you can put your shells a lot of people who take this buckle and turn the ring completely around have the buckle on the back and that way they can put a slide right here there's two different types of belts you can buy one this is called a type of belt I personally like it because it's easier from bending and moving and it opens a Ranger belt that's where it stays the entire width of the belt and one side goes in under the other and it's at with all the way across I don't like that quite as much because it just kind of binds you as you're trying to move my personal rig it's a Kirkpatrick rig and it has what we call self tensioning is Currie right here I mean not a self tension you got to tighten it yourself but what that is some people like their guns loose some like them tied with this screw here you can tighten it or loosen it to whatever tension that you like this little knife right here is something else you'll see a lot of people using in the 73 rifle if you happen to have a bad round with a bullet goes back into the case and it locks the rifle up this little tip right here is called a screwdriver knife you can go in and clear that rifling up on the line and continue on shooting now the compact record you can get in different configurations they got be westerns they have what we call the crotch holsters which is basically to cross draw this one here and this one facing this way but actually there's quite a few quality holster makers out there so just pick what you like buy one time buy right one time and it's going to save you money in the long haul

Channel: NSSF—The Firearm Industry Trade Association

Views: 506,184

Keywords: NSSF, #LetsGoShooting, #safety, #FirearmSafety, cowboy action shooting, cowboy action competition, #GunSafety, Jim Finch, #Hunting, #NSSF, precision sports

Id: XbM_MZBSKng

Length: 14min 45sec (885 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 20 2012