OK Pards sorry for the delay. Events have conspired against me of late but here it is at last.
First some background sorta on the order of the Dairy of a New Shooter by DB.
I've toyed with the idea of giving CAS a try for several years. At first I was under the assumption it wasn't being done in Bama as I thought I knew all the shooting clubs and knew the ones I was aware of weren't shooting CAS. Then I found out there are actually about four clubs here shooting and most are within reasonable distance to drive to shoot and return home same day. But still I was fence sitting and it took you pards coming here to the CAS Forum to move me off dead center of that fence and get me involved.
A big thanks goes out to Big Ed who perhaps is most instrumental in that he laid out the challenge for me by offering to provide me the leather at no charge if I'd get involved. I figured that after such a generous offer and show of friendship how could I not jump in and get my feet wet.
(As an aside boy did we all get our feet wet in the first shoot in the rain.) :eek:
Not sure who all should be thanked next in line but lots of you served as an impetus to get me involved. My friend Marsh sent me a Cowboy Chronicle to let me read a bit about what it is that goes on in CAS and to have the list of advertisers to check with. Cheyenne Ranger sure played a part by asking for this forum to start with and Moderating it to expose me to CAS. DB Leath has played his role in the string of PMs between us encouraging me and discussing our adventures in finding the stuff we need for the sport. Butler Ford45 has been a big help and support thru out the experience. I can't forget Gary Owens at EMF either as he has provided the guns for me to use as writer samples and if I buy them at a deep discount after the 60 day trial period. Thanks to Jimmy for the Cart. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, it's not intentional but just too many who've played a part in getting me to the point of the first shoot.
So on to the experience of my first shoot.
The day started for me about 3:30 AM when I woke up and wasn't able to get back to sleep. Sleep apnea is not a fun thing. So I got up and checked my e-mail and the forums to see if anyone else had posted or written me. We got ready and I made sure I had all the guns and gear packed in my Bronco for the trip. Yeah I forgot the digital camera tho. :oops:
Holiday Hayes was to meet us at the old Wal-Mart in Boaz and go with us from there to the range. Didn't know how long the drive would take as it had been years since I'd been up that way. Left home about 5:50 AM or so and found it only took about an hour for the drive and Holiday wasn't due to show until about 7:30 AM so we had a long wait. Holiday shows up about when he said and we quickly introduce ourselves and head for the range to meet everyone.
The further we drove the wetter it got. Went from a fog which we'd seen most of the way to a driizzle and at times a bit harder rain. Temps dropped to the 30s I think. I wasn't prepared with clothes for this. Not good. :eek:
At the range lots of folks were already there and more were arriving. We went inside the big shed and met Butler Ford and his wife Deb who had driven down from KY to meet us and be there for my initiation into CAS. I was introduced to lots of others not all of whom I could remember even if I tried. But for sure I rember Lo Lo and Andrew Quigley and also Montana from KY also I understand who have been posting here.
We all sat and stood around getting acquainted and looking over the facilities which are really nice and well laid out. I was on a posse with Holdiay and Butler and was positioned between the two of them so they could keep me in line I guess.
After all the safety briefings, prayer and pledge of allegiance to the flag we were told of our posse assignments and moved off to our first stage to begin the shoot.
We started at the saloon, doesn't every day in the life of a cowboy start there? Hmm. Dunno.
This one was a string full of whiskey bottles to be shot with revolvers first from left to right and then right to left. This was probably my worse stage. It was my first and quite honestly I forgot the dang guns shot left and aimed left on some of those bottles to compensate. Oh well I recovered nicely by hitting the shotgun targets at least and most all the rifle targets.
From there to the second story balcony where we had to don a dress and shoot 10 bad guys with shotgun. I went clean on this stage as I did with the shotgun all the way. It was all shotgun and do have a bunch of experience with it and actually managed to do well with it.
Then on to a stage where we fired four shotgun targets the last of which released a moving target we were supposed to shoot 10 times with a rifle before it stopped at the end of it's run. Yeah right! I think I saw one pard who actually did that. I think I might have gotten off 3-4 shots before end of its run one of which cut the chain holding up one side of it. Then it spun with each suceeding hit and made the next shot difficult. I finally just slowed and waited for it to stop spinning to shoot. Then the two handguns were emptied. Never did find out how many BONUS points I got for destroying the moving target. :-D
Last to the final stage which was a two popper targets that fall when hit. Hit it three times with handgun before it is on the ground and they gave a bonus. I think I saw one pard get a bonus on one. That sucker falls FAST. The falling popper revealed the shotgun targets behind it and then last was nine shots with rifle. Blew the first rifle shot high and ain't got a clue why.
My biggest problems were the dang double triggers of the SXS shotgun. I've never shot a shotgun with double triggers before this one and I sure fogot about that second trigger a bunch of times and wondered why it didn't go off again when I kept pulling that same trigger. :eek: The handguns worked fine AFTER we pulled out one of the base pins enough to allow it to fire and taped it in place with black electrical tape. EMF has new pins on the way. One is just too long to work right. Surprisingly to me the rifle shooting went very smoothly. I've really never shot a lever rifle from the shoulder for suceeding shots but always have taken it down and levered another round in. Never before needed a second one on anything I've shot with it so it didn't seem to matter. The rifle seemed pretty smooth to me, fed all rounds without a bobble and didn't seem rough during the shoot to me.
I found everyone to be super nice and helpful to a new shooter who didn't have a clue what was going on. The stages were well laid out and interesting. The entire facility was first rate. Well except it could have been warmer and drier. :-D We waded the mud and got cold and wet from the rain and wind and cold but all had fun.
I do believe maybe (just maybe) the weather contributed to the one thing at the entire shoot which shocked me quite a bit. We were the last posse to shoot the last stage we fired. The last shooter had a malfunction of his rifle and was only able to fire one or two of the nine rounds in it. Someone took the rifle from him and brought it to the unloading table which naturally pointed down range. So far so good. BUT everyone was in a hurry to get in out of the bad weather and so the potential for a serious accident occured. Folks went down range immediately to begin taking up the targets to store them away. The last shooter oblivious to this was busy trying to clear his rifle while holding it pointed DOWN RANGE naturally but where there were now other shooters busy taking down targets and they were oblivous to him with loaded rifle pointed there way working live ammo thru it to clear.
I was unsure of what to do. It all was over and done in seconds. I walked behind the shooter clearing the rifle and noted the muzzle never covered another shooter so stay quiet which may have been the right or wrong thing to do. I felt I should do more but wasn't sure of the CAS procedures and it all happened so fast from the time I realized what was happening I guess I didn't think and act as fast as I'd have done if I was sure of the procedure to follow in this event.
Not one single other thing happened to marr a very enjoyable experience with a bunch of mighty nice folks. No harm came from that one but could have. I'll better understand next time what to do if I see such an event happen even if I'm not right on top of it as I really wasn't this time.
My thanks to all involved. To the club members of NAR and the pards here on the forums that have helped and encouraged me.
My holster belt is on it's way back to Big Ed to get me a more generously sized one for my generously sized waist. :-D Pins are on the way from EMF to fix the too long base pin on one of the revolvers. The shooting cart from Jimmy at Shootin Carts did great and was really nice to have. Yup I sat down on it a few times Jimmy.
GB
