Abe E.S. Corpus

The Belton Bushwhackers (local SASS affiliated club) occasionally offers a game called "Road to Perdition" which is much like WBAS except that a semiauto Thompson is used for the rifle. They also offer Wild Bunch at those matches.

I have two double magazine pouches for reloads and I carry a fifth mag to the LT to start off the stage. Our local matches are usually 20 pistol rounds per stage, seldom more so my five magazines give me five extra rounds in case a malfunction causes me to toss out a live round. I used to carry a "Barney mag" loaded with one round but I grabbed it by mistake in a match and got one round off when I wanted five. Keep in mind that a loaded magazine can be carried in a pocket. We were using Model 12s before they were officially allowed. I don't have trouble remembering to show it to the TO. I forget other stuff! Lots of used Model 12s out there. I don't feel quite as confident with the M12 as I do with a '97, having more trigger time with the former, but that's nothing to do with the gun. For lack of another way to carry extra shotshells to the line, I wear a single loop shotgun belt for Wild Bunch. If I need more than six shells on a stage (rare in my area). I pull them from the belt and single load through the ejection port.

A recent match I attended had a stage with six shotgun targets. There were three steel poppers that launch a clay target into the air when hit. As a side note, when we use these "clay poppers" in cowboy matches the clay is usually a bonus target. In the WBAS match each steel popper and each clay was a target to be engaged. The shooter in question hit the first five targets but jacked out a live shell when the last clay target was in the air. After the clay hit the ground, the shooter (with no prompting by the TO) loaded a new shell through the port and fired it into the berm. He went on to engage rifle and pistol targets without incident. He was assessed one miss for the clay not broken in the air. WTC #1: Was it necessary for the shooter to fire the 6th shot to avoid an additional penalty? I say no because he "engaged" the clay by cycling the shotgun and pointing it at the target, and because this was a moving target that could not be "re-engaged" (unlike a static target), there was nothing to be gained by loading and firing the additional shell. WTC #2: Is there any penalty for loading and firing the extra shell, given that there was no way to re-engage that target (that would seem like a "hard horse" call to me). Hypothetical WTC #3: Assume the shooter fires at the last popper but fails to drop it. Since that target is the activator for the aerial clay, is there any way for the shooter to avoid being assessed two misses for one "missed" target? As an editorial comment, I really enjoy reactive steel targets but they can lead to some interesting WTC situations.

Thank you, Jack. I shot my first WBAS match in over a year yesterday. Hoping for more opportunities to shoot later on in the year.

When the rule came about, my friend Hollifer A. Dollar developed this little comedy routine of calling the TO over and showing off his Model 12. I thought it was clever and fun so I do a version of that now.

Did anyone from the rules committee chime in on the OP's question about the legality of the Wilson Combat "removable" frontstrap checkering piece? I had one on my gun (was trying to determine whether to pay to have my frame checkered) but I pulled it to avoid a controversy about its legality.

My club discontinued WBAS but another club in my area is going to offer matches in 2016 so I am starting to hear more "is this legal for Wild Bunch" questions. This one came from a local shooter earlier this week: is the Llama .45 a "1911 type" pistol? There is one for sale locally. My search suggested that most parts will not interchange with 1911 parts but the Llama will usually accept (how comforting) a 1911 magazine. From the photos I gather that the pistol has the same functional parts as a 1911, including a grip safety. It has an external extractor but so do a couple of other brands that seem to be accepted as 1911 style pistols. It does appear to have a low rib atop the slide, but if it is integral and not "attached" it arguably is not covered by the prohibition. I already expressed my opinion to the shooter about quality and parts availability. Legal for WBAS?

For someone named "Quick" there sure are lots of pauses in the post. I think some mobile phones tend to add periods to text. Mr. Mule, are you looking for bullets or are you looking for ammunition? If you want bullets I suggest Clark's Bullets and recommend the 200 grain SWCs. I've never purchased any ammo with lead bullets in .45 ACP.

That makes sense to me. Thank you, Jack.

Thanks, Joe. I agree that the shooter is responsible for the condition of the gun and in this example the shooter should have either cleared the gun before restaging OR declared a malfunction. By the way, I was running the timer and should have stopped the shooter before the pistol was put down.

This was discussed on this Forum about a year ago; some of the comments indicated that there was an error in the Handbook which would be corrected in the next round of revisions. Rather than tracking through the superceded Handbook and the Forum discussions I am asking my question in reference to the Handbook v. 7.1 and the WB RO Manual v. 7.1 (both revised August 2014). Both documents make clear that although restaging an empty pistol with the slide forward is a SDQ, the shooter can "cure" the problem before firing the next gun. My first question is in regards to restaging a pistol with a loaded magazine inserted (assume that the pistol is at slide lock): can the shooter correct this condition? The Handbook and the Manual show the penalty as a SDQ without the parenthetical statement about correcting the problem, however, the Wild Bunch Pocket RO Card (part of the RO Manual) shows "closed slide" and "loaded magazine" as SDQ conditions that the shooter can correct before firing the next gun. There is a mark in the margin beside this part of the document suggesting that it was changed from the prior version. Perhaps this was overlooked in the editing process but it seems that there is a conflict between the RO Pocket Card and the language of the text of the RO Manual and the Handbook. The second question comes from a situation that happened at my local match today. The shooter experienced a malfunction on the last round to be fired from the pistol. There was a failure to feed malfunction that left the nose of the bullet in the roof of the chamber, the rim still held by the magazine. The shooter thought the gun was empty and at slide lock, and laid it on the prop. Once the gun left the shooter's hand, it was either a SDQ for leaving the shooter's hand with a round in the chamber, or a SDQ for leaving the shooter's hand with a loaded magazine. My thought is that a "chambered" round is one that is fully chambered, so having a portion of the cartridge in the chamber did not meet the definition.

I hesitate to guess at a percentage but a good number of Wild Bunch shooters are using the M12s so there is less chance that someone will overlook the staging procedure. Some of us even make a little game of it: "Excuse me, Ms. RO..." "You rang?" "I have here a Model 12 shotgun." "Do tell." "I'm now pointing it down range and pulling on the trigger (demonstrating)." "No click, no bang, you are good!" "Thankee!" I don't think we have had any shooter earn a stage DQ yet.

As Dusty said, no compensator but other features not found on a pre-1919 pistol are allowed in the Modern category. Consult the Handbook for the specifics. I shoot in the Modern category; my pistol is a Series 70 Gold Cup with several upgrades that are fine, such as an extended thumb safety, beavertail grip safety, Commander style hammer, match trigger, checkered mainspring housing, ramp front sight, beveled magazine well and a full length guide rod. On the other hand, I had to remove the exterior mag well funnel and the add-on wrap around checkered panel for the front strap.

I've seen both used to good effect by Traditional shooters. Both have more visible sights than a "GI" type 1911 (while still legal) and both are available in stainless (also legal) if you prefer a stainless gun. I think the Springfield is a Series 70 while the Remington has a Series 80 type hammer block. In case you prefer one over the other.

Looks a lot like my old Bianchi mag carrier. Mine covers well more than two inches. The linked photo shows ten round mags that are probably longer than standard mags. I say it is legal.

Colonel, the HBB is legal for SASS Cowboy Action Shooting. There is a specific provision in the Shooter's Handbook that makes it so, even though "it is not a reproduction of anything" that existed in the 19th Century. As is often discussed on the SASS Wire, the HBB is not highly favored by cowboy shooters. The Wild Bunch Action Shooting rules did not "pick up" the language allowing the HBB. This is one example where the WBAS rules differ from their cowboy action counterparts.

Personally, I think this is a good change.

If they are fresh out, contact Cowboy Junky on the SASS Wire.

What a great post; lots of positive points about WBAS in addition to costuming. I suggest you change the subject line and make it a sticky.

Is it possible to extend a Model 12 magazine tube anyway? I always thought a cowboy action shooter accustomed to single loading a '97 would be able to hold his own in 3 gun.