Uh oh,,,Look what I found!

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They shoot those baloons around the course with blanks. You gotta be real close to make them pop. Can't see the fun in it myself plus who wants to dress up like a cowboy. Hot enough as it is.

Greg
 
Cowboy mounted shooting has been around for a while. What is it that you found?

Yes, they shoot black powder blanks at balloon targets. One of the fast draw associations has been doing this for decades (the other one uses wax bullets on metal targets, IIRC). With a .45 Colt loaded with black powder, you can pop most balloons at a range of 12-15 feet or closer.

It's not really my thing, but then again I'm not much into horses. I guess if I had a horse and liked to ride, it might be cool to get into a sport that challenged me to shoot from horseback.

Now, when somebody introduces a sport that combines off-road vehicles with sporting clays, give me a call....
 
Yea, the dress up part does turn me a little cold. I wouldn't mind giving it a try if I didn't have to get dressed all silly. The blanks part sounds like a good idea, wouldn't want to shoot yer horse! :eek:

:D
 
I found the website...I guess.

I recall a place on a farm we used to shoot that was right next to a R/C airplane field. They used to buzz our line of fire and we used to joke about pluggin' one of them. Then I thought, "Why not a sport that pits an R/C pilot and his souped up somewhat armored plane against a shotgunner on the ground." I mean "armor" around the expensive parts liike the servos, engine, etc. and only use birdshot. Maybe just a few wraps of duct tape would do it. I actually approached them one time with the suggestion. It wasn't met with too much enthusiasm. Chickens...

:evil:

I've been riding 2 years now. I just got my first "yelling" at the other day for "Yeehawing it up" on my horse. :D
 
Nothing wrong with it. Sounds like a lot of fun to mix time on your horse with. Not sure why some scoff at it so easily here. Maybe it's me then...

Of course training your horse to tolerate the firing by its head is some work, and some just don't like it period as I understand.
 
280, of course, you realize that we simply MUST have pics of you "Yeehawing it up"?
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I'll see what I can do, it'll be a few days though. Next ride is Thursday I'll see if I can find a photographer. I won't be responsible for any damage my ugly mug does to your monitor though.

Running like :cuss: on a horse has an exhilaration all it's own. Wish I'd tried it a long time ago.

Of course training your horse to tolerate the firing by its head is some work, and some just don't like it period as I understand.
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I actually share "Chaplin" with his true owner, for a fee of course. She just emailed me and said he is ok with gunfire but has never had anyone shoot off his back. (She's actually cool with the idea!) Now who wants to be the first to sit on "Chappy's" back and pop off a round? :eek:

:D

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Sounds like fun. I am not wild about getting all "duded" up. Yet. Maybe in a couple of years when I make the transition to Sears jumpsuits, sandals and Argyle socks or orange golf trousers and powder blue Banlon sports shirts.
 
I ran across...

a video on the internet the other day showing a full auto shoot. During parts of it there seemed to be an RC airplane flying around downrange. If I can find the video again I will post a link to it.

Seems at the end the plane was finally brought down.

I wonder about setting something like the cowboy shoot up using mountain bikes... just a thought.

migoi
 
Is cowboy action shooting historically realistic?

Are these shooters even actually accurate? Do they hit what they're trying to hit?


I mean, we ridicule movies where Bruce Willis is diving as he's firing two pistols, claiming that neither pistol would hit diddly-squat. But we have guys bouncing around on horseback; I don't know if it is credible or not, that they would hit their targets.

And did "real cowboys" in the "wild west" actually do a lot of shooting from horseback, making these cowboy action shooting events "historical recreations" rather than "modern reinterpretations" of something that really didn't happen?

-Jeffrey
 
I carried a SAA Colt when working on my Uncle's ranch back in the '60's. I worked out there three summers and only pulled the pistol once- That was to shoot a good sized rattler in the middle of the trail. Good thing I killed it, as that $%&* horse dumped me on my rear about 1/2 second after that round went off :eek: The other "fun" part was the 3 mile walk back to the barn :cuss:

Based on the Vaqueros and hands working on the ranch that I talked to, they seldom shot from horseback, as anything other than a standstill or a gallop was not exactly conducive to accurate aiming. Most of the shots taken were to put down animals that had been injured or to pop a coyote or other varmit.
 
From what I can gather "cowboys" didn't do much shooting at all, on or off a horse.

This is more of a recreation of a Wild West Show where such stunts and feats of prowess were performed for the delight of the crowd.

I watched it on TV (Outdoor Channel I think) and it was fascinating to watch how they could control the horse and pop these balloons at enormous speed.

Yes, they pop the balloons and yes sometimes they miss and yes sometimes they fall off. The cowboy "duds" didn't bother me because the whole thing had a western feel. Might feel odd in New England though.

Looked like fun, you have to ride like a madman and hit targets using two single action pistols - Chow Yun Fat with a cowboy hat.

G

PS There were some fairly hot looking babes doing it too as I recall.
 
Found the video...

it's on this page. Page seems worksafe (given a workplace that is 2A friendly), no risque ads on the page that I could see.

Some goofiness in gun handling in the beginning but the RC plane this is at the end.

migoi
 
Excellent video!

I want to go to Arizona and play TOO!

:D

I've been lucky so far, no being dumped followed by a long walk. Everybody tells me it'll happen some day though. "Everybody falls off sooner or later." Ive been told...

:eek:
 
A couple I shoot idpa with went ot an ipsc(or maybe 3 gun) shoot where they got in back of a Jeep and shot while it was moving(shotguns I think)They had a "spotter" holding onto you belt to make sure you didn't fall and/or shoot in an unsafe direction....pretty cool :cool:
 
Is cowboy action shooting historically realistic?

Are these shooters even actually accurate? Do they hit what they're trying to hit?


I mean, we ridicule movies where Bruce Willis is diving as he's firing two pistols, claiming that neither pistol would hit diddly-squat. But we have guys bouncing around on horseback; I don't know if it is credible or not, that they would hit their targets.

And did "real cowboys" in the "wild west" actually do a lot of shooting from horseback, making these cowboy action shooting events "historical recreations" rather than "modern reinterpretations" of something that really didn't happen?
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First of all, recognize that there is a difference between cowboy action shooting ("CAS") and cowboy mounted shooting ("CMS"). CAS is by far the most popular. It's the sport run (mostly) by SASS -- the Single Action Shooting Society. It claims 65,000+ members worldwide, and there are hundreds or SASS affiliated clubs. No horses are used in CAS. CAS is basically three-gun action shooting (rifle, pistol, shotgun), but with guns from western movies. Under SASS rules, you can't even be moving with a cocked and loaded gun, so while you may have to run around a little bit on each stage to get from shooting point to shooting point, you're always standing still in one place while actually firing. In a CAS match, the shooters fire real lead bullets and steel targets, clay pigeons, etc., and are scored on time and accuracy (time penalty for misses).

CMS is an entirely different sport, though it often holds events in conjunction with CAS matches. There can't be more than a few hundred people who do CMS worldwide. It uses only revolvers loaded with blanks -- no real bullets, no rifles and no shotguns.

Second, CAS is not about historical accuracy -- at least not with SASS, which is the largest CAS organization. The founders of SASS will freely admit that they weren't trying to "recreate" or "re-enact" anything. They were just IPSC shooters who enjoyed western movies, and thought it would be fun to shoot an IPSC match using their cowboy guns. CAS competitors know it's about having fun, not about recreating historical events. The general rule is that if John Wayne or Roy Rogers used it, then it's o.k. for CAS. In other words, CAS is more about the western film, and the "silver screen cowboy", than it is about the real American west.
 
I may have to learn to ride when I get home...

I did get to do a "live fire training" session that involved full auto fire from moving vehicles, lots of fun :D

I mean ...um... very serious training

We used HMMWV's and either a M249 (Squad Automatic Weapon, 5.56mm beltfed machinegun, for non-military shooters) or an M16. Pop up targets out to 300m, including a couple of pop-up trucks. We only moved something like 20 mph, but it was still a challenge to lead correctly as the truck turns. I'd love to find a place to do that out of uniform. Anyone know of a range like that? :D
 
I may have to learn to ride when I get home...
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It took me ~ 2 years to go from scared (you know what) to acceptable yeehawing. Your results may differ...being younger you'll probably have it in a week or so :cuss:

:D

PS...Thanx to FTB on the info, I kinda figured they were far and few between which immediately means major $ to travel to actual meets. Plus the CLOTHES! :rolleyes: Nothin' personal to any real cowboys out there, it just ain't me! Poor Chappy is stressed enough luggin' my big carcass around anyways, we don't want to add to his misery.

:D
 
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Even though my horse that I used to have was really good about letting people shoot from her back, I never did it. Guess I was way into horses ( trail riding,started jumping, trained one or two, etc...) before I got into guns. Unfortunatly due to an accident, guess I have to stick with the guns now. No more horses, motorcycles or several other fun hobbies I used to have. :(
Seems like it would be lots of fun though. Guess I should have tried something like that when I had the chance. :p
 
280PLUS
I recall a place on a farm we used to shoot that was right next to a R/C airplane field. They used to buzz our line of fire and we used to joke about pluggin' one of them. Then I thought, "Why not a sport that pits an R/C pilot and his souped up somewhat armored plane against a shotgunner on the ground." I mean "armor" around the expensive parts liike the servos, engine, etc. and only use birdshot. Maybe just a few wraps of duct tape would do it. I actually approached them one time with the suggestion. It wasn't met with too much enthusiasm. Chickens...
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I went to the first SP Crater shoot in Northern Arizona years ago. It was put on by Mike Dillon and one of the shoots was anti-aircraft! They recruited a past Arizona RC Aircraft champion. They gave the RC guy seed money to build 3 planes.

The planes were unscathed until the RC guy took pity on the firing line and flew slower, closer, and manuvered less. I think I got one of the planes because it came out of an 'S' turn headed straight above me as I opened up with an American 180. It promptly crashed. IIRC the post-mortem examination revealed that a bullet had cut a control lead.

A GREAT time was had by all! :D :D
 
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