CAS....SASS!?

Experience the old west through the Rossi rifle!
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Ranch Dog »

ironhead7544 wrote:I would like to see a non costume type club too.
+1

In the seventies, right out of the Army, I was involved with a silhouette club that had a very good atmosphere. I really enjoyed that shooting and placed second in the first match I shot. Back then it was a real struggle to stay active just from the volume of bullets down the barrel it took to run with the pack. The members were extremely supportive but it proved too costly just trying to get started in life.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Gray Fox »

Ironhead:

These two rifles are the new ones with the very high and fragile looking sights and they still shot that high. It must be a factor of the relatively smaller diameter barrels and the short length. Now I need to make up some contoured dovetail slot plugs to go where the sights went. I suppose I could just cut the sight blades off and contour the sights themselves and tap them back in. BTW, the balance with the scout scopes on the short barrels is very good, but I will probably need to put something on like the adhesive backed foam cheekpiece pads like you often see on skeet and trap guns. GF
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by pricedo »

ironhead7544 wrote:
Model 52 wrote:I have to admit that growing up on a ranch, shooting since age 6, riding a horse to check cows and move cattle, working cattle, pulling calves, feeding cattle in 20 below zero weather, etc - and then having someone who's never even seen a cow up close tell me I'm not "cowboy" enough tends to turn me off on the whole CASS thing. Especially when they have a "B" movie category.

I don't live or work on a ranch anymore but I still wear a cowboy hat and boots because I earned them and paid my dues, but it's not cowboy enough. Go figure. Maybe if they adopt an "real cowboys who've done an honest days work" category, I'll reconsider.

I would like to see a non costume type club too. I was going to get into cowboy shooting but after going to several shoots I changed my mind. Very few people would even talk to me. I only met a couple of guys that I thought were OK. They said it had become a mess with all the clothes rules and very unfriendly as far as competition went. Seemed like combat shooting with funny clothes. Very unfriendly and a lot of them acted like they were afraid of new people who might be better shooters and a risk to them. I started combat shooting around 1975 but gave it up because of that kind of attitude.
Like I said..........2 (me & my gun) is company & 3's a crowd.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Model 52 »

Ranch Dog wrote:
ironhead7544 wrote:I would like to see a non costume type club too.
+1

In the seventies, right out of the Army, I was involved with a silhouette club that had a very good atmosphere. I really enjoyed that shooting and placed second in the first match I shot. Back then it was a real struggle to stay active just from the volume of bullets down the barrel it took to run with the pack. The members were extremely supportive but it proved too costly just trying to get started in life.
I started shooting competitively in college while in the USMCR in the mid 80's and a few years after college I found a great local club that was very active in DCM service rifle matches, tactical rifle shooting and IPSC shooting.

That club also had a superb atmosphere and I attribute that to the leadership of the club and to one of the local shooters/shop owners and his gunsmith who were both very good shots, yet humble and supportive and they set the tone for most of the rest. The only oddities I found were a couple shooters on the state rifle team who would quietly have themselves moved to a different relay in the Service Rifle competition as I usually shot as well as or better than they did. I guess if they were in a different relay they could attribute their lower score to more challenging wind or mirage conditions. I took it as a compliment. :D

I also got lucky about 10 years later with a club that sponsored practical pistol shoots. With the exception of a couple member who tried to spend their way into being good shooters, the group was pretty normal, pretty friendly and fairly LEO focused, so stock carry guns were the norm rather than race guns.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Barry in IN »

I've shot about every game but skeet, bullseye pistol, and CAS.
-IPSC/IDPA/3-gun/etc has been the friendliest. I suppose this is the nature of things when you shoot a total of two minutes while being with the same small group for hours; it leaves a lot of time for chit-chat.
-Highpower is in an odd position that way. There is time for socializing before and after, but during the match, it's awful hard to do. I've seen some of the warmest welcomes and most help given before the match starts, but once it begins, everyone is so isolated in their own bubble of concentration for 90-120 minutes. That's a lot longer than most other games. Pit work is rather similar, in that you are usually too busy to BS.
-Silhouette was similar to Highpower, in that it's all seriousness during live fire, but the shorter firing periods made it seem a lot different. Lots more chatter time there.
-Smallbore falls somewere between Highpower and Silhouette. Again, that stands to reason due to the times for strings of fire that fall in between.
-Sporting Clays is all dependent upon who you are shooting with.
-Bowling Pins might be a lighter atmosphere than any, now that I think about it. It's maybe 2% shooting and 98% grousing each other.
-But the coolest reception, and most cliquiest by far, was Trap. I lived literally around the corner from a trap club for a few years and shot it out of convenience. I kinda liked doing it, but I could count the real conversations I had on a couple of fingers. Scariest gunhandling too.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Gray Fox »

After about eight years of shooting SASS, shooting well, and becoming a life member, my wife and I were pretty much burned out, and had near run ins with the clothing and equipment Nazis. So we quit. We used to shoot with a sort of grouchy attorney friend and his wife and they quit at about the same time.

The two of them and I then started shooting IDPA, which at the time was pistol and revolver only. As he described it, it was kind of like SASS without costumes. Oh, and BTW, I can assure you that shooting SASS any time later than mid-April here in middle Gawgia in full costume can be a real challenge for anyone with a tendency towards heat exhaustion. Shorts, comfortable shoes, T-shirts, a sensible hat and a light weight vest are much more conducive to maintaining a better attitude as the hot days get longer and longer. Just my $.02. GF
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Barry in IN »

Gray Fox wrote:Oh, and BTW, I can assure you that shooting SASS any time later than mid-April here in middle Gawgia in full costume can be a real challenge for anyone with a tendency towards heat exhaustion. Shorts, comfortable shoes, T-shirts, a sensible hat and a light weight vest are much more conducive to maintaining a better attitude as the hot days get longer and longer. Just my $.02. GF
Probably safer, too. Many of the mental lapses I've seen in IDPA or IPSC were from people who looked like they were about to heatstroke. Getting up before sunrise, driving an hour to a match, helping setup, then participating in it and walking all over the range for five hours can wear you down. After a certain point, people just want to get finished, because they are hot, tired, sloppy, cranky, and sometimes unsafe. I don't think it's the best idea to make it worse by wearing a bunch of heavy period clothing.

When I shot Highpower, it was pretty common for shooters to wear a sweatshirt under their shooting coat. In colder weather, they might wear two, but in the summer, most still wore one. The idea was the heavy shirt would absorb pulse movement on the sling, plus give some cushion to recoil and the tight sling. I always thought I did better just wearing my shooting coat over a T-shirt because whatever I lost in the "cushioning", I gained back in comfort by being able to concentrate better.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by KEN CO »

SASS member years ago but getting back into it this year. Work and moving took a toll on my shooting sports the last few years...

I shot an IHMSA match last year and had a good time. I had been shooting NRA Hunter Pistol for the last 8 years in Memphis.

I am now teaching on Friday nights and Saturday Mornings so I'll be limited to Sunday matches only now.

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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by cpt-t »

If you haven`t been to a Cowboy Action Shoot, you have missed something. Every one I have ever went to you, sure see alot of smiling faces and hear alot of people laughing and having a good time. Been going to them since about 1997 and always had a good time. I shoot a pair of Ruger Vaguers in 45LC, and a 1897 Winchester Pump 12 gauge, and a Rossi 92 SS 45LC with a 20 inch barrel. My Rossi is not the fastest lever gun around but neither am I. And I like to shoot it better than any other any Cowboy Lever Gun I have. I take my Rossi 45 LC alot when I am just out walking a round it is a great little gun to just carry around and plink with if nothing else. But I have taken it Pig Hunting several times, and have killed several pigs that weight up to 200 lbs. Even took a couple of small deer, Most of my hunting shots are 100yds or less and mostly 50 to 75yds range. I use 250 or 255 gr RNFP hard cast bullets they feed the best for me in my lever guns. With 7.0 grs of Win 231 and I have always got full pentration on the Pigs and the 2 deer, I have taken. My Rossi 92 is an old gun bought in 1997 and I have never had any problems what so ever with it. To Me carrying my old Rossi 45LC is like takeing a walk with an old friend. If you like to shoot and be around other people of the same mind set, I can`t belive You won`t have a good time at a Cowboy Action Shoot.
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Re: CAS....SASS!?

Post by Ranch Dog »

Welcome to the forum Ken, glad you were able to finally log on, and thank for detailing your personal experience with CAS/SASS. When I retire and am able to be home on weekends I'm going to find some shoots to go to and see if it is something I would like to be involved in.
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