CC Moonshine

Hi All, I just thought this was a good story to share to put into context the changes made to Wild Bunch and how it is affecting the game. As most of you know, we own a retail gun store next to Paradise Pass SASS Club. Yesterday I had a current SASS CAS shooter come in, he has been in SASS for 1 year. He started with CAS and then jumped in late last year into a WB match we offered after a CAS shoot. He already had the 1911 ( he owns more then one) and he used his CAS 38 rifle and double barrel. He had a fantastic time and shot WB every time we offered it after. He came in yesterday and purchased a very nice Winchester Model 12 we had. He expressed how much he enjoyed WB and had saved up for the Model 12. He is very excited about the direction WB is headed and very happy to have found CAS and WB with SASS. I'm super excited to see how things grow in 2025 and was happy to have this testimonial to share. Everyone have a good week and see some of you at EOT, CC Moonshine

Hi Seth, Yes what a shame, there just aren't enough weekends for all the great shoots.

Hi all ! We held our monthly CAS match (5 stages) yesterday and a 3 stage WB match after. While it is still very cold here (20's-30's) we had a super time ! We had 15 CAS shooters and 7 WB shooters, 47% of the CAS shooters stuck around to shoot WB !!! As a survey note: All but one WB shooter used 38 rifle and CAS loads, we had zero issues. Misty Moonshine shot her first WB stages in preparation for a season filled with trips involving CAS and WB! She did excellent and came in 5th overall out of 7 ! She really enjoyed it and both of us are looking forward to WB at EOT. We held a Paradise Pass Committee meeting after all the shooting and it was decided that in the spring we would start offering Wild Bunch on it's own stand alone date, being the 2nd Saturday of the month, starting in May. No other CAS clubs in our area shoot on that weekend and we feel we can draw folks in from a good distance. Also we worked on plans for the Indiana State WB and CAS Championship! Get signed up for the WB Indiana Championship on our website : Paradise Pass Regulators It will be 10 awesome stages over 2 days ! June 12th and 13th! Those that sign up will also get an awesome T-shirt ( if you haven't ever gotten a T-shirt from PPR, we only purchase the softest, highest quality shirts for all events) and our Fireworks event on the 13th is absolutely awesome ( bigger then some towns fireworks shows), cookouts, and an amazing banquet on site on the 14th! It's going to be an epic event ! Have a super week everyone, CC Moonshine

Hello, Contact Ruby Ruthless at the SASS Headquarters. She can help you sort out the mystery. Rudy is out of the office today, but should return tomorrow.

Howdy all, Indiana will be hosting a 2 day Wild Bunch match on June 12 and 13th, 2025 Also the Indiana State SASS CAS championship on the 13th-15th, 2025. So this will be a 5 great days of shooting. Camping on site, banquet on site, huge fireworks show, lots of vendors and just a fantastic time ! Two Bear Arms Gun Shop is right on the property with over 700 guns in stock to look at. All the stages are covered and there is a ton of space on the property for everything ! visit our websites at: Paradise Pass Two Bear Arms gun Shop Look forward to seeing everyone, CC Moonshine

Hi Squibber, I sure hope you guys have a fantastic match ! I wish it wasn't a 3 day drive for us! But I'll see you at EOT. Take care, CC

Hi Artemus, Establishing a full new WB-ROC was a big step forward, and they have been hard at edits and clarity issues from the go. Prior to 2024 there was 20-24 WB clubs with matches posted yearly, Now with the WB-TG process as a matrix there are 43-53 clubs actively developing WB programs, more clubs at least offering it as a side match, or mini match, or building to a stand alone monthly event. Several States are actively bring back or starting WB Championships (Indiana will have a 2 day, 10 stage WB State Championship June 12,13- 2025) as an example. I have spoken, texted, or emailed with many SASS members looking for information on starting WB at their clubs. TG involvement at this point has been promising, and we are looking forward to both the CAS and WB TG meetings at EOT 2025 will be an awesome year to organize and gather feedback from TG's and their club members on rules and helping clubs launch WB programs I appreciate that. I'm shooting WB again and have always enjoyed WB, as I mentioned before, our club (Paradise Pass) offered WB as a side match clear back in roughly 2008 or 09, then we tried making it part of our CAS match as a category. We had it as a mini match several times for Indiana State (we have hosted 15 state matches), we have held the State Championship last year and this year are expanding it to 10 stages in two days. I gunsmith all the 1911's that come into our gun shop, I carry one every day, and Misty and I own several, this is not new or hard for us to dive into. Santa even brought Misty a new Ruger SR1911 and a fantastic Model 12 so as time allows she will be joining us. I am for sure shooting EOT WB, Landrun, and several other matches this year as we travel. I hope this year becomes the year that everyone rallies to build WB as a collective group and we can set a great future for the sport. Have a super day everyone, CC Moonshine

Hi Sarsaparilla, I'm not sure who else did or didn't extend congratulations to you, but I shook your hand and congratulated you in person and we talked for a few minutes, but I am kind of forgettable I guess...…. AGAIN, in writing, congratulations on the Championship. As for photos, you were not the only one taking pictures just fyi. Artemus, By the editors laying out the digital Cowboy Chronicle with the photos and articles does not reflect any "standing" or ranking of anything. I personally thought the Wild Bunch coverage and photos in the article were very good.

Good day all, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and new year day. I truly hope that 2025 is not the "year of offense" at every corner. Wild Bunch made fantastic strides last year and will make even bigger advances this year. But if we are, 2 days into the new year, going to start the back sliding to criticize every detail of every perceived offensive item you can find, then it's going to be a rough long year. How about maybe offering to write articles for the Chronicle about WB, how about submitting pictures to SASS to use, how about posting some good engagement type posts on the CAS wire and here in the WB wire, how about finding just a few good things to say about all that has been already done. How about sending a private email to Misty Moonshine with a concern or suggestion, instead of posting it in the forum and get a reply from her before setting the pace in here. Has it accrued to you that new potential Wild Bunch shooters come onto the WB wire and see post threads like this, do you think this would encourage them to hang out and become a part of Wild Bunch? I'm a huge supporter of Wild Bunch and even spent 5 office hours yesterday working on our club website and scheduling details for the Indiana Wild Bunch State Championship coming up in June. But threads like this one just totally suck the life out of me. I look forward to seeing many of you at EOT,

Howdy all, Just wondering! What 1911 do you use in Wild Bunch? How many 1911's do you own? If you carry a 1911 for CCW what one and why? When did you first shoot a 1911? I just thought it would be fun to know. As for me, I currently use a Colt series 80 1911 for WB, I also have a very old Remington Rand that sometime I will use it for a match or two. I currently have 11 x 1911 ( 9mm, 45 acp, and 10 mm) and really enjoy them. I carry my newest one almost every day. It is a Springfield TRP carry fastback. I first fired my friends dad's 1911 on a camping/ hunting trip when I was about 15 years old. Loved them ever since. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance if you reply, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. CC Moonshine

Hello all, I hope all is well for all of you. Understand that the lawyers and legal advice from the insurance companies for all target manufacturers are going to "strongly recommended" a 10 yard or more distance. They are also taking into account, the wear vs. value of your purchase. More distance will make for lighter impact impressions, and the targets will "last longer" for increased perceived value. SASS does not mandate minimum or maximum distances, SASS recommends distances. Match Directors need to design a safe (first), fun and entertaining match for the members in order to get them to return. The hard part in this, is as with anything that is entertaining, or not a necessity to live, it's subjective to each person. Think of movies or TV shows, pick a movie and you can find a percent that loved it, a percent that thought it was good, a percent that thought it could be better, and a percent that hated it. Match Directors need to work with attempting to provide an event that no one hates and that the majority like or loves. We all love a challenge, but we also need to leave a range not feeling defeated. In 2006 when we started Paradise Pass, we had a MD that thought if he could have no clean shooters he was doing his job. He wanted the match to be a epic challenge and it lost it's appeal for most shooters. Number were tanking, and after a couple years, we made a change. Once we set the matches for roughly 20% clean shooters our attendance tripled ( sometimes as many as 75 monthly shooters). Absolute proof of concept, more people enjoyed the matches. Challenge of a match can come in many forms. Our concept (just one of many that work) is to provide one hard element per stage. Examples: Far targets Closer but small targets High round count Wide spread target sequence Hard sweep or sequence Heavy gun transition Lots of movement Just to name a few. We set our CAS targets from 3 to 9 yards and our rifle from 12 to 20. Our WB will use some of our CAS stages and focus on our rifle targets for pistol, but will also sweep the close targets sometimes with a mag (7 rds). for our State match we will add some longer distance targets to the lineup, and then pull them before the CAS match. Most of our steel here is brand new in the past few years and is 16 x 16 or 20 x 20 AR 550 steel. There will no doubt be a million opinions on all of this, and that's all great. It's like favor and toppings for ice cream, we all have our favorites. At the end of the day, I think we are all very blessed to have shooting sports, friends in the game, and the ability to go to matches and enjoy. I hope I didn't run of course to much. Thanks and everyone have a fantastic weekend, CC

Howdy Doc, It was a very good and productive TG meeting. I think roughly 18 TG's were there plus some on Zoom. Some of the WB-ROC were there. Lots of topics were covered and the conversations carried on for days after around the range. The match was ok, it was setup to attempt to make a point by making it super close and not the normal WB challenge. But most had a great time anyway and recognized what was being done. Numbers were in the 80's, but several WB and CAS shooters from the hurricane areas cancelled the week prior for both events. So the numbers attending both matches were relative to the situation. My posse had an outstanding time and I sure enjoyed myself. Thanks, CC Moonshine

Hi Doc, Thanks for the insight. Something to suggest to any of these clubs is what us and several other clubs around are trying. We shoot CAS once a month at PPR then right after the CAS match we have lunch (from our on site vendor) then start a 3 or 4 stage WB match. It's been well received and is averaging a dozen plus. Next spring I think we will try a once a month stand alone WB match. Some clubs as a starter are offering WB s a side match prior to the CAS match as just a stage event like .22 combo. The general conversations I had at Landrun were very encouraging at the number of clubs trying to get it started in some fashion. Good luck and thanks, CC

Hi Brad, Great question, I can say that with a good deal of confidence that there have been a very nice increase in new WB shooters from all over because of .38. I talk with and text with a lot of shooters and reports from them are that they are seeing new WB shooters because they can use their CAS main match rifle and ammo. This is informal at this time since we don't have a full shooting season yet with this in place, but at first glance it is ahead of projections. Fingers crossed it continues. Thanks and have a fantastic week, CC

Oh ok maybe you are correct. This was at the Michigan CAS state Championship. I guess I assumed it was one in the same. Thanks, CC

Thanks for the info Bruce, Remember, the current rules allowing CAS long guns does not effect the way you play the game ! continue shooting your 45 rifle !!! Ethen Callahan just won the Michigan WB championship with 45 rifle and the next 3 guys behind him were shooting 38's. That's the best part of the latest rule changes is that you can still play the way you want. Take care and thanks, CC

Hi El Chapo, I'll say something to SASS regarding it. Thanks for the input. CC

Hi Boggus, In many cases folks have problems because their spam grabs their confirmation email and they don't see it. Other tech issues could be their firewalls. Very seldom is it a site problem because it would affect everyone if it was a site issue. In any case a phone call during business hours to the SASS HQ or an email to them will usually get it cleared up within a day or so. Keep in mind that some days the SASS HQ has phones ringing non-stop and folks may have to leave a message if the girls are all on other lines. They will get a call back if they leave a message. At some point, WB wanted their very own forum away from the CAS wire (Not to be connected to the SASS/CAS forum) and here we are, so yes it is an additional process to end up here and requires the added step of signing up here and jumping thru the registration hoops. As for the five year ago statement, I can't imagine who wouldn't want to spend time with you on the range and at a dinner. 😂 Plus I don't think any of the staff had .40 cal. or larger rifles at the time. 😋 Just poking fun, I actually enjoyed having you with our posse at EOT last year. Seriously, we actually enjoy WB and want it to grow, so the conspiracy that we have spent 2 years working on ways to grow WB just because we want it to fail needs to end. SASS has tons of projects, programs, and daily tasks to complete. This effort to grow WB is exactly that, we want it to succeed. Have a great rest of your week Boggus, CC

Hi everyone, I'm personally curios as to where you shoot WB ( local club, or long distance or only big events)? How far do you have to travel for a one day shoot or a state match or bigger? How many clubs are within a reasonable distance for you to drive for a one day shoot? (both CAS and WB) How many shoots per year you attend and how many would you realistically attend if you had more choices in your driving range ? Any other helpful information on clubs that do or don't offer WB (they can remain nameless, not looking for to much info. on a specific club). Thanks in advance and have a super weekend ! CC

Hi Harper, Reach out to Ruby Ruthless at the SASS HQ she can direct you in the right direction! Have a great day, CC

Hi Deacon, Thanks for the input. During the past 2 plus years of conversations, meetings, think-tanks, and general opinion gathering, other guns, categories, rules, and styles were talked about often. I personally (personally completely stressed here, lol) love the idea of more handgun choices for sure. I'm of the opinion that the more options presented to play will allow people to "bring what you already own" like grandpa's old "fill in the blank" from WW I . How that would all work (new categories, etc...) would all be TG and ROC business to sort and provide to SASS HQ for review. So there is absolutely opportunity here. Here's the beautiful part of all of this, we now have several dozen WB-TGs and more every week (some veteran WB and some are new WB) signing up, we have several new to WB clubs nation wide that are starting to offer WB in some format and with the announcement pending for release a new WBROC. We will see allot of conversations not to far in the future on dozens of topics with the TG's and in turn, they should be talking to their club members to see what they want! I encourage you to talk with club members, TG's, Veteran and new shooters, to start people thinking about options for all things Wild Bunch! If you are not a TG (I apologize for not knowing I don't have a current list of names), but think about becoming one and talk to your clubs in your area. If they don't have a WB program, they can reach out to Ruby Ruthless at SASS HQ for more information. As for ZOOT Shooting, I have some CAS friends that have done it and really had a great time. I've seen video's of it, but haven't had the chance to see it in person. But would like to go see it for sure ! Have a super balance of the week, CC

Hi Jim, Looking at the list I believe 9 or 10 of the ones shooting .38 this was their first year shooting WB. 3 or 4 had shot WB before. The rest that shot 45 were all veteran WB shooters.

I'm short on time this week, so I'll be brief. Please retain the FACT that WB was a failing venture (for 10-12 years) and it was only operating thanks to funds transferred from the CAS side to support it. Without changes it would have been disbanded. This isn't new news, it has been part of the countless conversations for 2 years. So because a single event would sell out at 175 still equated to the fact that there wasn't nearly enough people playing the game throughout the year. Also, not enough clubs offering WB even at the monthly level to build up participation for state and above matches to host a full field of shooters or even offer it at all. So a sell out at any EOT, National, or and other shoot prior still presented the fact that WB was not successful, no analysis (or base line) should be based on what wasn't working. 2024 EOT was like a new start up venture and had it's soft launch so it becomes the new baseline or zero. It was also clear that many of the WB veterans that were upset that changes were implemented, boycotted EOT. Which was expected, while disappointing the people don't want it to make strides to grow and have a strong future. All your ideas and suggestions can be taken to the TG's later this year and a conversation can take place. Open categories were offered as a topic on more then one occasion and was strongly rejected by the prior WBROC. I have no doubt that WB will see many more changes over the next few years (based on the TG's) some will be old ideas revived and some brand new. This will be great for WB (we hope). For those that are still upset about the changes, keep in mind that we didn't change the way any of you can play, you can still shoot your 150+ PF .45 loads. No change is permanent and all things can be adjusted in the future as voted on by the TG's. Just think about the future, get clubs active in WB, become a WBTG, be constructive in the process. We all want this to work. Got to go, have a good week, CC

Hello, My statement is that "rifle is the least considered in WB" is absolutely true and has been stated countless times in posts by many veteran WB shooters. No one is saying to do away with rifle, but no one that I've ever meant that is in WB says rifle is their favorite gun. It is always " I love shooting 1911 or I love shooting a stoked shotgun." I think we can all agree on that. There is also zero debate in the fact that adding "all SASS main match rifles and shotguns " has already increased the ranks of WB and is moving in the right direction needed. TR and DB are their own exception to the rule, since they are a category choice like CC is for CAS. (BTW, both categories got complete support by Misty and the SASS Board during talks last year). My purpose for this thread was to hopefully invoke conversation and thought on the gains made already by WB becoming more inviting as a option for CAS shooters to try it with minimal time and money invested to enter the sport. 38 without power factor has allowed this to happen. By (at this time) adding back in a PF we would only slow or stop the interested shooters from easily grabbing what they have and a 1911 and trying it. Down the road, if the clubs and TG's want a PF or a PF category, or a big bore category, or any other plan, then by all means, they can have those conversations. We are working hard with several shooters and clubs to help get WB growing even more and could really use the support of old and new WB shooters. Have a great weekend everyone, CC

Good morning, EOT 2024 can't be the barometer for the future of WB. I talk with several match directors and shooters all the time, that have seen a huge upswing in WB numbers from cross over CAS to WB shooters. Most are using 38 rifle and their standard CAS loads. Our club alone has over 50% of the shooters using 38 CAS loads and that never shoot WB prior to the rule change. We need to build the ranks of WB, using the path of least resistance for them to try it and transition. This does not have to be a "forever" rule nor does any rule, but shouldn't we let it run to bring in the folks we need, get on firm ground, then through the TG's and their clubs, review ? Just thoughts. Thanks, CC