Tricked out Ruger Vaqueros and more

[wwillson]

I was at the Oak Park Sportsman's Club this past weekend with some shooting friends. One husband and wife couple shoot cowboy action and were practicing for a upcoming match.

They were kind enough to let the others in the group shoot all of the gun they were practicing with. I have to admit that it's the first time I've ever shot a lever action anything. I shot a lever action .357 rifle and a lever action 12ga shotgun. I was to involved in the shooting to even notice what models I was shooting, but they were really cool.

Their Vaqueros were simply beautifully tricked out pistols! Judy gave me a bit of instruction on how to shoot targets cowboy style and said, "oh and by the way the triggers are VERY light". She wasn't kidding. The triggers on both of her Vaqueros were identical and were the best triggers I've ever pulled on any revolver or pistol in my life.

I did ok shooting targets with the pistols as quickly as I could, but errored on the side of caution. I'm just glad nobody had a video camera to show the world how terrible I did with the rifle and shotgun. What a rush.

Wayne

[BarryinIN]

I've been tempted to shoot Cowboy several times. Then I realize how much stuff I'd need to buy. Not that I'm opposed to buying guns, but the guns seem to be only a start.

I like lever actions and have a few, so I'm OK there.

The revolver thing gets more involved the more I look at it. I usually have one centerfire SA revolver around, but I don't know if I've ever had more than one at the same time, and you really need two. The only one I have now is a Ruger Blackhawk, and it's adjustable sights put it in the Modern category. I'd rather have something more period-correct. And needing two, I'd be faced with the decision of either adding another adj sight gun or getting two SAA-types. I really want a nice USFA revolver, but two is a bit much.

Shotgun is a problem. I have no CAS-legal shotguns.

That puts me needing a shotgun and two revolvers- or, having one out of four guns covered. That doesn't look so great.

I have no Old West clothing either.

Truthfully, the need to dress up and the use of anemic loads keeps me away as much as anything. I might be able to take one of those things, but the combination lacks a logical connection that leaves me wondering about the point. The gun chamberings in this shooting contest can be nothing like what was used in the 1880s (downloaded 32 H&R Mag? Come on.). This is fine, but they seem to cut very little slack on your clothing? I can understand the desire to dress accordingly, but holding firm to that while the guns have shortened action throws and shoot cartridges that wouldn't have been used to shoot raccoons out of the henhouse seems a little screwy.

Jeff Cooper used to say that IPSC had devolved into an "armed track meet". I'm sorry, but CAS has always seemed to be an armed dress-up day where the actual shooting part is a sideline. That's OK if it's what a person wants, but it's hard for me to justify buying a few guns if shooting isn't clearly the main thing.

Zoot Shooting (1930s-era with 1911s and Thompsons) looks interesting too http://www.zootshooters.com/ but they have some gunhandling rules that concern me.

[steves]

My poor shooting skills keeps me from trying the matches but maybe one of these days I will give the matches a try. It is still shooting under stress which seems to be a good thing to practice.