Abe E.S. Corpus

We had 24 shooters and great weather. Our regional Ambassadors Deadwood Woody and Sassy Teton Lady made the trip and each took a category win. Congratulations to Cody Maverick for taking top overall. Thanks to MD Cotton Gloves for planning a great match and to Gunpowder Creek Regulators for hosting.

Super, thanks. Round count for the side matches?

I read the Handbook language about BAMM/Doughboy ammo. Will the EOT instructions vary from the lead bullet requirements? I can bring a K-31 and/or a 1903 Springfield, assuming my work schedule allows me to make it for side match day. I am not set up to load either cartridge. Is there a source for EOT compliant ammunition for these rifles?

I received the mags I ordered. An excellent buying experience. At one of my first WB matches someone ended up with one of my magazines. I’ve tried several methods of marking mags for identification but nothing has proved durable enough. The engraving takes care of that! Looking forward to trying them out.

I sent an email. Never have too many magazines!

There is no application this time; Cotton Gloves said “you show up, you shoot”!

Cotton Gloves posted the date of the match, again hosted by the Gunpowder Creek Regulators in Lenoir, NC. Six stages with lunch provided. It’s always a good match. This will be a pistol and shotgun only match. Guess who finally bought a forty-plus rifle? Oh well, it does double duty as my Frontier Cartridge rifle in cowboy.

Thanks, all. I ordered a slide from Doc Noper to hold four shotshells and two rifle cartridges.

As a rule I don’t wear a shotshell belt in Wild Bunch unless the stage has more than six shotgun targets. I’m inclined to order a slide for my gunbelt to hold some shotshells and a rifle cartridge or two. What is the trend for an adequate number of shotgun shells to carry to the line? Four would be pretty compact and would cover a ten round stage.

I used my one-round magazine by mistake once. Fired the next round and thought for a second that I’d had a malfunction when the slide locked back. Now I keep my “malfunction magazine” in a single mag pouch separated from my other magazines.

I did not phrase this as a question but I probably should have. Am I interpreting the rule and definition correctly?

That’s exactly what my local gunsmith said.

I asked about the Wilson checkered panel on this forum and got a ruling that it is legal. It is not part of the grip panels so it is not an illegal “wrap around grip”. I found a local guy with experience checkering front straps but he declined to do my Gold Cup because of its vertical grooves.

In looking over the new rules for 2021 I focused on the definition of “loaded” as “any firearm with unfired rounds in the chamber”. This is not new, glancing back over prior versions it looks like the definition changed in 2019. Prior to 2019 the definition was the same as in CAS, namely, a firearm with a live round in the action, the chamber, or in the magazine. What I had not focused on before is the difference in penalties for a dropped gun, or for sweeping someone. Obviously it’s a Stage DQ with an unloaded gun, Match DQ if loaded, but I had not considered how the definition affects the call. For example, if a cowboy shooter bumps a staged rifle off of a table, it’s a MDQ because there are rounds in the magazine. A Wild Bunch shooter gets a SDQ because the rifle is not “loaded” since it was staged with the chamber empty. I don’t see many dropped firearms, but it does happen. If it does, I want to make the correct calll.

We have a Wild Bunch side match coming up on April 8. Any chance the 2021 Handbook will be released before then? I’m doing an overview of Wild Bunch rules this Saturday. It would be great to be able to at least give folks a heads up about possible rule changes that are coming.

From what I am seeing on the SASS Wire, there will be some WBAS shooters who did not get into the CAS match. I think that weighs in favor of having the Wild Bunch side matches on Friday June 11 rather than the following week.

Would the WB side matches be open only to Wild Bunch shooters? Assuming I am able to come up for Wild Bunch it would probably be more convenient to shoot the Wild Bunch gear on the first few days, then switch over to cowboy guns after Sunday. I use the same rifle for both games but will feed it Frontier Cartridge ammo in the CAS warm up stages.

Thanks. If it was discussed previously sorry to be plowing the same ground over again.

Version 14.5 of the Handbook has a bit of an inconsistency under “Pistol Range Operations”. Under the fifth bullet point on page 7 provides the general rule: “...the 1911 must be discarded with the chamber empty of a live round. The slide may be forward or licked back. It may have no magazine or an empty magazine”. The “safe to leave the shooter’s hand” summary on Page 8 is consistent with that language. In between those provisions, however, is the second bullet point under “On the Firing Line”: “If charged at the wrong time or location, the 1911 may be made safe by clearing it of live ammunition, including the loading magazine, and staging it with the slide locked open.” Now, granted, I have not seen this “charged at the wrong time” situation and it could be the intent of the drafters that a staged pistol should be treated differently than a pistol discarded at the end of the pistol string. If that is what is intended, then the “summary” should be revised. If not, the bullet point on staging the pistol should be conformed. I saw the comment that a new revision is coming for 2021 and thought someone could consider this comment. Thanks.

If there is a BAMM match, or other Wild Bunch-related side matches at EOT, I suppose they would be held on Friday June 18 (same day as the WBAS warm-up match) and not on the CAS side match day (Tuesday June 22)?

With EOT coming East of the Mississippi I am hoping to attend my first EOT. Thinking of coming early for Wild Bunch. I’ve heard a lot about Wild Bunch at Winter Range. What can one expect at EOT? What are the usual round counts?

In my area four magazines are usually all that is needed, but it’s always good to have extras in case of a malfunction. The rules now allow shooters to stage magazines and ammunition, so it’s not necessary to spend a bunch of money on magazine pouches, sliders, etc. You can save money on the holster, since it need only retain the pistol until you draw it. We never reholster on the clock. A holster made for a single action revolver will usually serve pretty well. You probably know that we load the shotgun magazine at the LT so you need not load shells from your body. Occasionally you might see a stage with more than six shotgun targets but not often. You can carry extra shotshells and rifle cartridges in case you toss one out, but again you can also stage them.

This was a very good match, but the weather forecast was poor which caused a number of registered shooters to cancel. As it turned out there was a light rain that stopped after about one stage. Scores are posted on www.carolinacowboys.us

That’s Greenville, South Carolina. We are planning a match In July to warm up for the Carolinas Shootout. Probably five stages, all SASS legal rifles allowed. Watch this space; I will edit the post when I confirm the date. Edit: I was informed yesterday that the club has decided to suspend matches for the time being.

Cotton Gloves announced the rescheduled date on Facebook. Link to my prior post: https://www.sassnet.com/wildbunch/forum/index.php?topic=2787.0