The Basics of Cowboy Action Shooting

Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Basics – A Short Primer on the Sport

 

 

Barely thirty years in exis­tence, Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing (CAS) has become the fastest grow­ing shoot­ing sport not only in the United States, but even in coun­tries where procur­ing and own­ing firearms can be dif­fi­cult and costly, like the United King­dom, Aus­tralia, Aus­tria and New Zealand. This activ­ity involves tar­get shoot­ing in loca­tions (or stages in CAS lingo) that resem­ble a typ­i­cal Old West town. All the guns and cos­tumes used are what you would expect to find dur­ing the mid to late 1800’s.

 

Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Members

Men are pri­mar­ily attracted to this shoot­ing sport, but you can also find a lot of women as well as chil­dren who par­tic­i­pate in matches. It is not a rare sight to see a whole fam­ily at a CAS event, all of them garbed like they were audi­tion­ing for a role in The High Chap­ar­ral or Wagon Train.

Women can com­pete against men, but there are var­i­ous age divi­sions so par­tic­i­pants can enter a match against peo­ple who’s nearer their age.

Apart from the pre­scribed cos­tume, you must reg­is­ter an alias by which you will be known at the shoot­ing event. It’s fun and you can’t get into a fight by address­ing some­one as Dead-Eye Dick. Your alias should be unique and reflect a lot about your dis­po­si­tion or pro­fes­sion. You can also take off from or para­phrase the name of a Wild West personality.

 

Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Guns

The firearms used in Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing are the types which would have been found in the days of the Old West, whether they are faith­ful repro­duc­tions or gen­uine period pieces. The rifles are lever-action, and the shot­guns can be the double-barreled type or the 1897 exter­nal ham­mer pump model. The pis­tols used are single-action, mean­ing they need to be cocked every time before firing.

Safety is of utmost impor­tance in CAS matches. No firearm should be loaded with ammo unless it is a participant’s turn to com­pete. Unloaded rifles must have their lever left open, and shot­guns must rest in the “bro­ken open” position.

Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Clothes and Gears

You need to be dressed for the part if you want to par­tic­i­pate in the com­pe­ti­tion. Some CAS groups require cos­tumes to be his­tor­i­cally cor­rect, down to the last detail like horn but­tons. Other orga­ni­za­tions allow Western-style cow­boy out­fits such as those found in clas­sic west­ern tele­vi­sion shows like Rawhide and Bonanza.

Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Matches

Most events are held in a sim­u­lated west­ern town, com­plete with a liv­ery sta­ble, a bank, or a saloon. Par­tic­i­pants take turns in shoot­ing at a set of tar­gets and are timed from start to fin­ish. More time is added to their score every time they miss a target.

The rules may require a par­tic­i­pant to use a pis­tol (or a pair, depend­ing on the rules) to shoot tar­gets through a saloon win­dow, then replace it with a rifle to shoot at another series of tar­gets. Then they switch to a shot­gun, run over to the sta­ble and shoot at four dif­fer­ent targets.

If you are inter­ested in this type of activ­ity, be sure to watch out for events near your area and drop by to meet peo­ple who are involved in the sport. You just might dis­cover a new Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing hobby or sport to get involved in.