All About Cowboy Action Shooting

In the coming months, Beretta USA, in cooperation with Stoeger Publishing will offer select chapters from this quintessential book as a way to introduce you to the colorful and exciting world of Cowboy Action Shooting.

THIS MONTH:
Chapter 9 - "Mounted Cowboy Action Shooting"

The horse knew from the way his rider made him trot circles that something was up. The cowboy patted the horses neck as he sized up the ten crooks blocking his way. Five bullies stood in a loose semi-circle a few yards away and five more were lined up down the center of the dirt street. It was a dangerous gauntlet, but it had to be ridden. His pistols held five pills apiece and he didn't intend to miss.

Let's get to it, he thought, and put his left leg hard on the horse. The horse leaped off on the right lead as the cowboy pulled his off-side six-gun and made for the middle of the miscreants. In seconds he put paid to them all and bolstered his empty shooter as he swung his horse around a barrel at the end of the street. Galloping back up the street, he drew his other gun. Escape never entered his mind. At the end of the street, he suddenly wheeled his horse and ran down the final five felons, firing as he came. Standing his stirrups and bathed in billows of black powder smoke, the courageous cowboy coolly cocked and fired, as one by one the craven cowards crumbled before his unerring aim. With his last shot, he sat his horse and gently drew him down, patting him on the neck.

The above is not some passage from a poorly written 19th century dime novel, but an annoyingly alliterative account of a typical stage, or course of fire, in a Cowboy Mounted Shooting event. The dirt street could be an equestrian arena or some other suitable open ground. The "Bad Men" are ten-inch balloons atop four-foot flexible poles. A contestants performance is timed to within one one-hundredth of a second and misses and/or unengaged targets pulling penalties of five seconds each. Procedural errors cost ten seconds apiece, and a dropped pistol while on the course earns a DQ (disqualification) for the stage. More difficult dian it sounds

Shooting demands concentration, horsemanship and skillful gun handling, all under great pressure.

Part barrel race, part shootin' match and part Wild West Show, Mounted Shooting is about as safe as such a heart-and-hoof pounding sport can be. Match ammunition is either Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, CMSA, or Single Action Shooting Society, SASS, .45 Colt Caliber blanks carefully regulated. No other ammunition of any kind is allowed anywhere near the arena. Not that rail-birds are in any danger. Only 1.5 cc of FFg black powder propels .5 cc of soft corn cob media, the range at which blanks will burst a balloon is barely 10 or 12 feet away, depending on the wind direction. Even so, all firearms are loaded and unloaded by the official match armorer, and nobody is allowed to leave the arena with a loaded gun.

Revolvers must be period correct, and while Colt replicas are most popular with mounted competitors, as with "ground" shooters, Remingtons and Schofields are appropriate and equally effective. Riders have individual theories on barrel length, with 43/4-inch probably most desirable for its cone of dispersal and ease of handling in the saddle. Gunleather is perhaps a more important consideration. Drawing and holstering is done at speed while maneuvering through the course of fire and setting up for the next target. Pistols and holsters must be secure and quickly accessible.

The rider's apparel and gear must also be accurate for the period, as must each contestant's tack. Only leather saddles and bridles are allowed, and these ought to be the types used prior to 1900. Half-seat Great Plains, Texas Trail and Hope (Santa Fe) saddles are much ridden by competitors, as are Mexican Charro and the later Loop Seat stock saddles. McClellan Cavalry saddles and early period Mochila or Mother Hubbards are also used, reproduced by savvy saddlemakers. But while authentically recreated saddles, bridles, clothing and gunleather may be readily available, riding ability and pistolcraft come only with hard work and practice. Gunhandling and marksmanship can be acquired rather quickly, but horsemanship is another matter.

"Ours is an equestrian sport", says CMSA founder and six-time CMSA National Champion Jim Wm. Bruce Rodgers. "The guns and balloons create an exciting horse competition. Like roping, it gives you something challenging to do with your hands." Rodgers is a real estate broker from Scottsdale, AZ who started the CMSA organization in 1994 with co-founders John Bronc Peel (first CMSA World Champion) and noted gun writer and Wild West performer Phil Spangenberger. When the first official CMSA match was held at Winter Range in February of 1994, the hell-for-leather, horse-and-gun game thrilled both riders and spectators. As with Cowboy Action Shooting, the number of members and events continues to grow daily.

Once mounted shooting was added to the World Championships, that event grew dramatically, requiring two arenas and three full days to accommodate the ballooning number of contestants. Many competitors also perform in the Wild West Show, another popular annual attraction at End of Trail. Trail boss for the SASS Mounted program is Dan Doc Bones Howard, who views Mounted Shooting as a natural extension of Cowboy Action, leading to the completion of the triad of cowboy, horse and six-gun. "The SASS Mounted Shooting program is intended to help fulfill the fantasies so many folks have of the Old West during the cowboy era," says Howard. "While we enjoy the competition, the real intent is to enjoy the horses, the traditional 19th century dress and tack, and the Spirit of the Game." Howard's hope is that SASS Mounted Shooting, like Cowboy Action, will remain an amateur sport, existing without the corrupting influences of money prizes and sponsored competitors.

Both CMSA and SASS play the game pretty much the same way, emphasizing safety, horsemanship and pistol proficiency. Both hold authenticity of garb, gear and guns central to the game. And both require a safe level of riding ability and manageable. Like roping and polo, it's one-handed work demanding an independent seat wherein the rider is secure at all gaits, in balance with his horse and free to do other things with his hands and attention. It's the ability to ride and rope or shoot with or without stirrups, reins or hanging on the horn of the saddle. It is keeping your heels down, your mind in the middle and your legs on the horse, no matter what. If you can't sit a trot, or find yourself grabbing the horn to stay in the saddle, or if you have to use rubber bands to keep from losing stirrups, you need more instruction and saddle time prior to competing.

The rest is up to the horse. Jim Rodgers is correct in describing the horse as a "running, shooting platform who delivers his rider to the target as fast and as close as possible." As in roping and barrel racing, the horse's athletic ability is paramount. Mounted Shooting involves intricate patterns executed while aiming at ten-inch targets, changing both guns and leads at least twice and sometimes simultaneously. Riders need that "independent seat" and the horse must remain in hand while digging around barrels and stretching out for top speed. "The horse has to come into the bridle when asked," Rodgers adds,"to position itself at targets and bend around your leg at the barrels. These horses have to be flexible and light on the forehand. They have to sprint and then come right back to you." Rogers calls it continuity of movement. Such horses result only from patient training.

Quarter horses and quarter types prevail, although Arabians and mules do well. The CMSA and SASS are "all-breed" organizations. A horse's ability to tolerate gunfire is more important than his papers. Ear plugs may help in special cases, but the only correct approach is patient training. The consensus among successful mounted shooters is that the horse should be started with a cap gun, shotgun primer, or a percussion pistol cap, in a round pen or other appropriate enclosure. The horse should be shown the gun, allowed to smell it and, as Jim Rodgers says, be "sacked out" with the pistol: Rubbed and gently touched with it until he senses no threat. The animal should also be introduced to balloons separately, so it doesn't associate the balloons with gunfire. He'll do that soon enough. Eight to twelve inch balloons aren't that hard to hit from four or five feet away, if standing still on the ground. Galloping by on a fast horse, 10 balloons go by like pickets in a fence, especially when they must be engaged in a particular order, with barrels and other obstacles skillfully negotiated exactly. Such skills aren't learned from books, but must be mastered before entering that first Mounted Shooting match.

A rider's seat can only be acquired by riding and with qualified instruction. Gun handling and shooting skills are a matter of instruction and practice. Both the CMSA and SASS offer clinics and private instruction in both spheres is readily available. Most Cowboy Mounted shooters were horsemen and women before strapping on six-guns and Mounted Shooting is a great weekend horse game that doesn't require cows or stock pens. It does require gunleather that's appropriate for horseback use. This means secure period-correct holster and a gunbelt worn high and snug. Some of the sport's "gamesmen" wear both holsters on their stomachs, obliquely canted toward their strong hand. Perhaps they hope to gain a hundredth of a second, drawing or holstering by this affectation. Others use pommel holsters for the same reason. It's doubtful that either of these less than authentic measures provide the shooter with any real competitive edge. Period photographs fail to reveal such uses among the real cowboys in the Old West.

Crossdraw, on the other hand, may be a good idea for some mounted shooters. With short range blanks, they aren't the same safety consideration as with Cowboy Action shooters. Severely canted cross-draws, though, can lose a pistol on the course if they're not snug enough to retain it through the rough-and-tumble of a stage. A gun in the dirt is a "stage DQ." Nor should neophyte mounted shooters be deterred by the prowess of the sport's Top Hands. Both the CMSA and SASS classify riders by experience and skill levels, awarding points and prizes accordingly. These divisions level the arena, because nobody starts at the top. Those who yearn for the thrill of galloping around blazing away with six-guns like they've always wanted to, have but to train themselves and an equine teammate, and then join SASS and the CMSA. Cowboy Action Shooting, a-horse or a-foot, evokes the fantasies that re-create the Old West in our heart and minds.