By way of background I've been shooting since the late 70s; began reloading while in college to be able to afford to shoot. Shot IPSC back in the 1980s. I put shooting on hold for several years to concentrate on career and starting a family. Decided to get back into shooting a couple of years ago; started shooting clays and decided to get back into competitive pistol shooting. My local gun club has a very active IDPA chapter, a smaller non-affiliated action pistol league, and a SASS-affiliated cowboy action club.
Just over a year ago I thought it looked like fun so I contacted the match director of my local club [this is a great way to get started or to find out about cowboy shooting, just go to
www.sassnet.com, click on the "SASS Clubs" link, click on your state, and you get a club list showing match dates and the name, phone number and email address for the club match director or officer]. I did not own a single cowboy gun and no Western clothes. The guy said, "come on out, don't buy anything, you can bring some ammo if you have it but just come out."
I showed up in jeans and tennis shoes. Everyone made me welcome and I was invited to shoot if I wanted to try it. An extra gunbelt materialized. A stranger handed me a pair of three-screw Ruger Blackhawks to use for the day. The rest of the morning people practically lined up to offer me the use of different types of rifles, shotguns and revolvers. I had never fired a single action revolver or a lever action rifle before. I did not try to hurry and I'm sure I had the slowest time on every stage. No one was impatient. After a stage people would say things like "good shooting", "you're getting the hang of that rifle", and "I've been doing this for years and I'm still having as much fun as you're having today". Some shooters gave me ammo to shoot in their guns (a wise precaution) so I offered to pay them. No one would accept payment and when I would thank them they would say, "no problem, lots of people helped me when I was a new shooter, hope you come back next month".
The shooting was fun. If you like to shoot (and not just talk BS about shooting like some gun owners) it's a good sport. We generally shoot 120 rounds of pistol/rifle ammo and about a box of shotshells per match. The people are what stand out, though. There are some very good shooters in my club but they are good folks. They do not look down on the less "competitive" shooters. We have some folks that are really into costuming. Some are more into the shooting part. We have teenagers, a good number of lady shooters and we have some older folks. The level of skill and competition really varies but everyone gets along great.
I'd like to address some of the points from the local club standpoint. Keep in mind that what you see on TV or on YouTube may not be representative of local club matches which are the real life of CAS. First, as to costuming. Unless you opt for one of the costume based categories, the minimum clothing requirements for SASS (which by the way local clubs can choose to loosen for local matches) is pretty basic: Long sleeved shirt (other than t-shirt), no ball caps, tennis shoes or combat boots. You don't have to wear a cowboy hat or cowboy boots if you don't want to. If you don't have what you need in the closet you can probably get it for ten bucks at a thrift store. You can easily satisfy the clothing requirements in such a way that won't draw attention when you stop for gas. Believe me, no one will care what you wear.
Yes, we use aliases. It keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously. Make up something humorous. If you don't have a sense of humor, well, I don't know make up something grouchy. "Andy Dry Gulch Rooney" or something!
I wanted to address the "no way to try before you buy". The cost of guns thing resonates with me (remember I didn't have any cowboy guns when I started). What offsets the cost is the fact that cowboys tend to be friendly people who want to encourage new shooters. That means they tend to share. We make a point of telling prospective new shooters NOT to buy any guns. We let the new folks try examples of what is out there before they buy. Lots of cowboys have "backup" guns (often because they bought one thing and upgraded later on). I shot for about three or four months before I bought my own revolvers. I continued borrowing long guns after that while I saved my nickels. I finally got my own rifle last month. I always had guns to shoot.
Also once you decide that cowboy shooting is for you, you will probably hear about guns other cowboys have for sale. That is often a great way to get into the sport at less than retail.
Occasionally you run into a real great deal but let's be honest. Good quality guns are not cheap. On the other hand if you buy them and later decide to go shoot Sporting Clays or start scuba diving, you can sell the guns and not lose your shirt on.
A word about ammo. Yes, I've seen the videos with people shooting loads so light that it looks like they are dry-firing. I don't see much of that in our local club. The rules mandate lead bullets at low-to-standard velocity since we are shooting steel at relatively close range but most of the ammo I see fired is not the super wimpy version. Oh, and wait until you see the guys and gals who shoot black powder-see the ball of flame and feel the concussion in the air and then tell them about "wimpy loads".
Most cowboys handload. I think it's another fun part of the shooting sports. If it is not for you, there are options that are cheaper than the factory ammo at your local gun store. For example,
www.georgia-arms.com. If you are interested in starting reloading, it can be done at a reasonable outlay. Shooting cowboy you would recoup the equipment costs after a handful of matches. With lead bullets (if you know where to buy them) the savings with handloads is significant.