J. Frank Norfleet

Looking forward to meeting you. JFN

HJ, That would be great!

There will be a Wild Bunch RO class at the Legends Four Corners Regional. The class will start 1 pm Sunday, April 22, at the shotgun venue at the range. There is a soft drink machine there, if you want a snack, bring your own drink and food. Also bring writing materials. NO FIREARMS OR AMMUNITION. Each attendee should print off their own class materials from SASS web site and read before class, the links are below: http://www.sassnet.com/wildbunch/handbooks/SASS%20WBAS%20Handbook%20Vers%2011_4.pdf http://www.sassnet.com/wildbunch/handbooks/WB%20RO_Manual%2011_5_1%20%20012718.pdf Instructors will be J. Frank Norfleet and Boggus Deal. Class will consist of a presentation, written and practical test. The cost is ten dollars for a new WB RO, no charge for auditing. To sign up for the class or more information email me at: gnat@tularosa.net or call 505-563-0545. You must print and study the two handbooks before class!!! JFN

Yes, it was after the main match.

Did mine too. The only suggestions I made were to move the rifle targets to rifle distances and the small targets (dueling tree/hostage takers) to stages where the shooter is standing in the sunlight. I'd rather shoot bigger targets on the covered stages and the small targets on stages that I can see my sights. I sure wanted to fill out the cowboy questions even though I didn't shoot it. I could have added some creative comments. But (sigh) I resisted. JFN

Those I saw trying the tactical reload cost them time. Why fire the 6th shot at a target, reload and fire the 7th shot at the same target. The time lost in re-aquiring the target killed any perceived time gained. Shooters trying it had to think way too much about the reloads to shoot the stage effectively. BUT, there was one big advantage to the tac-reload rule change. On one stage I shot 6 rounds, dropped the mag and realized the slide was down as I inserted the new mag. A spotter behind me shouted "one more" (thanks BD) so I shot the 7th round and started the next sequence. The net result of that hiccup was a no call. In the previous year at WR, I did the same thing and had a minor safety in an otherwise clean match. The benefit of the rule change is to do away with an unnecessary penalty. JFN

That's cool Back 40, Your brother Darrell and your other brother Darryl both won! Enjoyed shooting with the "Boys from Illinois."

After last year I wasn't going back. But I did and this was a great match. I had a lot of fun. JFN

No ambi release. Handbook lists the allowed modifications in each category and states on page 3, "Any firearm modification not referenced in this Handbook is prohibited." While the handbook lists many prohibited items it can't list them all. Besides the lefties need something to help them. :)

Jerry Miculek slaps the crap out of the trigger and other top shooters work off of the reset. There is no correct way. The bigger issues is, does your trigger press push the pistol off target? Isolate the movement of the trigger finger. See your pistol fire and if you are shooting the same target again, see your sight come back on target and press the trigger again. Or, transitioning target to target, see the pistol fire and in recoil find next target and move your pistol to the target and fire when your sights are on target. Don't over think this.

I really like the idea of loading one round for both pistol and rifle. But, I had nothing but grief with mine. I sold it to a fellow shooter and it runs perfectly for him, go figure. He likes it so well he had Cody build another. It has a lot to do with the shooter. I shoot Marlins now. They seem harder for me to break. JFN

Grouchy, It is done. According to the 2018 WBAS Shooters Handbook which is effective January 1, 2018 on page 17: SCORING AND TIMING Wild BunchTM Action Shooting matches are scored based upon elapsed shooting time and added penalty points for missed targets. Each stage is scored individually and the total combined score for all stages fired is used to determine place of finish. For monthly and annual club and state matches two scoring approaches are recognized: total time and Stage Points. Wild Bunch Action Shooting Regional, Territorial, National, and World Championship matches MUST be scored using Stage Points. All matches regional and above are stage points and below are stage points or total time. That's the rules for the next year. JFN

45 Cowboy Special would drive me crazy. It is too close to 45 ACP and would make sorting the brass a nightmare. I know some shoot it because I came home from EoT with one in my brass. JFN

Short answer: no Trail Boss does not even come close to filling the case. I can reach power factor with a 200 gr RNFP and the powder in the case is about half way up to the bottom of the bullet. That is why I shoot TB in my rifle. At least I can see there is powder in the case. GJ doesn't like TB; I do. We don't shoot that many rifle rounds so I am more comfortable loading TB in a rifle where I can catch a double charge. I shoot a couple jugs of Red Dot through my pistol each year because it is cheap but Trail Boss in my rifles. It fits my program and not his, no biggie. My rifle shoots 45 Schofields. They are .18" shorter than 45 Colts. That might be the answer to your length problem. if not trim your Colt brass to the length you need and load them. Reloading is a whole new learning curve. My advice is buy a case gauge. If it doesn't drop in and fall out; it probably won't shoot. JFN

Sorry kR that is BD not JFN. I have purposely avoided this discussion. JFN P.S. BD is correct.

I agree! Moving rifle targets out and 7 rounds in the mag make for fun stages. JFN

Goatneck, Does anybody have a photo of this target setup? My first thought was that Dusty Boddoms would have a red Mustang convertible. But in reality you probably had a cut out that looked like the 1919 Dodge touring car that Pancho Villa was assassinated in. JFN

I really like that. The Overall is a redundant award since they have already won their category. Historically the two overall winners walk away with two trophies. I have argued that overall be done away with but SASS requires it. You have come up with the best solution. This makes the overall an important award and rewards the next person in their category. JFK

Goatneck, You all put on a great match. Glad to see your turnout was huge! Wished I could have been there. Just curious. Your overall winners are not listed also as category winners. Did you bump up the next shooter in their category when they won overall? JFN

Not a complaint.

Dusty, We had a small group because we were competing with three other matches. But we had no early mag drops. The pistol instructions all had seven round patterns in mind so once everyone had how they were going to shoot the stage in mind there was no hesitation or mag drops after 5 rounds. We all shot the pattern. We did one stage with two different pistol sweeps, that was confusing. Other than that all went smooth. I think you are correct in spreading the rifle targets out, makes the target to target transition a bit more challenging. If you watch the videos you will see that Garrison Joe turned in some fast stages even with all the targets being set further down range. It felt like a shooting match and not a race. JFN

We had a great time Saturday and I guarantee you it no longer feels like Cowboy with the 1911. I got 3 of the six stages videoed. So go to the facebook link below to find the stage instructions with the video of the stage being shot. For this match we also moved the rifle targets out and shot the shotgun in a pattern. We had to laugh at ourselves because we were having to use the rifle sights rather than looking down the rifle barrel. Was a lot of fun. https://www.facebook.com/LosPistolerosWBAS/ You should be able to watch the videos without having a Facebook account, if not, let me know and I will post them on YouTube. One sweep I didn't get videoed was a progressive on four targets: 2 on the first target, 3 on the second, 4 on the third and 5 on the fourth for a total of 14 rounds. Worked real well. 2-3-2 for the first mag and 2-5 for the second mag. This was our first stab at it. JFN

Share it! One of my top 3 all time favorite stages was one I shot at your state match several years ago. Post a PDF of the stage instructions or better yet give us a link to a video of someone shooting it. We are using Facebook to share videos. Los Pistoleros is shooting their first seven round match this Saturday and hopefully we will have some video links to watch. JFN

Stage points

The question has floated around for several years. Since EoT, I have had several ask what I thought about doing away with the rifle in WBAS? My answer has not changed, I am against it. But the question did get me to thinking. I believe the rifle in WB has gotten short shrift and we need to rethink how we write stages that include the rifle. In the typical Cowboy target array the close targets are pistol, the far targets are rifle and knockdowns are shotgun. Since WB is generally shot on Cowboy setups, typical WB stages are: close targets - pistol, far targets - pistol/rifle and knockdowns - shotgun. What if we actually started writing stages that set the rifle targets at rifle distance and quit trying to shoot them with the pistol? Maybe an array of rifle targets at 50 yards? or, Six inch targets at 20 yards? If you need to shoot them with the pistol, do the rifle instructions and move down range to shoot them with the pistol. There are many possibilities. My main point is, what if we started shooting the rifle at distances it is capable of? For too long we have shot the steel that the Cowboy shooters set up for their matches. With the switch to seven rounds maybe we need to look at each of the three (pistol, rifle and shotgun) and ask how can we write stages that play to the strengths of each. While I am on my soapbox. When does utilizing the shotgun translate into shotgun instructions, "there are six targets, knock them down." Yeah I am bored with how we shoot the shotgun too. I know it is a challenge to write stages for WR and EoT with the steel already set or designated on each bay for the Cowboy match that follows. So add far or small targets to each stage for the rifle and move down range where possible. I think that instead of doing away with the rifle we need to start setting targets specifically for the rifle. So my challenge to everyone is that as we work out scenarios for seven round mags, we need to make the shotgun and especially the rifle more of a challenge and more interesting. If you have a stage at your local match that is really good, share it with us and if possible post a video of someone shooting it. JFN