Join The Fun As We Take You Through One Of The Better Cowboy Matches, Winter Range 2001.

The classic 1969 Western, The Wild Bunch featured a fight scene that was one of the most violent ever filmed, at least up to that time in movie history.

Today, the Wild Bunch lives on in the spirit of every SASS (Single Action Shooting Society) cowboy shooting event. SASS was founded by a group of Western shooting enthusiasts in Southern California who took the name The Wild Bunch to commemorate the movie. Cowboy shooting matches are held regularly in every state and many foreign countries. In addition to all of these matches, regional championships are held regularly. One such event is Ruger's Winter Range. Held each year in February at the Ben Avery Shooting Range north of Phoenix, Winter Range is particularly attractive to those shooters looking for some decent weather when winter is at its worst in most parts of the country.

Arizona was exceptionally gracious this year, with daytime temperatures in the mid-60s. Winter Range is billed as the national championship leading up to the world championship at End of Trail in April.

Sponsored by Ruger, sanctioned by SASS, and hosted by the Arizona Territorial Company of Rough Riders, this Shooting, Encampment, and Frontier Exhibition gathers over 500 participants wearing pre-1900s costumes and shooting single-action sixguns, leverguns and shotguns of the type used on the frontier.

The Arizona Territorial Company is a not-for-profit group. All proceeds from the shoot went to the Paradise Valley Rotary Club for Boys and Girls Clubs in the Phoenix area, a most worthwhile cause.

Three types of firearms may be used, but the single-action sixgun is king. Most shooting events held around the country, whether skeet or IPSC, consist of competition, meeting old friends and, quite often, sampling the wares of vendors. In most venues, however, the socializing and ware-sampling are nowhere near as important as the shooting. This all changes at a SASS event. Unlike any other form of competitive shooting, a cowboy match is not just a shooting event, it is a happening.

There is much less emphasis on serious shooting, much less stress involved and a whole lot more fun to be had. SASS matches are, in fact, based on a three-legged stool of shooting, socializing and shopping. A few years ago, I would not have given the latter too much importance, but I have to admit I have changed my mind. These are both extremely important aspects of cowboy shooting and give it its unique flavor among the shooting sports.

At one time, I felt the socializing aspect of cowboy shooting should be played down. No more. For many, perhaps most, attendees to a SASS sponsored event, chewing the tat is Just as important as shooting.

A major match such as Winter Range is also a grand shopping spree, with over four rows of tents and over 100 "suttlers" showing their wares. Firearms, leather, grips, ammunition, bullets, boots, hats, clothes and even gunsmithing. In one of my columns last year, I mentioned Swede Dahlberg who caught my attention at The Great Northern Shoot with his polymer "ivory" stocked rifle. Swede, now offers these stocks from his suttlers tent for those who would like to go in the same direction.

Other suttlers were on hand this year to show their wares and provide a chance to visit and talk sixguns including American Western Arms, Cimmaron Firearms, EMF, Marlin, Ruger, Navy Arms, Power Custom and Gary Reeder Custom Guns. Leather artisans such as John Bianchi's Frontier Gunleather, El Paso Saddlery, Kirkpatrick Leather and F.A. Meanea were also on hand.

Dressed To Kill

We may add a fourth leg to the stool--a spectacle. Every SASS match is a veritable feast for the eyes. Costuming is a major part of any cowboy shooting match, both by the shooters and by those who come simply to enjoy the atmosphere. I had a great time girl-watching 1880s-style, as many women were dressed to the hilt in beautiful gowns and riding attire.

One also has the opportunity to see many famous historical characters. I ran into Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill, Theodore Roosevelt, a troop of Buffalo soldiers and four men in black that could only have been Doc Holliday, Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp, straight out of the movie Tombstone. And as at any SASS event, there was the omnipresent and affable Judge Roy Bean.

In addition to frontier girl-watching and searching out historical characters, Winter Range is also a great place for the student of sixguns and sixgun leather. One not only sees the usual and very popular Ruger Vaqueros and replicas, but also a closer look will uncover original First Generation Colts; Smith & Wesson Frontier Models of both the single- and double-action persuasion; the occasional Merwin-Hulbert; and a veritable smorgasbord of sixgun leather.

Events include the Mounted Stages, with contestants shooting at balloons while riding at top speed on some very beautiful horses. Handling a sixgun and a horse at the same time is no easy feat. This stage furnishes the ammunition for two .45 Colt sixguns, .45 caliber blanks with enough blast to pop balloons but not send bullets around haphazardly. There is also a costume contest. How anyone can judge this contest when there are so many great contenders is beyond me!

To make it through the 10 stages that comprised Winter Range, competitors fired 244 rounds consisting of 100 from two sixguns, 99 from one levergun, and 45 from a shotgun. If you have made it through all the stages successfully with your sixguns, taken down the 99 levergun targets, blasted 45 targets with your shotgun, shot quickly and accurately and not had any misses, and also had no penalties, known as "procedurals," you may just find yourself high up in the standings in one of the classes.

Targets are large, up close and hard to miss, but blunders do happen in the heat of battle, and each missed target means a five second penalty. It is also quite easy to shoot targets out of sequence, resulting in a 10-second procedural penalty. Add up your total shooting time for all 10 stages, plus any penalties, and the match is scored.

There are many ways to shoot cowboy matches: Traditional, with fixed-sighted sixguns; Blackpowder, with the same sixguns with cartridges loaded with blackpowder; Duelist, using any sixgun but shooting one-handed; Gunfighter, with two sixguns, one in each hand, shooting in sequence; and Modern, using sixguns such as Ruger's Blackhawk with adjustable sights. There are also classes that are defined by age and gender. When all the shooting had stopped and all the smoke had cleared, the following winners emerged:

Cartridge Black Powder               Sparks
Duelist                         Durango Kid
Frontiersman             Blackjack Mcginnis
Gunfighter               Mr. Shane Starrett
Modern                  Dirty Dave Rudabugh
Traditional                      Kanada Kid
Ladies Duelist                   Dixie Bell
Ladies Modern                  Running Bare
Ladies Traditional               Pearl Hart
Ladies Senior                 Ramblin' Rose
Junior                   Little Bud The Kid
Senior                            Jim Bowie
Top Gun Shootoff               English Andy

As we have said, leverguns and shotguns are also used, but the single-action sixgun is the most important of the three in the competition, as results are normally determined by the speed and accuracy exhibited with the sixgun. Speed really counts, as targets are usually large and up close. So strap on those sixguns and come join the fun of cowboy shooting.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group