Happy Jack

I guess I will stir the pot a bit with some history. I don't know how many times over the years I was reminded that "SASS and CAS is in the Entertainment Business NOT in the Shooting business". People who do well are happy and that makes for good business. That has always been the driving force and it still is today. A number of years age I was approached by The General, The Judge, and Coyote and they wanted to add another thing to SASS since it was not highly thought of in the shooting world. They tasked me with making Wild Bunch Action Shooting, which was to be a Real Shooting Sport, as well as enjoyable within the general SASS guidelines. So I created WBAS as a Shooting Sport. I had a lot of great help over the years making it go. The early years most of the EOT stages were written by Pecos Clyde (a great guy who introduced the Model 12 SG to WBAS) Then the stage writing was taken over by Texas Jack Morales (one of my heroes). It was 7? of 8? years before we had the first shooter shoot EOT clean!!! NOBODY complained to us. Those shooting WBAS enjoyed the more challenging sport. We had retired operators who were glad to help new shooters learn how to "run a 1911". I produced the training video on WBAS for Holy Terror. We tried really hard to make it a shooting sport. WBAS was NEVER intended to be like CAS with a 1911. Sadly, IMHO the sport has begun drifting away from the founding principles in recent years. Just a bit of history for those who are interested. Humbly Presented, Happy Jack SASS 20451 Life Patron Regulator CAS was a lot different when WBAS was started. Aerial SG targets, Reloads on the clock for pistols and rifles, and various more difficult target engagements were common even at the biggest matches (regionals, EOT) so for most CAS shooters moving to WBAS was a lot easier than today.

I obviously wasn't there last time but what did you think was wrong with the stages???

I am officially retired from Wild Buch management BUT I can tell you for the first 10 years of real Wild Bunch this question of "Shooters Choice " never was even thought about or considered. If you had a failure to fire the 1911 for any reason, you just cleared the gun, put in another magazine and continued where you were. Everyone shooting would do as Eyesa asked. Fix the gun and proceed to avoid penalties and hopefully misses. Aparently those days are past. Very sad in my opinion.

More time is wasted on mag changes than anything else in WBAS. Don't take the gun too far down from the line of sight and practise with your eyes CLOSED. You have to feel the change to get it right. Watch shooters, most have the gun in a lowered position and canted when changing magazines. Both are time wasters. Many change the position from mag change to mag change, they don't know where they have the gun and have to look for it. GOOD LUCK.

Like Boggus, I have used springs from many suppliers, but recently have gone with a lot of Springco. We are lucky to have Boggus to take care of a lot of problems with Wild Bunch guns. With the loss of Bodie and Goatneck in recent years he is one of the few who specializes in Wild Bunch guns. He is VERY good with them.

Before the stroke which left me with a bad right hand and arm (and I haven't got rid of any guns) I might be able to shoot again it's only been 3 years in March. 1. Usually a Kimber super match. but occasionally one of my many Colts. 2. Somewhere between 15 -20. When I was dealing in them I usually had 150 + at all times. 3. Kimber Ultra CDP in 45acp (an old one I bought when they were first introduced) fired thousands of rounds NEVER failed. 4. Started shooting one in the late 50's. Carried one for work in the 60s. Didn't compete with one until the late 60's.

In the "early days" when we first set up Wild Bunch we followed the target mfgrs. recommendation on distances. We set pistol targets at 10-12 yds. SG targets at 12-15 yds and rifle at close to 20 yds. It was a lot of fun. Aparently what is fun has changed but the lawyers haven't.

I am a left handed shooter and one of the things I LOVE about the 1911 design is that mag release is on the left side. As for your question: Changing the mag release to the right side has Always been ILLEGAL. With the new management who knows what the future may being.

I guess since there is no longer a committee to settle nor is there a spokesman to say what the position is this it may be up to the WBAS TG's to settle. A sorry state.🤢

Many years ago I brought this up to Texas Jack Morales and he said it was ILLEGAL, HOWEVER, I don't think we officially addressed it in the rules. With the new administration I have no idea officially, but I think it would be allowed.

Wow, an ES of 100?? Thats terrible. An accident waiting to happen.

I will agree with Deacon on mostly things, the only one I will comment on is magazines. They have changed a lot in recent years. McCormick was bought by Wilson and by far the most widely used by pro shooters and best magazines currently available for 1911s are the cobra mags from Tripp Research. Don't get me wrong I have had good results from Wilson, McCormick, real Colt, and Actmag, but I only shoot cobra mags anymore.

While clearing long guns "on the line" has some appeal I doubt it will be approved for major matches. SASS makes the final decisions on rule changes for WBAS and the Unloading table is a sacred cow for them.

1911 "smiths" are a dime a dozen ???? There are a lot of gunsmiths, but VERY few 1911 pistol smiths. Bogus deal is one.

The only gunsmith I know of who turns a 45 Colt into a 45ACP is Cody Connager. I think he still does them.