That's great J Bar!!! Competition is a lot of fun and I wish more younger guys would get into it.
School me on that competition J Bar, All 6 stages?
A cowboy action match involves a group of shooters ( a posse!) shooting a set of targets ( a stage). Each stage has targets for rifle, handgun, and shotgun; commonly 10 rifle shots, 10 handgun shots (5 for each revolver), and 2 to 6 shotgun targets. So a single stage is 22+ shots from four different guns. All the posse members shoot the targets according to a prescribed "scenario"...something like, "double tap the 5 rifle targets right to left; double tap the 5 revolver targets right to left; knock down the 4 shotgun targets". But the order of fire varies from stage to stage, and frequently the shooter must move from one position to another for each gun. Each competitor chooses a specific "category" in which to shoot, based on age, shooting revolvers one handed or two handed, using black powder or smokeless; there are also costume based categories for those that want to copy their cowboy movie heroes.
So today I shot 6 stages with my cowboy friends. Six different sets of targets, six different instructions on how to engage the targets that were presented. 60 rifle shots, 30 shots from each of two revolvers (in my case the Uberti 1851s), and about 24 shotgun shells. My category, "Frontier Cartridge", specifies all ammo must be loaded with black powder, and the revolvers can be shot two-handed (Frontiersman requires percussion revolvers shot one-handed, and Frontier Cartridge Duelist allows cartridge revolvers shot one-handed.) We began at 9:00 AM and our posse was finished at 11:30; we shot quickly and efficiently. There was another posse shooting the same stages and scenarios; the match went more quickly by having two posses instead of one big one.
This was a monthly match. Annual matches and state championships usually take two days and 10 to 12 stages.
Getting two percussion revolvers through 30 shots each at competition speed with no jams is kinda cool!