Back to the Bucket

I have found a new practice site in a near by river bed.  Time for me to go back to the bucket.  I have been experimenting with different trigger springs, have reworked my pre-draw routine, and developed a slight sway, all of which means that my accuracy has suffered.  So it is back to the bucket. (See earlier practice tips)

I have two young shooters in training, age 8 and 6.  The 8 year old is about ready to move from draw developer to the comfortable gunslinger.  His draw is nice and tight, and we can't see much room for improvement until he is free of the two handed restriction.  What he needs now is bucket work.  His shooting height is 36 inches.  So the bullet must travel upward 14 inches to hit a 50 inch target height at 21 feet.  So 14 inches divided by 21 feet is .66 inches for each foot from the target.  If he shoots at a 6 inch target at 6 feet it should be set at 40 inches which is 36 inch shooting height plus 4 inches (.666 x 6 = 4).   Makes no sense to practice missing.  His PR is .915.  I will post his PR 500 rounds from now.

Bucket work for him at 6 feet will solidify his draw and move him into the comfortable stage.  We shoot at a 6 inch target on cardboard set about 4 inches in front of ballistic material.  The wax falls down into a bucket.  The cardboard shows where the misses hit and as the shooter goes through a 50 shot session his accuracy will tighten into the 6 inch target.  We want to shoot quick, but speed is not important, getting the draw comfortable and repeatable is important.  Speed will come naturally was the shooter gets comfortable.

The 6 year old is still on the table and is about ready to transition to the holster.  He is a point and shoot shooter and hits are important to him.  Shooting at 89-90% now.  I intend to hold him on the table for 3 or 4 months to make sure of his gun handling skills.  I see other mentors load their shooter's gun.  I think it is important that the shooter, even at age 6 on the table, load and unload his or her own gun.  Loading and unloading is valuable time learning and becoming comfortable in handling their gun.  They need every opportunity to exercise of their hand muscles and gain the strength necessary to be a safe shooter.  Don't take this valuable time await from them.

I have a issue to resolve with the 6 year old.  Trying to decide whether to move him directly to his two handed hip level shot from the table and skipping the draw, point, and shoot, stage.  I see two brothers with tons of mentoring struggling with moving from point and shoot stage to hip level shooting..  It stems from their competitiveness.  Even at 6, 7, and 8, they want to win so much, the target just draws them back to the point and shoot stage, especially boys.

I think I will keep the 6 year old on the table shooting point and shoot until he gets his fast draw holster.  Then I will transition him to the holster directly to shooting from the hip.  Will never let him shoot, point and shoot, from the holster.  It will difficult for him because hits are really important to him (always has to report how he beat grandpa) but I think that is the best for him.

New adult shooters may want to consider this.  Start with two handed hip shooting.  Skip the point and shoot stage all together.  Watching new adult shooters, they all struggle moving away from the point and shoot stage.   Generally, if left on our own, we spend a lot of time learning to be quick at point and shoot, then spend years trying to unlearn this stage and move to shooting without aiming or pointing.  Just skip it all together.  Going to try it with the 6 year old.  Will post how it goes.

The Sewing Basket

Well, I just can't help myself.  See the Warning on the sidebar!

A while back I attended a "titled shoot" on the banks of one of my favorite rivers (name omitted for political correctness.)  As one of my prizes I received a beautiful hand made sewing basket.  It was just an awesome gift.  I brought it home thinking  that my granddaughter could store her dolls in it. The little woman told me that it was not going to clutter up her house, we are at the age of discarding clutter for the heirs benefit, so the beautiful work of some woman on the plains was banished to a closet in the mountains, where I see it on occasion and lament not having a better use for a sewing basket.

It also reminds of a shoot a few years ago, with maybe a thousand shooters, (nofpc) when I received a $50.00 gift certificate as a prize from a custom ammunition vendor.  I took my gift certificate down to the vendor who was on site to redeem it and found that the minimum order for ammunition would exceed my normal cost of ammunition by tenfold.  I have had a recent similar experience from another shoot (nofpc) with another gift certificate.

The point of all of this lament, is that this stems from a certain rule requiring a certain level of prizes for approval of a shoot.  The only way  for a host to meet this level and keep the entry fee reasonable is to give prizes valued at retail from donors.  Don't misunderstand me.  I appreciate the hosts, I appreciate the donors, I like the shoots, I like the prizes!  I don't like someone telling a host what they have to do to put on an event.

Seems like a lot of running around going in circles sort like a dog chasing it tail.  People wonder why we have states with many shooters but no titled matches.   Well, maybe the state is better off without a titled match.

Hope no one is offended!

Winter Range, Tombstone Revisited!

I did not mean to say, but did say, that one of the top four should have intentionally lost for a competitive advantage.  That is not the cowboy way.  I apologize.  My wife has said for years that my thinking is a half of bubble out of plumb.

Having said that, we are now in the planning stage for next year's shoot, be it a jackpot or state championship.  It is informative to look at this year's shoot at Tombstone (Last Man Standing) as compared to Winter Range (Magnificent Five).

Had Winter Range been a Last Man Standing shoot the results would have been completely different.  Last Man Standing would have resulted in Marshall Cooper 5th, Cobb 6th and Brasanda Spur 7th.  Most likely Cowboy Up would have won since only he had no Xs among the top four shooters, although you never know because he would have been shooting the top four in every subsequent round, two of whom were as quick as he. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th places would have been determined on the line between the Draw, Short Keg and Hyde Hunter.

Which do you prefer?  Last Man Standing is the fairer of the two.  (To highlight the unfairness, 1st place had 4 Xs while second place had only 2 Xs at Winter Range)  Magnificent Five/Seven is the more entertaining. Magnificent Seven is used as nationals and world so that is a good reason to use it here. I have been to other State Championships that use Last Man Standing format.

Having won a Magnificent Five I prefer that format.  We can do either in a jackpot shoot or a state championship.  I have been lobbying for a major shoot with 17 Magnificent Five shoot-offs, I find that format so much fun, even if a little unfair.

Think about it then let the board know which you prefer.  I suggest an e-mail to a board member, something in black and white has more staying power than word of mouth.

Thanks for reading the ramblings of an old fool.

De Facto Shoot.

How about this:

This is the ramblings of a old gunslinger and does not represent any serious discussion by any organization.


How about dates?

Living the dream

Sometimes in life we take things for granted. I was raised a cowboy, I had my first gun set, cowboy boots, hat before I could walk. I was practacly raised from the back of a horse. I can't even remember learning how to ride it was just something we did. I was riding horses throught the sale ring in Salida Colorado at age 5. Our whole family were rodeo cowboys and my mom ran barrels. We learned to compete by practicing with people that were better than us. We learned to shoot and carry guns safely around age 8. As we got older we got to set up hunting camp up in the mountains for an outfitter in in our area.

I didn't start fast draw until January 2012. I always knew about people that didn't have the opportunity to grow up as I had wanting to be Cowboys. Young boys dream of being Cowboys some of them their whole life. Being on the other side of the fence I never really understood that. I guess I never really understood how lucky I was to be a cowboy either. I hear the stories of people wanting to be Cowboys even more than before since I started shooting fast draw and quite frankly at times thought it funny city slickers trying to play cowboy. Well I get it now.

This past weekend I got a taste of that cowboy fantasy world. The Old Pueblo Gunfighters hosted a CFDA event in Tombstone, Arizona. I know I don't have to tell you the historical significance of that old west mining town and the most famous gunfight site in history. The feeling of nostalgia hit me the minute we topped the hill and got the first glimpse of the town from a distance. I imagined how the Earps felt when they topped that hill horseback after a long hard journey riding to that destination of opportunity. Stepping out of the car onto the streets of Tombstone I imagined that it was 1880 and not 2015. I walked though the gravel pathway to the shooting area as if I were a gunfighter. I imagined kicking up the same dust as Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, Curly Bill, Sherif  Behan, the Clanton's and McCloury's did back in that famous time of the Cowboys.

I kept the fantasy going staying in character every time I stood on the shooting line imagining that Johnny Ringo was on the other side of that line facing me in a deadly dual. A gunfighter looks for a sign the other guy is getting "Itchy". When the light came on that target I imagined that was the "twitch" in his eye that he was going to pull out his gun and shoot me down. I had better be faster or I would be toes up in that dusty street being fitted for one of those pine boxes we walked by on our way in to the shooting area.

It was the first time in my life I actually took the opportunity to "play" cowboy. It was thrilling and exciting so yeah, now I get it. Even for just one day I allowed myself to live the dream of being a cowboy just like a lot of you have. It truly was one of the best days of my life and I think I shot better than I ever have before putting myself in a position to dream of being a cowboy.

"Regulators! Mount up."

Lessons learned in Tombstone

It was a great venue, a great day, and a well run shoot, but there are always lessons to be learned.

There was an abnormally high number of no hit times.  That must have resulted from either the netting being too tight, there being a hard surface behind the netting or the backstop being set to close to the netting.  Anyway it really slowed down the matches.  We don't have this problem with our range, but it is good to note in the event someone wants to move the targets closer to the back stop.

Money was paid out to the top five and it was a last man standing event.  Since the final five shooters were very consistent in their times and accuracy a comparison can be made between last man standing and magnificent five format. (Analysis of men matches only, assuming the same speed and accuracy) All matches among the top five were decided in 5 shots or less, everyone shooting better than 60%, with the top two shooting 80% or better.   Therefore among the top five all matches were decided on speed.

Number of Rounds:  There were 5 regular rounds and 4 bye rounds necessary to sort out the top five. 4th and 5th place were not determined on the firing line.  Both went out in the second round of the top five after a bye and I don't know how the placings were determined whether by time out or first out.  It is normally customary to shoot this off because money is involved but that was not done. (I don't think it was done but I may be mistaken cause I was distracted by the pretty girl in the front row.) So there should have been 10 rounds instead of 9 rounds.

A magnificent five shoot off would have taken  five regular rounds.  A round of two shooters, three rounds of 4 shooters and a round of two shooters.  There can be no bye rounds in a magnificent five format.

Wear and Tear on the Shooter:  Alleluia shot in 8 of the 9 rounds (4 bye rounds and 4 regular rounds), Spraying Lead Ned shot in 7 of the 9 rounds (4 bye rounds and 3 regular rounds), Rodeo shot in 6 of the 9 rounds (4 byes and 2 regular), EB and Pillsbury both shot in 2 of the 9 rounds (1 bye and 1 regular).

In a magnificent five format, EB would have shot in 2 rounds finishing 5th,  Pillsbury would have  shot in 3 rounds finishing 4th, Spraying Lead Ned would have shot in 2 rounds to finish in 3rd place,  Alleluia would have shot in 3 rounds to finish in 2nd and Rodeo would have shot in 2 rounds to finish 1st.

Final Placings: Because the quickness of the final five shooters was so well delineated and because everyone was shooting better than 60%, the final placings would have been the same whether in last man standing format or magnificent five format. However, if any of the shooters dropped below 60%, format may have made a big difference.  In magnificent five the seeding would have been Spraying Lead Ned, Rodeo, Alleluia,  Pillsbury and EB.

Last Man Standing v. Magnificent Five: When shooters are consistent, the biggest difference between the formats is that Magnificent Five will be determined in five rounds whereas Last Man Standing may take up to ten rounds counting byes.  The other difference is that if you have a clinger  (clinging to that last X) he may have an abnormally high number of rounds, the Magnificent Five spreads the wear and tear out.

Winter Range is Magnificent Five!!!!!!!!!! February 28, 2015.

For those of you that missed it, the venue was awesome.  It was set in a natural boulder walled  terraced location,  targets were set up in the Oriental Saloon, score officials set up in the next door hotel and bordello with the sheriffs office and jail at the end of the street. The terraces were paved and wide enough for shooters chairs.  The boulder wall gave radiant heat and protection for the wind.  Tourists observed from the lookout on top of the boulder wall.  Best venue for observing that I have ever seen, better than Nationals and World.  Speaker system could have been better.  Great little cafe on site, locals say best food in Tombstone.

Here is  photo of the site before it was cleaned up by Old Pueblo Gunfighters taken from the lookout above the site:

Tombstone gave credence to the Appaloosa saying, "Quick only does you good,  if you can hit that which  you are trying to be quick about!"

Dismal a'comin!

I make this post for those who may have some trepidation of having a 7 year old come to the line and for parents and grandparents to view.  Dismal has really progressed with the help of the Shady Mtn gang and especially Thirsty. What is impressive is his gun handling and knowledge of the rules.  He is probably safer than some of our other shooters.

Here is Dismal v. Arizona Ranger, Arizona State Champion.

 Here is a one shot video showing his gun handling skills, note Thirsty walks away from him comfortable with his competency, and note how he looks to be cleared after unloading

Here is a photo of Dismal (#19) with the last Youth Arizona Sate Champion, I believe Arizona Ranger's son.  This was taken at the first fast draw match I attended, Dismal was along.  Got us hooked!

Many thanks to Thirsty for working with these young folks.  Alleluia.