Use of Revolving Carbines in Cowboy Mounted Shooting

[elhombreconnonombre]

From my limited knowledge I understand that this sport involves close up and personal shooting of black powder blank cartridges at balloons while handling a 3/4 ton horse at speed, but why are revolving carbines a favorite choice, when they are not acceptable for SASS or NCOWS. Is it merely the obvious fact that CMS is a blanks only event vs SASS/NCOWS being a live ammo event? It seems to me that handling a horse at speed while shooting blanks at targets is nearly as dangerous or more so to the participant as shooting steel targets with live ammo from a standing position...but then what do I know??????

 

[AlexanderA]

Presumably, you have only one hand to operate the carbine while the other hand is occupied with the reins. Cocking a hammer is lot easier to do with one hand than is working a lever. Also, the big drawback of revolving carbines, which is having the weak hand in front of the cylinder gap, is not an issue with one-hand operation. A carbine gives more control than a handgun.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

That's all well and good, but I have seen that some Cowboy Mounted Shooting folks do use lever rifles and safe handling/shooting of blank AND live ammo in revolving carbines ALWAYS involves keeping the off hand behind the front cylinder plane in a two handed grip. That's the way I shoot my 1851 Colt's with detachable shoulder stocks with live ammo, but those are not SASS/NCOWS legal arms.

 

[Crawdad1]

There's a lot of guys and gals who shoot cowboy action on this board, possibly also on the rules committee, to explain why????

 

[Lightning Ross]

some arenas do not want the brass in the arena dirt on the chance that a horse might step on one when tipped up.When rifle shooting started. There was a lot of problems with the carriers working correctly with the blanks and took a lot of gunsmithing to make them work right in the lever actions. Alot of the early competitions were won by whose rifle didn't jam.So some started using the revolving carbine. Now days there are two classes Lever rifle and the revoling carbine If a rifle class is offered you just have to read the entry and see what is allowed. Lightning Ross 10 years cmsa member

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Thanks Lightning for "enlightening" me.
I like revolving carbines and wish SASS/NCOWS would sometime down the road would allow a special class for them. CMS sounds like a lot of fun, but I think I am too old to learn sufficient horsemanship skills to ride fast AND shoot at the same time.

 

[Crunchy Frog]

Speaking only as a SASS member I can only give you my "take" on why the rules don't allow revolving carbines as "main match rifles".

The rules require the use of a lever action or pump action rifle with an exposed hammer of the type in use between approximately 1860 through 1899. If the action is open, the firearm is in a safe condition.

Unless its hammer is at halfcock, the condition of a revolving carbine is unknown. We don't worry about this with revolvers because they are holstered until they are used, and re-holstered empty.

Also, most stages require ten rifle rounds. Since we keep an empty chamber under the hammer, a revolving carbine would not allow the shooter to fire all of the required rounds.

There may be a safety concern about shooters having a mishap with their "off" hands. Muscle memory being what it is, I could imagine a shooter putting their non-shooting hand in a place that it does not belong.

The same "why can't I use it" question comes up with the lever action pistols like the Ranch Hand and the Mare's Leg. They just don't fit with the way we handle guns in a match.

Could a match director decide to create a special class for these firearms? Sure. Would it increase participation enough to justify the effort? I doubt it.

 

[AlexanderA]

Lightnng Ross wrote:

There was a lot of problems with the carriers working correctly with the blanks and took a lot of gunsmithing to make them work right in the lever actions.

When I was doing Civil War reenacting, some events allowed the 1860 Henry rifle. To shoot blanks in the .44-40 Henry repro, I used .444 Marlin brass shortened so that when blank-loaded with a heavy crimp, the overall length would be the same as that of a bulleted .44-40 cartridge. No gunsmithing involved.

 

[Lightning Ross]

all blanks are supplied at the shoot so you are at the mercy of what is supplied / That way every body is on the same playing field. No certified cmsa blank rifle or pistol can pop a balloon over a 20 foot distance. All targets are to be a min of25 ft from arena fence so spectators will not be spayed by powder. No projectiles in the blanks they are all crimped.